Thoughts on life, love and faith by Plasticmind.

My New Year’s resolution? Twelve months of thirty-day changes.

I have a tendency to make grand, sweeping resolutions that never seem to pan out. Last year, in the hopes of doing something more manageable, I took the P52 challenge—write one blog post a week for 52 weeks—but only made it to July. Even though 52 blog posts amount to only 52 days of actual resolution-keeping, it’s still 365 days of the same challenge.

So this year, when I happened to stumble upon Matt Cutts’ blog and his 30 day challenges, it seemed like a perfect fit for me. Taking on a new challenge each month not only introduces variety (and therefore, interest) into the year, but also feels much more forgiving: fail and you still have next month’s challenge to succeed.

Matt’s been doing this now for several years, so his blog is full of great ideas for challenges. You should really stop over there for a look; he’s even asked his readers to suggest or vote on challenges. I nabbed the ones I’m interested in, threw in a few of my own and planned them for months I think will best fit what’s happening my life at the time.

Here’s a tentative list of what I’ve got planned for 2011:

• January: 30 days with no Twitter or Facebook
• February: Take one picture a day for 30 days
• March: 30 days with no computer after 9 p.m.
• April: Try one new thing a day for 30 days
• May: 30 days to get my finances in order
• June: 30 days with no caffeine
• July: Draw something everyday for 30 days
• August: 30 days with no TV
• September: Write down one thing I’m thankful for each day for 30 days
• October: Read the New Testament in 30 days
• November: Write a novel/book in 30 days
• December: Learn one new word a day for 30 days

January’s going to be a tough one for me, but since I’ll be busy at work with several large projects and busy at home with baby prep, it’s probably for the best. February should be a no brainer, especially with Anna joining us the beginning of the month. March should also be easy, especially with a new baby in the house. April will be a lot of fun for me, which is why I planned it during my birthday month. Had to get August’s challenge out of the way before the fall line-ups and November is National Novel Writing Month. Finally, December I tossed myself a softball since December is usually very hectic.

I’m planning on writing at least one blog post per challenge to summarize how things went (e.g. Great habit that I’m going to keep up, I failed miserably, etc), so be sure to check back here once a month. I’m sure I’ll be posting here quite a bit, especially in January when I’m having Facebook and Twitter withdrawals.

Interested in joining me for any of these challenges? Let me know in the comments, I’d love to have you on the journey!