While settling in London, looking for a place to live, a place to work, planning mini-holidays, and generally getting used to a new way of life, Project 183 has been put on the backburner a little.

Today, I am kick-starting it again.

And I will be doing that by achieving goal 114, by going to a public place in the middle of the day in my pyjamas. Stay tuned for all the embarassing photos shortly. UPDATE – check out the photos.

Not sure whether this counts as a failure or not, but it is a situation where I had a chance to achieve a goal and didn’t. So you can decide for yourself.

I have recently been on the search for a job in London. My search was focused primarily on getting a job at an ad agency (which happens to be goal 17).

I had reached the second round of interviews with two agencies, and performed really well in the first of them. Then I was offered a job as online marketing manager at a company called Truphone. Not an agency job, but an opportunity too good to pass up.

So I took up the offer, over the two potential agency jobs. It was tough to do, because ever since I arrived in London, I was thinking ‘agency job, agency job, agency job’.

But as much as I would have liked to knock goal 17 off my list, it wouldn’t have been the smartest move. As important as Project 183 is, I still have to remain open-minded and willing to make decisions that will impact on my ability to achieve a goal, if the overall benefit is better for me. In this case, it is.

So that is my take-out – always be open-minded to new opportunities, even if they mean heading in a different direction to the one you had planned.

If you are having trouble starting your list, I might have the answer for you.

I have just finished reading a book by Phil Keoghan, who you may know as the host of the Amazing Race TV series (one of my all-time favourite shows).The book is called NOW (stands for No Opportunity Wasted), and gives you simple instructions on how to start your list.

He recommends coming up with a goal for each of the following 8 areas:

1. Face your fears (choose a goal that involves overcoming one of your greatest fears)

2. Get lost (choose a goal that puts you in a situation completely removed from your everyday life)

3. Test your limits (choose a goal that will really stretch your physical and/or mental limits)

4. Take a leap of faith (choose a goal that involves taking a leap into the complete unknown)

5. Rediscover your childhood (choose a goal that releases your playful side)

6. Shed your inhibitions (choose a goal that takes you out of your comfort zone)

7. Break new ground (choose a goal that involves making a contribution)

8. Aim for the heart (choose a goal that impacts on someone else in a really positive way)

The book comes crammed full of examples for each type of goal. My favourite is about a man named Banana George (named so because of his love of the colour yellow), who achieved goal 5 by taking up water-skiing in his fifties. He is now over 90, and holds a variety of Guinness World Records in the area. At 75, he took up snowboarding. And rode his first bull at 84. He epitomises the phrase that you are never too old to learn.

The overall objective of the book is in the title. No Opportunity Wasted is a phrase that should engrained into everyone’s memory, to remind them that the time to start is NOW, and every second that you wait is an opportunity to live life that you have wasted.

If you are struggling to get started, read this book. I guarantee once you have finished it, you won’t be struggling any longer.