On February 20, 2011, Cesar Kuriyama had a kind of crazy idea: he would videotape a moment from each day of his life, pick one second from the day's footage, and put them all together into a montage that would be a record of his year: what he did and where he was. He was particularly motivated because he'd saved up to be able to take a year off so he knew it wouldn't just be shots of him going to work day after day.
The experiment had an unanticipated effect: it make him want to do something different every day so that the footage wouldn't be boring. He told Fast Company, "“[The project has] made me realize I need to do one interesting thing to make today count,” he says. “It’s been an incalculably positive influence on my life."
Now he's raising money via the crowdfunding site Kickstarter to develop an app that would make this easy for anyone to do with their phone camera. However, you don't have to wait. I've come up with some other ways you can do something similar:
* Take one photo each day and at the end of the year string them together into a fast-moving slide show.
* Draw one thing each day that relates to something you did that day.
Or, the idea I like best:
* At the end of each day, write one or two sentences about the most interesting thing you did that day, or the most interesting thought you had, or the most interesting thing you heard or read.
For writers, this could become a great source of ideas as well, and it means you'll write at least a line or two even on days that you don't have time for a proper writing session.
I suggest you get a nice notebook or datebook or even a calendar to use. If you like the idea, why not get started today or tomorrow, no need to wait for January 1st!
(If you'd like some friendly guidance in writing your book, see "Your Writng Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)
