101 Intentions in 1001 Days

It's the New Year, and like everyone, I want to change literally every aspect of my life; short, achievable goal, right?!

Often, we find that the hope or anticipation of a euphoric moment is a bigger high than actually achieving the specific outcome. And after living and surviving 2020, I realized two things:

1. I do not control any specific outcome.

2. I do control forward movement in any direction.

So how do we build the life we want for ourselves?

The popular advice will have you adding a ton of daily items you don't have time for on your endless to-do list. You'll run across the usual suggestions like building habits, stacking habits, project planning, and the like.

These tools are beneficial and will structure anything you want to achieve, but I think to build momentum, we should always start achieving goals by zooming out the camera and focusing on the big picture.

In comes setting intentions.

If we set intentions instead of putting a lot of pressure on specific goals, we can make the process of habit building a fun game. We can attach positive actions to our existing daily actions and give ourselves some slack while doing so.

Let's create 101 intentions because the more, the merrier, right?

I browsed YouTube before the New Year and found a video where a bullet journaler created 101 goals to achieve in 1001 days for herself. It instantly resonated with me for a few reasons.

1. I liked the timeframe of 1001 days.

The addition of 1 day to the 1000 days makes it imprecise and an odd number, which adds to my yearly goal of achieving perfect imperfection.

2. I liked that 1001 days is neither too long nor too short for making big changes in your life.

A bucket list can feel daunting, and a yearly list has such a ticking clock feeling to it (Hello, February). Still, the 1001 days timeframe creates confidence that I can actually get a lot done and feel consistently motivated while doing so.

To add to the spirit of forward movement and perfect imperfection, I changed the title to 101 intentions in 1001 days. This small tweak allows me grace and reminds me that it is more than okay not to get all of these things done.

In fact, I expect to achieve about 70% of these intentions. I will still be lightyears closer to the type of life I want for myself than if I had never made this list at all. And then, when I make another list in 2023, I'll be sure to achieve 75% of the next set of intentions.

I'm excited to get started and have already started checking some things off my list. My list ranges from simple to-dos like renewing my passport to bigger dreams like kissing a dolphin (after Covid, of course).

Here is my personal list:

101 Intentions in 1001 days

Start Date: January 1st, 2021

End Date: September 28th, 2023

To calculate how far 1001 days is from your starting date, click here.

I have divided all my intentions into sections, making them easier to track on an individual level. Those sections include general life areas like media, health, creativity, life maintenance, fun, home organizing, finance, spiritual, content creation, relationships, writing, and memories.

I also focused less on what "type" of goal it was and more on the type of experience I want to create for myself for my ideal life. That's why some of my intentions are easy, like "writing this specific article" (Goal 57) and "get a tiny tattoo" (Goal 48).

More Information

For more information about how you can join in on the fun, visit: https://dayzeroproject.com.

You do not have to join the site to start your own 101 in 1001 list. You can start right now with just pen and paper. I started it before I joined the site to get going on it by the 1st of January.

One of my intentions is to inspire someone else to make their own list, so if reading this has inspired you, please let me know. Half-way through 2021, we can catch up and see what we've achieved. Let's achieve having thoughtful actions on our journey of fulfillment.

What will you put on your list?