The Reasons for Each Goal

Before I Turn 20, I Want to....

1) Get paid to write an article

     Why shouldn't I get paid to write? Writing is something that comes fairly naturally to me, though my "skill" right now is mostly just talent. I have not sharpended my skill past anything I wrote in highschool. Learning to make compelling copy is a skill that I can monetize. Leaning proper grammar and how to edit is another skill that is easily leveraged for dollars. Many people sell SEO services on fiverr. And of course, my own projects will only increase in quality if I can write well. Getting paid for all this means I can make money doing something that I am interested in, and most of all it means no shitty W2 wage-slave job. 

2) Write a short story

     Fiction writing seems like it would be the most rewarding kind of writing. I have had many ideas running in my head, fragments of stories that never go beyond just that, fragments. If I ever want to get good at telling stories, I need to get started with it soon.

3) Make and upload a unique flash game

    Much of my childhood was spent playing time-wasting flash games on whatever flash portals I could find. Since I was younger, I've always wanted to "make games." With the advent of things like Flixel and FlashPunk, there is no reason I should not have made a game yet, especcially when someone else has already proved that it's very possible. 

4) Build a website

     I've always secretley thought to myself that maybe I have an eye for design. Sometimes if I visit an especially well designed website, I'll sit therefor a few minutes, drooling over it. I'll mouse over everything, trying to get a feel it all. I often get jealous of all the awesome websites, website layouts, etc. others have made that I have not. Of course, when I investigate the website's code, I understand none of it, as I've never taken the time to learn proper coding. In order to build a website, I will have to learn how to code. Ditto for any games I want to make.

5) Succesfully finish 30 Days of Discipline

     Since I was 18, I have attempted, time and time again, VIctor Pride's 30 Days of Discipline. I have never kept it up past the 2nd week. I miss too many habits, tell myself I'm useless, get depressed and give up. Indeed, since I graduated highschool, I would guess that 1/3 to 1/2 of my time since then I have spent in depression. In order to be succesful with 30 Days, I must first rid myself of the negativity and the thought patterns that lead me to depression in the firstplace, or otherwise continue on through sheer force of will (kind of the point to 30 Days of Discipline). 

6) Document game ideas/other ideas

     This was originally 2 seperate goals. They are very similar, and rather minor, so I have put them together as 1 goal. Which means I now need a 20th goal.

     This goals is mostly a goal about my commonplace. I have hade one since the beggining of the year, but it has since fell into disuse. My plan is to revitalize my interest in it, and wells as force myself to go decide which ideas I have that are worth executing. I have plenty of ideas. Since highschool I have always carried around and kept a small moleskine notebook to put ideas in. I have filled up 2 of these small moleskines, as well as collected many scraps and pages of paper with ideas that I jotted down quickly when I was without a notebook. Some of these ideas are fucking awesome. Many are not. While I am looking back through this all, I will look with a critical eye and decide what is worth keeping and what is not.

7) Learn to crack an egg with one hand

Learning this skill is vital for future plans.

8) Make $900 in lead-generation bonuses at work in a month

     I have just started a job with a solar company. My job is to go door to door and set up appointments for the engineering side of this company to come and install solar panels. For every on-site appointment lead, I earn a "comission" of 15 dollars. The expected "efficiency" of each worker is 3 on-site leads per every 4 hour shift. I have 5 of these shifts in a week. 3 leads per day, 5 days in a row is 15 leads per week, each with a 15 dollar commision, means that I should be earning 225 dollars in a week, or 900 per month (before taxes, of course. Ah, the joys of the W2 wage). 900 per month means that I am - at the very least - competent. When I reach this goal, I will likely stretch it out to a larger number. Until then, 900 is my goal.

9) MOVE OUT

     Weeks after I turned 18, I left my parent's place and moved in with my best friend (in highschool). Events and circumstances lead me to soon move in with another friend. Today, I am back to living with my parents. When I was "on my own," I felt much more free, much less stifled, even if the other environments were not quite healthy. I had jobs, I paid (a very modest) rent, had a girl to spend money on and time with, and a car with an insurance payment (eventually). I bought my own food (steak'n'eggs ftw), went to the gym, and I had to buy bus passes and learn bus routes to get to work before I had to pay gas and insurance on my car. It was the most responsibility I have ever held in my life. I genuinely felt like I had matured and grown from the person I was in highschool.

     Eventually, I moved back in with my parents. When I did, I reverted back to the way I used to be in highschool. I reinstalled my games on my computer. I began wasting time on the internet. I stopped reading, stopped exercising my body and my mind, and ate whatever processed shit was in the pantry. It was almost as if the entire year that I was away had never happened... While I am currently taking steps to correct this (read: this blog) I know that my growth here is limited. For my sake, I need to move out.

10) Get T levels checked

     When I was 18, eating steak and eggs, and working out like a fucking badass, I could literally feel myself becoming a man. I was dominant in bed (without trying), I walked like I had a reason to live, I could stare anybody in the eye without remorse. Today, at 19, I feel 1/10 of that. I'm now 19, and I feel like a boy, still suckling at the teat of protective parents. There is no doubt in my mind that I now have low testosterone. But I want to get my bloodwork done. As I alter my behaviour and grow as a man, I want to see the effect it has on my T levels, and I want to see if I can raise test naturally. Ideally I will do this sooner rather than later, and I will hopefully see a greater impact on my T levels.

11) Read and Summarize 20 books.

     I do not think that I currently posess the faculty to read 1 book per week. But I think I can definitely read 1 book per 2 weeks, or 2 books per month - with notes. But 2 books per month is 18 books, as I have 9 months before I turn 20. In keeping with the theme, I increased this to 20 books.

     Within this goal is a subgoal of three books in particular. These are tutorial-like books: Learning With Raspberry Pi, HTML and CSS, and Game Character Creation with Unity and Blender. These three books require that I read along and learn a skill, and are required reading for this goal.

12) Pay off APS

     The local school district paid for me to take college classes. College classes that I dropped out of. I now owe the state a tidy sum of a lot. That's a lot more than I have. Getting rid of this debt requires me to monitor my spending much more closely than I have in the past, and requires that I prioritize paying this off.

13) Pay off State Tax Debt

     I got a bill from the State declaring an outstanding balance that I owe them. I have no idea why. I suspect I filed my taxes incorrectly. Regardless, I am much more scared of this debt than I am of the APS debt. The state has much more authority when it comes to raping it's citizens for dollars.

14) Lift seriously Get Big

     Obviously I need to narrow down my exact goals for this. The vagueness of "get in shape" is the bane of many would-be fit people. I will detail my goals for this in a later post.

     Right now all I should be worrying about is eating a lot and getting to the gym. There is no such thing as a hardgainer. Just skinny guys with small appetites. I don't have a certain weight in mind, since I don't know what an optimal muscular weight would be. Something I need to research and decide.

15) Cover a song

     I've always wanted to. Even if it comes out shitty. It's something I've never done before and something that scares me. This is reason enough to attempt it, I think.

16) Get Real Estate License Try Nootropics

I never really wanted this.

Needs to be updated.

Ever since I learned about modafinil I've always been curious about nootropics. While I could never get my hands on modafinil, there are far more easier (and legal) ways to increase productivity without attempting to import a class IV substance. The People's Stack looks like a good starting point, and Pill Scout seems like a good resource for nootropic noobies.

17) Fix scooter

     When I was 17, my grandfather on my step-mom's side gave me a motorized scooter. Because I didn't have a license, I couldn't legally use it, but I did anyways. It became an object of contention (one of many) with my parents and I before I moved out. However, the thing that finally stopped me from using it was the fact that it stalled constantly. After a few episiodes of the thing dying in traffic - once while I was in the middle of an busy intersection - I put the thing in my parents garage and it's gathered dust since. I would like to fix it so that I can a) say that I did and b) use that to get around. It takes much less gas to run 50cc's (of KICKASS) than it does 6 cylinders.

18) Brew a batch of Beer and Mead

     I have it all right in front of me. It's all in my closet as I type. I've always wanted to learn how to do it. So why the fuck not?

19) Learn Pixel Art

     Since I was 16 I've had a love affair with Pixel Art. What people can do with a few pixels is incredible. Because each pixel is visible, the placement of it all is extremely important. The fewer pixels there are, the more important placement becomes. One pixel can make or break an entire piece. The general aesthetic is one of borrowed nostalgia, but today, there is so much more to pixel art than re-living the days of the NES. And pecause it requires no dextrous drawing talent, this was always the easiest form of visual art for me. I've picked up the pencil tool once or twice before, but never stuck to it. I want to stick it out and see what I can make.

20) Build an Online Business

Obviously I am missing a goal. Read goal 6's gray text. I will update asap.

Added: 8-17-2014

     After racking my brain over this new goal for awhile, I hadn't come up with any goal worth pursuing. I once again turned to the internet in my search for answers. I (once again) found myself browsing 30 Days to X. As I meandered Robert's his blog, I found a pocket of posts on building your own business and becoming an entrepreneur. It was reading this post that caused this desire to really click for me.

     I have a multitude of ideas for businesses. I've never taken the time to actually sit down and do them. Ideas are a dime a dozen. It's the execution of an idea that makes a business. By taking the time to execute, I will learn through experience what no amount of theory could ever teach. This first-hand knowledge is invaluable, and the sooner I try (and fail) making money off of any idea of mine, the sooner I will have success.

     I am restricting the business to an online business because the start-up costs for a website is dirt-cheap compared to that of basically any other business.