作者：田育瑄
有時候，我憂鬱。
最近常常患得患失，做什麼感覺都很不對勁，儘管已經在英國從事自己喜歡的研究工作和專欄寫作，老是感到自己的核心能力很空，不斷的學習但是好像都只是將之是囫圇吞棗的吃下去，缺乏自己的見解而感到很沒有耐心，也充滿不安，就是因為明白＂獨立思考＂是身為專長在人文科學與教育的作家必備的條件，總容易在看到別人漂亮、有創意又豐富的內容，而感到自卑。
我這樣怎麼能成為一位好的作家呢？
根本沒人喜歡我的作品。
的確，真的很不足，但是也太常注視著別人怎麼想、別人怎麼看，不知道如何堅定地想：
那我心目中的好作家是什麼樣子？
我想成為跟他一樣嗎？
哪裡一樣又哪裡不同呢？
要如何開始呢？
誰目前可能喜歡我的作品，他們又怎麼想的呢？
最終，要解決的問題是：為什麼不願意接納自己？如何與自己和解？如何增進實力？如何練習？如何學習放鬆？瞭解哪些值得在乎，才是最大的課題。
A FRAMEWORK FOR CHANGING MY LIFE
We fail. We struggle. We lose direction. If you’re in that boat, this post is for you.
Here’s What You’ll Need:
- A note taking app or notebook
- A spreadsheet app (Airtable is amazing)
- A browser for research
- A calendar or calendar app
1. Write A List Of 100 Things.
Define where you want to get to, no matter where that is.
I have a list of 100 things I’m going to do in my life. It’s not a bucket list, it’s not things I wish I could do — it’s things I really am going to do.
It took me 3 hours to put that list together, and it covers everything I’ve wanted to accomplish or experience since I can remember.
Here’s my list:
☐Publish a novel
☐Publish a comic
☐Publish a business book
✓Own a column
✓Consult on business (done)
☐Have a podcast
☐Maintain a high level of fitness
☐Teach an online course
✓Create a non-profit .org
☐Fight for online privacy
☐Paint abstract art
☐Appear on a panel
☐Tour Google campus
☐Go to SXSW
☐Write a film
☐Be nominated for an entertainment award
☐Mentor someone
☐Work on a video game
☐Be a board member
☐Design a sneaker
☐Own a share of a winery
☐Deliver a commencement speech
☐Do an AMA
☐Publish a non-fiction book
☐Attend a gala ball
☐Make a short film
☐Own a tailored suit
☐Run a marathon
☐Visit the Apple Campus
☐Visit the Grand Canyon
☐Write a play
☐Become an angel investor
☐Own a Porsche
☐Have a video show
☐Found a tech company
✓Gain a new CMO position
☐Address a technology company
☐Do a high profile interview
☐Appear in a magazine
☐Hire an assistant
☐Sponsor a charity
☐Go to the Arctic
☐Invest in a restaurant
☐Write for the Washington Post
☐Visit India
☐Appear on a People To Watch list
☐Show love to everyone
☐Buy artwork
☐Be an artist’s patron
☐Own an investment property
☐Be a Mom
☐Own a dog
☐Take a sabbatical in the country
☐Gain a Doctorate
☐Travel to a war zone & learn
☐Take a private jet
☐Create my own foundation
☐Be a part of an accelerator
☐Try a new flavor of wine
☐Get married
☐Have a library
☐Have a regular table somewhere
☐Release some hardware
☐Meet the Prime Minister
☐Send my child to a private school
☐Visit Uluru
☐Write a book about my life
☐Release an app
☐Voyage on a cargo ship
☐Visit each of my childhood homes
☐Visit a French Winery
☐Stay in Tokyo
☐Write a Marvel or DC comic
☐Make a documentary
☐Build a tree-house for my kids
☐Get a tattoo
☐See a Lichtenstein painting
☐Stand in the water of every ocean
☐Plant a tree
☐Own a designer pen
☐Perform a one-man show
☐Be a paid speaker
☐Go to a baseball game
☐Own an original page of comic art
✓Write the introduction for a book (done)
☐Edit a book
☐Have a white Christmas
☐Learn to box
☐Visit a distillery
☐Attend a gallery opening
☐Meet an astronaut
☐Visit Holland
☐Study economics
☐Learn a sport
☐Curate art
☐Take a helicopter
☐Fly first class
☐Support open source software
☐See a Bell Shakespeare Production
✓Ride a bike (done)
…and a whole lot more.
Now if I can only accomplish 4 of those things per year, in 25 years’ time I will have worked my way through the entire list. Since I came up with the framework in 2015, I’ve ticked off a few — I’m engaged to my amazing partner, I took up cycling, I’m consulting on business every week, I wrote the introduction to an incredible book…it’s been awesome.
If I keep this up, I will have lived a life that I will be proud of. I will have lived a life with a strong, clearly defined direction.
So make a list. Don’t feel you have to copy mine — it can be full of anything. Ever wanted to build a mobile app on your own?
Participate in a skateboarding competition? Own a ranch? Learn to make your Grandmother’s chocolate mud cake?
Put them on the list.
Divide the list into these 3 categories:
Things that I need skills for
Things that I can do immediately
Things that I need time for
Now you have to live with it. You have to keep it with you for the next 2 weeks. Add to it, cut it down, analyse it.
Start to hate it, start to love it more.
Just slowly become accustomed to it and work out if it really is a reflection of who you are and what you want.
Ask someone close to you if they’ll read it.
When you have a list that you’re happy with, you can jump onto the secondstep.
It’s what drives and motivates me throughout my day. Reading it constantly means I can never forget anything from it.
2. Create a skill chart.
This is how you’ll level up and track your experience.
If you want to get through a list of 100 things that you’re going to do in your life, you need to level up.
You need to work through the Skills category on your master list. Go through it and assign the skills you’ll need to each item.
Be realistic, don’t kid yourself. You have to honestly put down exactly what skills you are lacking or currently possess but are weak.
These are the skills you’ll need to learn in order to accomplish this part of your list.
Take those skills and build a spreadsheet. It doesn’t matter what it looks like, so don’t waste your time on the design.
All you need is 4 columns.
- A column that lists the skills you have to learn
- A column for Research
- A column for Action
- A column for Progress
In the Action column, you’re going to be listing every step you can think of towards learning that skill. Think of it as the pre-requisites.
Finding a course, signing up for it, taking on small projects, reading books — whatever it takes. Research this. It doesn’t have to be hard to put it together.
For almost anything you want to learn there will be a hundred step by step guides online somewhere.
In the progress column, put down an estimate of how near you are to completing each of those steps. Again, be brutally honest. I won’t know if you’re kidding yourself, but sooner or later — you will.
This spreadsheet is now your guide to gaining those skills. Read it every week. Decide which steps to work on every week. Work on them. Update your progress. Repeat. It’s that simple.
3. Take immediate action.
By ticking off a few things from the list immediately, you’ll store rocket fuel for later.
We’re in the “things you can do immediately” category now from your master list. These are the things that you could actually do right now.
There’s nothing stopping you, but for some reason you’ve never actually done them.
You need to make a plan. There’s no spreadsheet for this part.
Just grab a sheet of paper or a text file or an Evernote and write down which of those immediate things you’re going to accomplish over the next month.
Remember, they might be small. They might not take much effort at all.
Some of the immediate tasks from my list include “start reading The Infinite Jest” and “get a tattoo.”
Extremely manageable, highly doable.
Why do you want to have some instant actions? Because it’s going to motivate you.
It will enable you to tick some things off your master list right away, and doing that is going to make the whole project a lot less intimidating. That’s a good thing.
Once you’ve mapped out your immediate tasks, set some dates. Put them in your calendar. Get them happening. You’ll be able to mark them off your calendar and make room for more items from the other categories on your master list.
Over time, your immediate action list and calendar is going to turn into your project forecasting and scheduling.
4. The things you need time for.
Deciding that the things you want to do are worth your seconds, minutes and hours.
For me, that includes finishing a novel. Doing a podcast.
Those things that I absolutely have the skills and the abilities and the resources to do — but I just haven’t got around to yet.
If you didn’t accomplish anything on your list, and you looked back on your life, these are the things you’d feel the worst about.
Because they were so possible! They were within your grasp!
Note — I’m not saying you have to be productive all day every day. I watch Netflix and read comic books and play Fallout 4 as much as anyone else.
Turn it all into your daily routine. Start every morning by reading through your master list. Reading your skills chart and working out whether or not you’ve progressed. Evaluating whether you’ve marked your immediate tasks from your calendar. Checking your time log.
I read my list every morning over breakfast. This is how I get things done.
8周練習：LEARN HOW TO INVEST IN YOURSELF
閱讀更多：How To Invest In Yourself.
