Penelopes often don’t like change. We like to stick to doing things we’re good at and stay with predictable routines. Makes us effective, and in control. And, after a time, royally bored.
Have you become too comfortable with your life? Are your routines old, your hobbies stale, your relationships zingless? Time to get out of our rut. We’re going to learn something new.
Today’s assignment:
Watch: Julie & Julia with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams or Read: Julie & Julia by Julie Powell
Or Think: What project can you take on that’s like the one Julie Powell did? What can you do that would get you out of your comfort zone and/or enable you to learn new things?
Some ideas:
- Get the list of the 100 best movies of all time and work through them. Maybe do this as a part of a film club, instead of a book club. Oh, that’d be fun! Once a month, you get together with some good friends, and eat, drink wine and watch an iconic movie. You could even do food themed to the movie. Am I going too far?
- Read the most popular novels of all time. You can also choose from this list of reader favorites.
- Read every book by a particular author that has always fascinated or eluded you. (Charles Dickens? Agatha Christie? Alice Hoffman? Gabriel Garcia Marquez? Alexandre Dumas?)
- Eat at the best 25 restaurants in your area.
- Learn to cook like Thomas Keller from The French Laundry.
- Listen to every Mozart concerto or Beethoven symphony. For extra credit, read a biography of that composer and put some context to the music.
- Take a class at your nearest college or junior college about something that both interests and stretches you. Shakespeare? Art History? Come on, you know you love homework.
- Take a dance class. You loved ballet or jazz dance when you were little, right? Why not now? Have you seen the cute ballet/dance clothes there are out there now? It’s not just tutus, girls.
- Learn a new hobby. Knitting would be my suggestion, but there may be other hobbies.
- Take an online class to increase your skills at work or you ability to make small talk at parties.
- Visit the top 10 wineries nearest you, or, if you’re not near a wine region, go to your nearest wine shop or BevMo and have them help you work through one of the Top 100 Wines of the Year lists. Don’t love wine? Do the same thing with beer. Or tea. Or honey. The internet makes the possibilities nearly endless.
Do: Choose a subject that appeals to you on an intrinsic level and get deeply into it. No more skimming here and there. Pick something and expand yourself. Become an expert. You’ll be changed and broadened (hopefully, just mentally) and you’ll surely be less bored.
For my part, I’ve decided to work my way through all the books written by the Bronte sisters. Some I’ve read and will be re-reading, some will be new. I love me some Victorian angst.
What do you think? Any of this sound interesting to you? Are you up for the challenge? Please weigh in with other ideas that can be added to the list.
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Love the movie club with food theme idea! I am SO doing that as soon as we get a sectional sofa. We did discuss the idea of movie club before (with some of my friends) but we were not sure how to select movies. Your idea for top 100 movies – great idea, so simple.
This is a great idea!!
I love your list!
I love this idea! I’ll need to have a think about what I would do, it certainly won’t be knitting, though I am already trying to learn to cook- maybe I need to make it more systematic. Food for thought!
I really like this idea – and obviously need to do it because I found myself ’skimming’ the list which is silly because 1) I always love your posts and suggestions 2) pretty sure you mentioned ‘no skimming’!
I am SO ready to tackle new projects and and be involved in new hobbies. I definitely needed this kind of post today! xoxo
Just when I am feeling like I am in the groove of things and life might slow down and become just a bit dull, we end up having to move! We are facing our 10th in 14 years… I would rather be bored, or tackle of your suggestions!!! Blessings!
oh, i LOVE this post! we think so alike, it’s amazing.
i cooked through a martha stewart cookbook in 2009! it was tons of fun.
i would love to go through a music or movies list!
So glad you guys are liking some of these ideas. The more I think about it, the more I’d love to do a film club with food. That sounds so fun and also pretty do-able.
My Dad has started sharing with me some of his favorite classical music and that’s been a really great way to expand my horizons, too. Every time I learn something new, I feel younger in a weird way.
I’ve been doing these exact same things! I mean, more specifically, listing things that I want to do and just doing them for the heck of it. We only live once, why not just pick up running or sew a purse or start a blog? I’m all for changing things up and enjoying life to the fullest extent I can.
… considering taking an online course. You mentioning it is a little enticing….
Hi I’m arriving here today from The Happiness Project, a blog I love and subscribe to. I have this fun goal of visiting as many Regional and National Parks and I can and I’m having great fun camping and going for walks in some amazing locations. But I like your idea of going deep into a subject, sounds really fascinanting. Will explore some possibilities! Thanks for this idea
Wow! This is really great. I feel kind of stunted and this list is so inspiring. I think trying new things will definitely snap me out of this mood/feeling. Thanks for the great ideas
I have the rosetta stone for Spanish that I’ve never used. Just the thought overwhelms me!
I need to crack it open this week, and see what the process is. I believe I can do just-15 minutes a day, and really get somewhere!
So my thing is: Learn to speak fluent Spanish. : )
Hi, also over from The Happiness Project. As an avid knitter, for other knitters, I’d recommend Adrienne Martini’s Sweater Quest (http://www.amazon.com/Sweater-Quest-Year-Knitting-Dangerously/dp/1416597646/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271683590&sr=8-1) as a project idea…
What a great post! I have been actively trying to push my comfort zone limits for a few years now and it’s been a great adventure. I’ve taken conga drum lessons, went to a writer’s conference and now, after not liking exercise my whole life I am training to run a 5K!! Once you get in the groove of being brave, your life unfolds in some pretty special ways. Thanks for sharing.
I cooked Julia’s Beef and it was delish!
I am also taking an online photography course!
Great list and you’re right, Penelopes don’t like change. LOL!
i’m just finishing nursing school and the last few months i’ve been salivating at the idea of taking guitar and singing lessons. i think because i’m tired of using just my analytical side and neglecting my creative side. i can’t wait to have the time to do that! i have dreams of just sitting with my husband and serenading him. i already sing/rock out to songs on the radio, much to his amusement. but i love my acoustic guitar and can’t wait to learn this. i’m sort of goal oriented so i think there needs to be a goal in mind when we get started in something new. otherwise, when fun things get tedious or boring, we can remind ourselves of why we are doing it and look forward to that goal. or if the goal is to just enjoy the journey, we can allow ourselves to let it go if we have decided the journey isn’t enjoyable anymore. then, you don’t feel like a loser for quitting something, because you’ve defined your goal beforehand.
Awesome idea! I will be mulling over what to become an expert in… I just got the Julia Child cookbook for my birthday and it was the best present EVER. I can actually cook beef bourgignon and it tastes like something I want to make again and again and again. When you’re using wine and bacon as two of the main ingredients, it is hard to not like it.
such a great list, thanks for this – I need to print it out and keep it hanging up!! I think that’s why i started doing the shake it up series…I felt like I was getting into a rut and wanted to start being more creative and spontaneous….of course sometimes it feels like i plan my spontaneity! i’m still a work in progress
but i’m with you…i have a tendency to get bored so i love taking classes to learn new things!
Love this idea! Hmm….. the possibilities.
@Lyn: Great suggestion. The Sweater Quest book you link to sounds like an excellent “quest” for a knitter. I’d love to be able to say I knit an Alice Starmore Fair Isle project!
I love lists AND I love these kind of projects. I’m an especially huge fan of AJ Jacobs and his yearlong quests. The Know-it-All and The Year of Living Biblically are great GREAT books. I’m in the middle of my own such project. I recently left all my best friends in NYC to live in Chicago with my then-boyfriend, now husband.
So I’m taking this year to literally do everything I can to make new friends. Basically, I’m becoming a friendship expert! (hopefully). I’m blogging about the experience here:
http://mwfseekingbff.com/
So glad to have found your blog. It’s like it was written just for me!
I am so happy to have found your site! I am a compulsive list maker and am currently working on my Mighty Life List. If you haven’t been to Maggies’ blog, check it out: http://mightygirl.net/ . She has a life list that she is blogging her way through and inspiring others to try new things. In regards to this post, my husband and I are trying to learn a new language and have a list of 200 movies that we are trying to get through in the next 3 years. I would also love to learn how to Tango, but I’m having a hard time convincing him that is worth the time. I may have to grab a friend to be my dancing partner!
Love this post, and I loved the book. (Have had the movie from Netflix for 3 months. Oops.)
I’m always taking classes and picking up new hobbies, but last fall I got the sewing bug. I asked Santa for a sewing machine and he brought me one. I’ve been sewing non-stop since. Clothes, bags, household projects, you name it. I’m still learning, but every project gives me the opportunity to learn a new skill. I love it. And I’m making useful items.
Oooh, how exciting to find this blog (via Gretchen Rubin, I think. Or maybe Little Brown Pen?). Anyhow, thank you for suggesting this fun assignment. I spontaneously took it on last year after reading Julie and Julia (which I loved!) and then seeing the movie (which I loved equally and differently).
My project has been to spend the year developing a seasonal repertoire of good meals we love, and to do that, I’ve been concentrating on learning from Suzanne Goin and Thomas Keller. I never would have gone near either of them before last year (when my repertoire was chile, enchiladas, and Frito pie, if you can even call that a meal). It is astounding what those two talented and generous folks have done for my confidence and skills. (Lora Zarubin, who wrote “I am almost always hungry”, has been another fantastic source for me.)
I hope you will thoroughly enjoy your Bronte immersion. I still think that Wuthering Heights is the craziest and best book ever.
I may have already commented on this, but I am going to again. Ha. – I just re-read it, too. – Anyway, I love this idea. I thought about blogging my way through my National Board certification, but now it looks like I won’t be going back to work; so these ideas are very helpful.
I love this post and am glad I found your site. I’ve decided to blog my way through learning to sew dresses for my daughters. My post about it is here:http://madebymomma.blogspot.com/2010/04/dresses.html
Hi! I just found your blog and share an obsession for lists.
I look forward to reading more!
Thanks for the inspiration! I recently read Julie and Julia, and that combined with your post has given me sufficient motivation to try the best 100 novels…and blog as I go!
Here’s the beginning…http://lulamaegoestothelibrary.wordpress.com/
I love this list! I have been trying to read more and have a list of books as my goal for the year. I love the idea of the movie club!
Omg. I had not thought about this like that before. I’m book-marking this for later so I can read your other posts. I have a few other web pages to look at and found this while looking for some info for work.