I’ve got so much wind at my back. What better time to start some new habits than today? This is not a New Year’s resolution. The New Year is a convenient coincidence. Don’t believe me? I just graduated from college, I am (blessedly) well-employed, and on Saturday I’ll be married. Feel that? That’s wind, my friend. More wind than 22 New Years combined have yet afforded me. I intend to open my sails and voyage.

When my pastor (@johnblythe) and I met, he was big on time well spent and I was bigger on time well wasted. I think it frustrated him. One thing I know about John is that he understands the value of time. Time slips through our fingers like sand, and it is definitely finite. Until I spent some time with him, that truth never really gripped me like it does now. Time wasted is lives wasted. Another thing I picked up from John is medium.com.

On medium, I read this article by Busy Building Things on long-term habit building. Based on their pitch (very convincing, namely due to the incorporation of one Mr. Jerry Seinfeld into the product’s origin), I asked for this calendar for Christmas with the hopes of implementing the method. Santa didn’t deliver, which would be fine were it not for my sudden realization that if I ordered one myself I would not receive the calendar in time to start January 1. This led me to create a makeshift Hustle Calendar, with all due respect and props to the true creators at Busy Building Things.

Here’s how it works. I choose something I want to build a habit of and do it every day. Every day that I succeed in this venture, I get to mark a big fat red X on the appropriate day. The name of the game: don’t break the chain. 365 consecutive X’s and I’m a straight hustler.

What will my habit be? I’ve chosen two, and they’re pretty predictable. I want to read substantial literature (both in content and length) and write something (likely not so substantial) every day of 2014. The goal is not to put into words all of the wisdom I’ve got stored up. That might take all of one week. In fact, while I will do all of my writing on Medium, the majority of it will never be published. The writing and the reading is for me, and I will not prove otherwise by parading myself and my musings.

If you’re intrigued, throw something together yourself. Why the big eccentric calendar? Why not use a standard calendar or something on your smartphone? As John might explain, this is a lifehack. This big goofy calendar taking up wall space in my laundry room is a challenge to my pride and my word. If I break the chain, I face the taunting of the Dark Knight (and my soon-to-be wife) for the remainder of 2014.

Check in from time to time to see if my pride and word prove futile in the face of my enormous laziness, or if I build some healthy habits in 2014.