Dry January has come to an end, and with it, the sobriety of many.  I always thought that Dry January was silly; this year I came up with what I thought would be a more productive alternative: try to stay sober for at least one seven-day stretch per month.  But that’s just an idea; I personally don’t have any plans to use any kind of method or system to curtail my drinking – as I’ve aged, my hangovers have become increasingly severe and the prospect of facing one the following morning is usually all it takes to stay my hand when I hear the whiskey bottle’s siren song at 10 p.m.  I’ve never been much for New Year’s resolutions (both in conception and in execution) but late last year I implemented a system of intended self-improvement that I thought I’d pass on to the fine folks here.

It starts with four bowls.  I found mine via the Mike Brown method, i.e. just lying there on the curb one morning while walking my tax deductible dog.  I brought them home and cleaned them out, and here they are:

From left to right (though the designation isn’t particularly important), they are “stock”, “daily”, “weekly”, and “monthly”.  I’ve got a whole host of activities that I’m trying to make a more consistent part of my life that are represented by little tokens/charms, so each time I engage in one of these activities, I move a charm from the “stock” bowl to the appropriate “completed” bowl.  Let’s meet the charms!

Elastic Band (daily): Ten minutes of stretching.  Just simple basic stuff like touching (i.e. “reaching for”, someday I’ll get to actually “touching”) my toes, hurdler stretch, etc.  I’ve been very faithful with this one, and it’s made a huge difference so far.

Eraser (daily): Our house is overwhelmed with clutter, and I’m trying my best to reduce this.  I’ve started with surfaces, and hopefully will get into cabinets someday, and I try to throw out one useless item every single day.  Some examples: software CDs, kitchen utensils, burned out candles, old clothes, etc.

Foreign Coin (daily): Ten minutes of language study. Usually Duolingo, but I’ve got some other stuff too.  Watching sports with the Spanish language commentary doesn’t count, maybe once I’m fluent enough that I can understand everything I’ll revisit this, but for now it’s got to be genuine engagement. This particular coin is from New Zealand but I’ll probably upgrade it with something from Brazil this week.

Sandy Koufax token (monthly): This is a new one, the intention is to see some form of live entertainment at least once a month.  Sporting events, concerts, etc.

Washers (weekly): Lift weights.  The goal is to lift at least twice a week, hence the pair.

Clear Button (weekly): Clean the downstairs bathroom.

Six-Sided Die (daily): The die is intended to represent several interests I’ve got that I’d like to develop.  The idea is that every day I’ll roll it and whatever comes up I’ll spend at least ten minutes doing, though I may revisit this.  The six interests are:

1. 1. Music Theory/Piano Keyboard
   2. Electronics
   3. Astronomy/Astrophysics (I’ve been doing this exclusively since I started)
   4. Dance
   5. TBD
   6. TBD

Other Button (daily): Spend ten minutes cleaning/tidying my home.

Plastic Tube Cap (daily): Lotion – preferably on my whole body but just hands is okay.

Seashell (weekly): Get in the water – either swimming laps or surfing – once per week.  It’s possible I’ll repurpose this as a monthly surfing charm and find something else for a weekly swim/surf charm.

Plastic Paper Clip (weekly): Some kind of house project, written down and added to the clip.  The one shown above is to make a new grill cover using some leftover remnants of fabric that I had kicking around.  It’s done; it turned out okay and hopefully will last for another couple years until the existing patio couch cover is ready to cascade downwards into grill cover duty.

Aluminum Can Tab (monthly): Cash in our recycled bottles and cans.

Bike Tube Cap (weekly): Ride my bike somewhere, even if it’s just up the street to…

Tennis Racket String (weekly): Play tennis.  Either hit a few buckets of serves, hit the ball against the wall in the nearby handball courts for twenty minutes, or get out and play.

Brass Paper Clip (tbd): Something to do with posture; haven’t figured out the details yet.

Bamboo Piece (weekly): Cut down some of the infernal bamboo that has infested my yard.

Shoestring End (weekly): Go for a hike or take the dog for an extended walk somewhere.

Ball of Fluff (weekly): Brush the cat.

Trimmer Guard (monthly): Cut my hair.

Pipe Cleaner (monthly): Use the pole brush and clean out the high corners in my home of spiderwebs and other crud.

Dime (monthly): Update our financial spreadsheets.

And that’s it.  I’ve found it to be a pretty good system so far, the daily stuff isn’t overwhelming and can mostly be finished up in front of the TV if I don’t get around to it until late.  I do my best to get to all the weekly stuff but I’m not too hard on myself if I don’t; there’s always next week.  The monthly stuff is pretty mandatory, so I’ve been quite faithful with that.  If you’ve got any fun suggestions for activities and/or charms (either for me or for yourself) please feel welcome to share them in the comments!