30 Day Project Assignment

Due April 4 in class

Let's begin by giving credit where credit is due.  This assignment is strongly inspired by the work of Barbara Sher, a remarkable individual whose ideas are well worth learning about. 

The idea of this assignment is to experience proactivity by undertaking a short-term, one-month life project.  (Reading, writing, and thinking about proactivity is one thing;  being proactive, even in a small way, is another.  "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them" -- not just think about them.)

Here is how to select your project.

• Begin with a "career daydreams" list.  Since that list represents things you claim you would like to do with the rest of your life, it's highly likely that the items on the list hold a high level of intrinsic interest for you.  You don't have to use any of the items on that list for your project if they don't fit the other parameters below, but it's a good place to start.
• Pick something that you haven't yet done (that doesn't exist at all in the here and now) but that you think you would really enjoy doing.
• Pick something that involves a specific outcome, achievement, accomplishment, or finished product or result (tangible or intangible) -- not just "goofing off" or "chilling out" or unstructured leisure time.
• Pick something that you're doing for yourself, not for someone else.  The goal is not to impress some external audience;  the goal is to complete a project from start to finish within 30 days.
• Pick something fun!  (Whatever fun means for you.)
• Pick something that is at least a little different from what you've done before in your life.  (You can build on past activities, interest, accomplishments, though -- as I have in my own project.)
• Pick something you think you can reasonably finish in 30 days, but something that will stretch your capabilities a bit.
• Pick something you're willing to share in class on April 4.  (Bring in your finished project if it's the sort of thing that can be brought to class, or bring a summary or report or "show and tell" item.)
• Think big!  For instance, many people nationwide write a 100,000-word novel within 30 days each year.  (I don't suggest that unless you have a lot of time on your hands;  that's too big for most of us.)

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