The 52 Fridays Experiment
In the spirit of a fresh new year, my mantra is to be devoted to my creative hobbies and passions. Part of that is writing on this platform and getting my ideas in the world. But another part of that is leaning into my core life value of Adventure. I know I am happiest when I embark on something new or try something different. The joy I get from that novelty makes life interesting for me. But how can I find that joy without traveling every week? That’s where the idea for 52 Fridays came from.
Why did I start 52 Fridays?
Each year we have 52 weeks to explore, grow, work, and recharge. So I designed an experiment to challenge myself to use 1–2 hours each week to learn new things, grow personally, and lean into that adventurous spirit.
For me, Friday afternoons and evenings are a great time for devoting myself to this challenge since work is quiet and I’ve got that Friday energy riding high. But Fridays may not work for me every week, so I’m going to be patient with myself. My hope is that if you’re reading this, you might be inspired to use a tiny slice of the time you do have to introduce more fun and adventure into your life. It doesn’t have to be Friday or even every week, design a schedule that works for you.
But how to spend these 52 Fridays?
The goal of this experiment is to have a mix of fun, learning, growth, and adventure, so I broke all the possibilities out into categories and gave myself a bit of structure. The activities should be 1–2 hours in length, be supportive to my overall goals for the year, lean directly into my passions and pursuits, and something that internally feels like a yummy, soul-awakening YES.
The Categories
Structure helps me commit to things so my goal is to decide my categories for the next month on the last day of the previous month. So on December 31st, I planned out all my Fridays for January and make necessary arrangements to ensure I could make those dates work. For January my categories are:
- Personal Development
- Home Improvement
- Arts and Crafts
- Travel
At the beginning of the month, I have a rough idea of what I’m planning for each of those categories, but I’ve decided to keep it flexible for myself. I want this to feel FUN, engaging, exciting, not just another responsibility I need to add to my to-do list.
My Fears
I’m not going to lie, I’m intimated by this journey. Lots of questions are popping up in my head, such as “What if I don’t have time? What if I’m traveling on a Friday? What if I am sick? What if a friend needs me?”
All of these are valid concerns, so I’m setting loose boundaries with myself on this journey. If something comes up on a Friday that I can’t miss, I’ll find another time that works. I’m going to be focused on making 4 things happen per month for myself. If I can’t find 4 hours a month, I’ll need to look at my priorities and shuffle a few things around.
The other thing I’m going to implement to make this feel like fun is to invite people along on my Fridays! I know I have friends out there that want to try new things and simply need an invitation, so I hope I can be the catalyst for the fun in their lives.
How can people follow along on my journey?
If you’re interested in following along on my 52 Fridays, follow me on Medium as I’ll be documenting my journey here. If you have any recommendations for an upcoming Friday, let me know in the comments!
