Goals for an Epic Quest

[SymphonicDan]

Do you have a list of goals that you're working on? Perhaps you consider it an "Epic Quest", or maybe you just have some ideas in the back of your mind, of things you'd like to do/achieve someday.

 

I've had something like this for a few years, but what I've learnt is that in retrospect, some goals are much more useful than others in terms of improving your life. Looking back at the goals that I've set and achieved over the last couple of years, it's clear that some have caused lots of spin-off benefits and really added good stuff to my life. Other things have hardly been worth the effort.

 

Here are some of the goals I've set/achieved since 2012 together with an explanation of what made them worthwhile or not. It's helped me understand what will be worth working on in the future, and might give some other NF rebels some ideas.

 

 

1) Spend a week without eating any sugary food:

 

For years I ate a diet of cake, sweet cereal in huge bowls, lemonade, sauces, ice cream, etc., but eventually realised that it was probably doing bad things to my body. I was underweight and active the whole time, but tired often and spent too much time procrasto-snacking. So in 2012 I decided to try going for a week without anything sugary. No sweet cereal, no desserts, not even any Pink Lady apples, which are pretty much just balls of sugar masquerading as fruit.

 

It would've been an impractically large diet change had I done it immediately, but over the course of the year I cleaned up my diet and saw the benefits: less tiredness; better skin quality; less joint clicking; and an appreciation for tastes in food other than syrup.

 

By December, I was ready to try a week without any sugary food. It worked out okay, but there was a mild drop in mental energy from lack of sugars - so overall I concluded that what works best for me is to keep sugar intake low, but not crazy low, so I keep all of the benefits described above with minimal downside. Was the experiment/goal worthwhile? Yep, and I've been eating healthily since! 10/10

 

 

2) Learn Katakana:

 

The Japanese writing system is complicated, with three sets of characters. However one of them - Katakana - is used for foreign words and names, so with that you can read Japanese signs and important parts of Japanese websites. Great! Excited by this, I taught myself Katakana, and sure enough I could read some words on Japanese signs and websites.

 

Problem is, I seldom actually encounter Japanese text that I want to read, so there was very little benefit in doing this... and as a result I've now forgotten most of the Katakana anyway. 3/10

 

 

3) Record one of my compositions:

 

I've been composing piano music for years, but never got a recording of any of them - and didn't really know how! The best tools at my disposal were a rather unconvincing electric keyboard, and a laptop webcam...

 

Fast forward until the end of the year, I'd treated myself to a much better electric piano (which is a joy to play on), learned to use Audacity software for recording, became more motivated for composing, and taught myself to be a more skilled pianist. Now, creating music is even more fun than before! 9/10

 

[And what happened to the recording? It's available here along with some more advanced ones I've done since].

 

 

4) 40 push-ups in a set:

 

Back in 2007 in the gym of a Turkish hotel, a friend engaged me in a push-up competition. I probably lost (can't remember) but I hit 40 in a single set. When 2013 rolled around, suddenly even 15 push-ups in a set was a massive effort... so I set out to reclaim my lost muscle endurance.

 

A few months later, I hit 40 again without much difficulty. But since the sports I play mainly require pure strength rather than endurance, this had only minor benefit. 4/10

 

 

5) Use a barbell:

 

Despite being generally very physically active, and hearing them recommended so much here on NF, somehow I'd never actually learnt to use one! So August 27th 2013, I went with a friend to a local gym to try them out. This wasn't a particularly hard goal to achieve, and there weren't any useful side-effects as with some of the other goals. However, it was certainly worthwhile, as now the weights gym is a regular part of my physical training! 8/10

 

 

So what kinds of goal are the best to work towards?

• where your life will be significantly improved upon having achieved the goal (such as when I cleaned up my diet)
  
• where you're likely to encounter lots of possibilities for learning/experiencing cool stuff on your way to achieving the goal (such as when I recorded my compositions)
  
• experiments where you may have a lot to gain, but don't have much to lose (such as trying out barbells)
  
• where there's a high benefit:effort ratio (i.e., not working on irrelevant goals like my 40 push-ups)
  
• where you learn something that you're likely to remember long afterwards (i.e., not learning to read Katakana if you rarely see any Japanese)
  
• those that are fun to work towards
  

 

What things are you working towards? How will they improve your life? What kinds of potential random extra benefits might you encounter on the way to these?

[alienjenn]

I have a "level 50" defined... but it's hard for me to find links on my phone... I'll share more from a real computer

The evil dancing circus monkeys that live in my phone rarely let my communications come through appropriately

[alienjenn]

here is my level 50 list

 

http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/35393-alienjenn-level-50-defined/

 

some are learning goals.... some are doing goals... most are things I have always wanted to do but never dreamed possible

[SymphonicDan]

Cool, you've got some good goals there - nice to see someone else working on Spanish I wonder however whether visiting Machu Picchu or Stonehenge (for example) are really going to "level up your life" - presumably you'd like to go travelling to a greater variety of places? Maybe you should have some more general points for your goal, like "go hiking in South America", "see some historical sights in the UK", or even just "travel to another continent". I say this partly because I've been to both places (I'm British) and Stonehenge wasn't worth the trip and Machu Picchu was cool, but there are so many cool things in Peru that if you visit that region and have an active time then you'll see plenty memorable and interesting stuff whether or not you "do" Machu Picchu (although to be clear, I do recommend Machu Picchu generally).

 

Also, imagine you had the opportunity to travel to a country represented in your list (Italy, say, for the Leaning Tower of Pisa) but other stuff is planned (seeing Rome, or Sicily, or Venice)... would you prefer to go out of your way to visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa anyway so that you can accomplish one of your specific goals, or enjoy the Italian places you are actually going to visit? It's a genuine question - you might have a reason that the Leaning Tower of Pisa is really worthwhile for you, but I know what I'd prefer! Speaking of which, I've never been to Italy... I should fix that

[Mad Hatter]

I feel similarly to Dan, and I've actually removed travel goals from my bucket list. The big sites are cool and all, but I honestly feel like I've seen so many fantastic photos of them that they can't live up to my expectations. On the other hand I've found the most stunning places at completely unexpected times. They might not be as flashy but the experience of finding them yourself made them so much more special. And for me it's not the photo sites that are the most fun. For example, last year I was in Thailand and was planning on popping over to Cambodia to see the Angkor Wat. Instead I got invited to celebrate Chinese new years with a Thai friend of mine. Do I feel like I missed out? Not a chance, that was one of the highlights of my trip!

 

But I'm not going to lie, travel for me is really easy, and don't really level up my life. With a few exceptions. Like Antarctica. And going to space. For most other locations I just need to maybe save up for a bit and go, no big deal. Also I'm not particularly interested in history, it's cool and all but I'm much more interested in people and today's culture. Now I still have travel goals, but they're more experience based, say the carnival in Rio, learning to dance tango in Argentina or diving in a kelp forest. But they're more for holiday inspiration then something I'd be sad about when I'm old and grey.

 

Having said that, Stonehenge wasn't worth it, but a detour via Woodhenge was totally worth it... for the laughs!

[alienjenn]

eh... they are places I wanna go and touch and see... 

 

I never really LIKED history until moving to virginia... there is something about standing on a mountain and thinking "George Washington HIMSELF stood here and looked at this valley"... walking through the woods where epic battles for the civil war were fought and feeling that connection to history... 

 

 

the places on my list are there for reasons

[Mad Hatter]

That's awesome. Sounds like you got your priorities in order then. And I agree it's pretty fun to imagine what happened way back.