Steal This Idea
photo: Ameen Fahmy for Unsplash
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People sometimes tell me, Hey, I’m digging the whole One Big Day thing. Been thinking of giving it a go. Trouble is, I don’t know what to do.
Here’s one option: Choose a theme for your Big Day according to the month you want to try it.
The schedule below — repurposed from this site’s “How Can I Start? link— is one possible template. See if it works for you as an organizing principle. Or maybe it’ll spark some idea that isn’t on the list.
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January: PLAN Prepare for a natural disaster. Plan your next great vacation. Grok at a deep level a potential career change. Know what to do if somebody collapses or gets injured on your watch.
February: LEARN Put some new skill on your resume — riding a unicycle, playing the ukulele, coding in Python, drawing a recognizable portrait, getting your scuba certification.
March: FINISH Revisit that half-completed project that stalled and just git ‘er done. Complete the family genealogy. Fill in the gaps in your favorite movie director’s oeuvre. Cobble all those bits of footage in your computer hard drives into a movie. Re-open the file on some challenge that defeated you (Mt. Rainier!) and slay it.
April: GET AROUND TO That thing you always meant to tackle? Tackle it. (So long as it’s tackleable in a day. Even if it isn’t: you can tackle it in installments, one Big Day at a time.) Read Augie March. Just read it; it isn’t long. Or pick another from this list. Learn enough Spanish to get by. (Binge-listening to the “Coffee-break Spanish” podcasts, sequentially, will do it.)
May: EAT THE FROG The job jar runneth over — pick one and just get it over with. That’s what’s meant by “eating the frog: you take a big unpleasant task and just disappear it — and then enjoy the huge weight off your shoulders. Declutter the house, get your finances in order, paint the upstairs. Strangely, a lot of “eat the frog” jobs aren’t so bad once you start them. They can be fun.
June: GROW THE BOX You can’t really “think out of the box” — that’s a myth. But you can grow the box, bit by bit, by having novel experiences. June is about psychological experiments: Have a “Yes” day, a blind day, a mystery travel day. Read the kind of book you never read. Try not buying anything for a whole day. Or not complaining. Go cold-turkey on some vice.
August: TEST YOUR BODY Think physical endurance: how far can you walk/bike/kayak? How high can you climb? How does it feel to stay outdoors for a full 24 hours? (Feels pretty good, judging by these folks.
September: TEST YOUR MIND Memorize all the world capitals, or the name of everyone you meet in a day. Try something that for you takes insane courage — like busking, or preparing five minutes of comedy that you perform that night at an open-mike event.
October: CONNECT Mend fences with an estranged relative, write thank-you letters to old teachers/coaches/mentors, track down a long-lost high-school pal. Or make a new friend in some story-worthy way.
November: BUILD Create something from nothing — a blog, a personal brand, a cheeseboard, a winning caption in the New Yorker’s caption contest.
December: GIVE Prepare an elaborate meal for a lover or serve a simple one at a soup kitchen for strangers. Volunteer to sort clothes or deliver presents for a holiday charity. Create Big Days for other people.
