A 100-day challenge
Plus: September goals
Hello Money Movers,
I’m going to Ireland with my mom at the beginning of October! We need recs. The plan for now is to fly into Dublin and then take day(s)-long tours to other parts of the country; we do not want to rent a car. Would love recs on restaurants, shops, bookstores, activities, and things to see outside of the ones listed on every website.
Back here in the states, I’m joining Lindsey Stanberry at The Purse, a wonderful newsletter that many of you already subscribe to, as a Senior Editor. Lindsey and I will expand the series published there and I’ll write occasional essays, work with contributors, and start learning the business side of things.
I’ll still publish Money Moves and am looking for other freelance opportunities—my hope is that I’ll be able to take on all types of writing and other projects to expand my horizons and see what’s out there for the next few months. If you have a gig you think I’d be good for please reach out. :)
It is very funny (and coincidental) that Lindsey’s newsletter yesterday called out the challenge-ification of content, given the theme of my newsletter today. But that’s the beauty of working together—we all bring different viewpoints!
In today’s issue:
1. A 100-day project
2. September goals
3. On my radar
A 100-day project
Today marks the start of the 100-day project I mentioned in last week’s newsletter: Journaling every morning. (I wrote the start date as Sept. 2 last week but long-time readers know I have trouble sticking to a self-determined schedule.)
Journaling has been a big part of my life since college, for around 15 years now, when I decided to record a month studying abroad and the habit stuck.
Though I often wish I could pull off the aesthetically pleasing bullet journal spreads or sticker collages, that’s just not my thing. My journal pages are straight-forward diaristic entries, allowing me to work through my thoughts and feelings, make note of important dates, books, or quotes, or simply record the mundane. I also enjoy reading through my entries from years past to see where my head was at, what I was worried about, what I was reading/watching/etc., what I was obsessing over. Patterns emerge, interesting to no one but me.
I don’t do it every day; in fact, over the past year and a half, I’ve rarely journaled at all, and I deeply miss it. The impetus behind my daily project is to get back into a groove with writing outside of the financial realm and start my day with something I enjoy.
I wrote last week that a big inspiration for the 100-day project is artist Austin Kleon. Another is writer Suleika Jaouad, who launched an extremely popular 100-day creativity project during the pandemic and recently published The Book of Alchemy about her own journaling practice as well as prompts from other writers and artists, including Ann Patchett, Lidia Yuknavitch, Lena Dunham, Jaouad’s husband Jon Batiste, George Saunders, and many more. I plan to complete a prompt each morning.
I’m fairly certain the “100-day” journaling challenge seeped into my subconscious from reading her newsletter so I wanted to credit her. But Jaouad herself was inspired by graphic designer and Yale professor Michael Bierut, who originated the 100-day project (or at least coined it), and has described it as a “forced, scheduled activity combined with complete, wide-open freedom. Outside of having to do the activity regularly, no one is going to tell you if what you do is good or bad, if you did it right or wrong, or that it has to lead to a specific result.”
He encouraged students to pick “any design activity” and stick to it. One pulled a paint chip out of a bag each day and wrote a short response to it. Another extended the project to a full year, and took a photo with 365 strangers. Bierut’s first iteration of the project was making a drawing based on a photo from the New York Times every day; Jaouad’s mother painted 100 ceramic tiles.
Whatever creative act you choose, the point of it all, as Jaouad writes in her book, “is to use discipline as a vehicle for creative inspiration.” Bierut, meanwhile, compared the process to “planting a seed in a garden and seeing what had grown 100 days later. Sometimes people crashed and burned; other times, ideas that seemed preposterous or uninteresting in the beginning turned out to be amazing.”
Mine aspirations, as I said, are a bit less lofty; I simply want to journal again and thought a little accountability could help.
Chris made a calendar for me to track my progress, and I thought it’d be fun to share here if any Movers want to try it themselves. If you’re interested, remember it doesn’t have to be a big to do. “Something small, every day” is the goal.
September goals
August goals I accomplished: Take bigger swings with newsletter essays (did this at least once), publish freelance writing (I submitted a draft so I’m counting it), spend as little money as possible, and spend as much time outside as possible. I basically enjoyed the end of summer as well as one can while unemployed. Pretty good! I did not buy a bike because I have no idea what bike to buy.
This month, I’d like to:
Journal every morning.
Spend as little money as possible.
Run 3 mornings each week.
Get 2 freelance assignments.
Post 1 TikTok (for real this time).
Learn a new reporting skill.
Work on my “in depth” project for this newsletter.
Bonus: Some Money Movers may recall my perennial inability to get my food budget under control/cook meals at home. Turns out the push I needed was simply to lose my job and have a lot more free time: I barely ate out in August and tried a lot of new recipes. (Chris informed me my cooking has also improved, not to brag!) I hope to continue this culinary journey in September.
On my radar
Alcohol consumption: New research reportedly being suppressed by the Trump administration finds new evidence of the link between drinking alcohol and getting sick and dying from various causes, including cancer.
Chips: I rated the new-to-me Superbon Truffle Chips as a 6/10 but the more I think about it the less confident I am. These were really good! Just not super flavorful. But is that just my Americanized palate rearing its ugly head? Idk.
Housing: My good friend Trey is in the New York Times with a smart angle on housing (in)affordability.
Music: “Incomprehensible” hit hard when it came out a couple months ago, can’t wait for the rest of Big Thief’s new album, which comes out tomorrow.
TV: I had to take a break after some particularly violent episodes, but I’m back to watching The Sopranos. (Yes for the first time.)
That’s it for now. Talk soon,
A
P.S. Thanks Christopher Skinner for the illustrations!
P.S.S. To share tips, pitch ideas, or provide reader feedback, please respond to this newsletter or email aliciaadamczyk781@gmail.com.
Ireland is awesome! We did a week there last year and didn’t find need for a car at all - rail is abundant and takes you through lovely areas.
Some highlights were:
- Tullamore DEW distillery tour in County Offaly (if you are whisky fans!). We stayed at the Tullamore Court Hotel, which had a lovely breakfast.
-The Dean Hotel in Galway. So chic yet warm and fun, with a great rooftop and pool area.
- Book of Kells in Dublin (though I know it’s on every website!)