A Challenge for Myself (AKA Blog Origins)

     On occasion I have become upset with myself and wanted to make radical changes.  On occasion I have found my current state boring and lacking enough learning to keep my mind awake.  And for these occasions I have attempted to make changes but somehow fail within a few weeks.  This is where I will break through my previous shortcomings and make a solid investment to see a challenge through.
     The purpose of this blog is a creative outlet for me (personal and scientific), a way to track new and interesting items I come across, and also as a tool to remind me of what I want to do/where I am going.  As in the previous paragraph, I commit briefly to new hobbies/actions/qualities/etc.  Brevity, in so much as I believe this, is caused by not seeing the goals/objectives more than once.  When I witness such things (sorry for the broad catch-phrase) I feel myself stimulated and very excited.  And for a brief period of time I'm very motivated to do that thing or things.  Then it falls short.
     No longer will this happen.  I've set a goal up for pushing my boundaries, improving cognitive abilities for a period of 4 months.  It is a giant uptaking, and all is outlined below.  My objective is to a) improve my memory and memorize things I've always wanted to learn more about, b) step out of the science world and try new things (piano, art), c) play chess (and potentially other games) to work that pink, squishy thing, and d) write more frequently to work on that art.

Daily Changes

• Meditation
• Twice a day for at least 5 minutes
• Periodic Table of Elements - A new element a day
• If there is a total of 118 elements I could learn all in about 17 weeks.  For now I will stick to 5 a week (Mon-Fri) and review on the weekend
• 1-2 new vocabulary words on weekdays
• Review on the weekend
• Word Dynamo Daily use
• A new daily country
• Follow this link
• Daily mental review of the day's actions, people met, details, etc.

Daily to Bi-Daily Changes

• New sentence style in The Art of Styling Sentences
• Stretching and mobility work
• Learn/re-examine information regarding thesis
• This should be outlined, or the topics should be a bulleted list to pick from
• Read a book, practicing speed reading
• 
  

Weekly Commitments

• Play Chessmaster
• Learn how to play chess using the Chessmaster game, and begin playing regularly
• Write a few blog entries per week
• Even if they are boring and/or trite, write to work that brain
• Read a few blog entries from my subscribed blog sites list
• Practice playing the piano
• Minimum 5 days a week for 30-45 minutes
• Listen to a new style of music/new artist
• Actually sit down and listen to the music, not while doing other things; do this a few times a week

Let the change begin!

 - Chris