Month completed: January 2012

This is the penultimate year of the project, and although with 90-odd goals to go it looks unlikely I will complete everything (that trip to Antarctica is looking less and less likely), I am going to keep trying to knock off as many as I can.

This goal is the first of the year to be achieved, and one that I have been meaning to cross off for ages.

Before you ask, no I didn’t complete a cryptic crossword. They are just impossible (and I am always shocked if I can even get one answer when I try doing one of them).

What I completed was the General Knowledge crossword at the back of today’s Independent newspaper. Here’s the proof (click for the full-size version).

I will admit to using the Internet to try and find some of the answers, but I don’t see a problem with that. Unless you are some kind of super genius, are you really going to know the 3-letter word for an aromatic Eurasian shrub with small yellow flowers and evergreen leaves which yield an acrid volatile oil, formerly used medicinally?

I sure didn’t, but by researching to find the answers to the clues, I now know that it is rue, and my brain is full of many other pieces of general knowledge I wouldn’t have otherwise known.

Not sure I will be converting from sudoku anytime soon though.

Found here.

To Resolve Project has come up a great way to be reminded of your new year’s resolution each time you jump on the computer.

A series of beautifully designed resolution wallpapers!

Here are a small selection – head to their website to see them all.

You can even create your own.

Found via Swiss Miss (a design blog I highly recommend for creative inspiration)

Month completed: December 2011

We Are What We Do is a not-for-profit organisation whose main purpose is encouraging people to make behavioural changes that benefit the wider community.

One of their initiatives is a book called ‘Change the world for a fiver‘, which is a collection of simple things that anyone can do to make a positive difference.

A great initiative indeed, and so I thought it would be great to do five things from the book (there are 50 things in total).

Here’s what I did:

1. I donated my spare change

I took all my copper coins down to a Coinstar machine at Sainsbury’s. It was quite a heavy bag. The receipt tells the story. 631 coins for a grand total of £14.49 (might not sound a lot, but imagine if everyone donated that much).

After you put in all the coins, and the final tally is calculated, you have the option to take the money as bigger denominations or donate to one of several different charities. I went for the latter option. My reward was just getting rid of those 600+ pesky coins!

2. I recycled my old clothing

I am a hoarder by nature. Old clothes, even ones that I haven’t worn for years, and don’t fit anymore, I tend to hold on to (you never know when they might be needed!).

So I decided this would be a very useful one to do (albeit a bit painful). Two garbage bags worth of clothes were taken down to our local charity shop, hopefully to find a nice second home.

3. I became an organ donor

One of the good things about the book is that it doesn’t suggest what you could do, but how you should do it too. If you want to become an organ donor too, here’s the UK link and here’s the Australian link.

4. I wrote to two people who have inspired me

In fact, I not only wrote to them, I also interviewed them this blog. Kyle MacDonald (aka the One Red Paperclip guy) and Sean Ogle are two people that have created something from nothing, and anyone who has the drive to do that is inspiring in my book.

5. I fill up the kettle less

In the past, I was a bit tap-happy when filling up the kettle, meaning I boiled way more water than necessary. I now much much more of a conscious effort to just fill it to the level required and no more.

As you can see, the tasks aren’t particular difficult, and you have probably done several of the 50 in the book already.

A few others included paying extra at a charity shop, learning basic first aid, and spending a day with the elderly.

My suggestion to you – grab a copy of the book and see if you can do them all.

With Christmas Day just 3 sleeps away (!), I thought now would be a good a time as any to wish you a great Christmas break, and I hope that 2011 has been a productive, fun-filled year.

My highlight is pretty easy – getting married in May to the woman of my dreams. What was yours?

Saw this today on Happyplace and laughed. Good if you just want a to-do list you know you will complete.

Month completed: December 2011

This is a goal I have been looking forward to for a while, but just hadn’t gotten around to it.

Fortunately for me Buyruk from Istanbul got in touch, said that it was on his bucket list too, and suggested we do it together next time he was in London.

What is geocaching?

Around the world, unbeknownst to most people (known in the geocaching world as muggles), there are millions of caches (little treasures, which could be as small as a film cannister or as big as a 5 gallon drum) hidden. The aim is to find them using clues and a GPS device.

Here’s a short video that explains the activity perfectly.

Getting started

I downloaded the official Geocaching Android app, which is really all that was needed to get started as it used my phone’s in-built GPS.

Then it is just a simple case of going through the list of caches nearby and deciding which one to try and find. Fortunately around my area in London (Islington) there are plenty of caches available.

Each cache has a difficulty, from 1 to 5, based on how small it is, how difficult it is to reach, how good the GPS coverage is in the area and a few other factors. The first one we went for was 3 out of 5 in difficulty, which was probably a bit of a leap for a first cache.

The hunt begins with success

After navigating to within a couple of metres of where the compass was saying the cache was hiding, and using the hint (each cache description includes a hint, to make life a little easier), we had a reasonable clue of where the cache was. But alas, it was nowhere to be found.

15 minutes of searching through leaves, gardens and under rocks, we finally found it! The cache was very cleverly hidden, and the feeling of finding it was very exciting.

It was a medium sized cache, and contained a range of random items. The rule is that you put a small item in, and take another out ready to put into the next cache you find.

Each cache also contains a log, for you to leave your name as a record of being amongst those to have discovered the cache. You can also log your find within the app too, which is good as it shows everyone else that the cache is still in play and hasn’t been displaced or stolen.

After finding and logging, it is important to put it back as you found it, for the next person to enjoy. Also important is to do the whole process with as much stealth as possible, to prevent the muggles from snooping and potentially messing with the cache.

Looking for more

After tasting our first success, Buyruk and I wanted more.

With lots of caches nearby, we ended up finding 6 more caches in the following few hours. The cache locations took us to a 500 year old church, the Islington Electricity Department, a quiet little river path, and even a shopfront where a nano cache (about the size of a fingernail) was hidden.

Here we are after a 10 minute search through some thick ivy to find a cache (I can only wonder what people walking past us must have been thinking).

4 of the 7 caches we found were in 35mm film cannisters, which seem to be the most common type. Generally they are magnetised to something metallic (like a gate), and contain just a log book to sign. Here I am with one of them.

Apart from discovering the caches, one of the great things about geocaching is exploring parts of the world that you might not otherwise have. Here I am in front of the 500 year old church that I never knew about, but is literally a 10 minute walk from my house. It is amazing what there is right on your doorstep.

Final verdict

The whole point of Project 183 is to identify new hobbies that I would like to pursue in the long-term. Surfing has become one of them, and I will definitely add geocaching to that list now too.

It is the perfect low-commitment, low-investment activity that you can play anywhere, with others or on your own. In fact, just today I went out at lunch time with a few colleagues and find two cheeky caches no more than 5 minutes from our office.

A world full of little hidden treasures – what an amazing concept. Definitely one to add to your list.

Want to help me knock a goal off my list?

I am looking for 3 people keen for an adventure to join me on the Oxfam Trailwalker 100km walk in the south of England next July, which is goal 69 on the list.

Watch the video below to get an intro into what the event is all about.

If you are up for the challenge of a lifetime, please comment below or email me (heath dot tully at gmail dot com).

Have you ever dreamt of quitting your comfortable job and just doing something completely different?

Well, two years ago Sean Ogle did exactly that. He quit his job, moved overseas, made a new life for himself consulting businesses and spent a lot more time doing things he really wanted to.

I have followed his progress over the past couple of years, and it is inspiring to see the positive change in his life that has come about from taking action.

Sean has set up Location 180 to give advice to others wanting to change their life, and I caught up with him to see how it’s all going.

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Tell me about Location 180, and how it came about

I began Location 180 a little over two years ago as a way to facilitate change in my life and get some accountability for the some of the things that I hadn’t been making any progress towards accomplishing.

It’s chronicled my entire journey from cluelessness about life, to leaving my job, moving to Thailand, starting a business, and finally seeing success in the business and enjoying my dream life. What sets it apart from other similar sites is that you can track every single aspect of the journey through the blog. It’s not like all of a sudden I was magically successful, you see the progress from beginning to where it now – and I think that really sets it apart.

Was there a particular thing that triggered your life change? Or was it more gradual?

In February of 2009 I used all of my vacation time to head down to Rio de Janeiro for Carnival. I was walking down Copacabana Beach on a Tuesday morning when it hit me, I should be able to do this more than just once a year at my bosses convenience.

I came back and found Chris Guillebeau’s blog, and actually met with him in person in Portland. From there Location 180 was born as a way to facilitate a major change in my life, and hold myself accountable for all of the stuff I really wanted to do in life (aka my bucket list).

To be perfectly honest, it was actually Project 183 that gave me the idea to do it – so thanks!

The next 6 months I made gradual steps towards leaving my job and living the life I’d been dreaming of.

What was the biggest obstacle to overcome to make the change?

The biggest obstacle was without a doubt my own uncertainty into my future. Everything had always been planned out, I always knew what would be next whether it was a new school or job – the thought of not knowing where I’d be or how I’d make money took me a good year to get over.

Once I started looking at the uncertainty as a positive rather than a negative, everything changed.

Do you miss your old life at all?

There are definitely times where I think, wow maybe it would just be easier if I got a real job – I think every entrepreneur thinks that from time to time. Then I think about everything I’ve done in the last two years and am reminded that it was the best decision I ever made.

I like to think I took the best aspects of my old life and carried them over to my new life.

What do your friends and family think?

Luckily my friends and family are extremely supportive – especially my girlfriend who many people think is crazy to let me go off galavanting around the world. I think both my parents knew I was unhappy before and they just want what’s best for me. I know they wish they did more traveling while they were younger, so I think they’re glad I’m having the experiences that I am.

What is a typical day for you now?

It really depends on where I am, but generally I’ll wake up between 7 and 8 and head to a cafe to work for the morning. I may go get some exercise in the early afternoon or take time off to go do something fun. I’ll usually work for an hour or two in the evening and then go out with friends or do do something else fun.

While that’s a typical day, on many days I’m also traveling around, golfing, skiing, or any number of other things I like to do.

What one piece of practical advice would you give for others feeling like they want to make a similar change in their life?

The best piece of advice I could give, is probably the same thing I’ve been telling people for two years: start a blog. I wouldn’t be here were it not for Location 180. The connections wouldnt have been made, the uncertainty would not have been overcome, and generally speaking my life would have taken a very different trajectory.

That said, if you want to facilitate change, start a blog and take it seriously. It will take time, but will pay off in ways you could never imagine!

Thanks for your time and tips Sean, and good luck with it all.

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To help others, Sean has also set up Location Rebel to help give practical instruction to people wanting to starting taking action and making change in their life.

If you want to find out more, head to the Location Rebel website (note, this is an affiliate link).

Month completed: October 2011

You may think that rock paper scissors (RPS) is just a game of luck. But for some, it is more than that. It is an ultimate battle of nerves and a game of trying to out-think your opponent.

Each year around the world, national RPS championships are held to determine the nation’s best player. I was out of the country last year, so missed my opportunity, but was determined to compete this year.

Last night in London the competition was held, a knockout competition that started with 128 competitors, and 7 rounds later finished with one champion. Games are played as first to two wins for the first few rounds, and then more wins in the later rounds.

I spent the week studying different gambits (three move combinations), read the stats on which move gets played most and least (scissors is the least common), and decided on my opening move – scissor sandwich.

In the first round, I went up to play my opponent, and they never turned up (they were no doubt intimidated). I won the match by default.

In the second round, I had the unfortunate position of playing the referee. I stuck with Scissor sandwich (and then planned to follow it if need be with Crescendo – paper, then scissors, then rock).

My opponent was evidently a big fan of scissors though. He played scissors, scissors, rock, scissors and all of a sudden I was out 2-1, my dreams of being UK champion dashed for another 12 months.

Strangely, it was actually kind of a nerve-wracking experience.

You can see me trying to keep myself cool just prior to battle.

Here I am in battle, just before my close defeat.

Nat came along to watch, and was giving me psych-out vibes because she wanted to go home. Nothing like having your own cheer squad cheering for you to lose!

It was definitely a fun thing to do though, and I will be back in 2012 to try and claim the title. Probably not with the Scissor sandwich though!