101 things in 1001 days special interview

Create blogging success

In recent times, I interviewed Kristi from Kikolani.com and found this amazing blog project called 101 things in 1001 days. This is a project that can seriously help to achieve your goals. Goal setting has played a major role to my success. I wanted to share this exclusive interview with you and personally thank Michael Green for doing this interview. Enjoy.

Make sure you leave a comment on this interview. This is a project that I am going to undertake as well.

1) Please introduce yourself and your blog
My name is Michael Green and I live in Christchurch, New Zealand. I’ve been running a popular motivational project based on the simple challenge of completing 101 things in 1001 days. I started the Day Zero Project site  as a way to bring together participants’ lists and to inspire others to get motivated and involved.

2) What made you come up with the idea of the 101 things in 1001 things?
I would love to take all the credit for coming up with such a simple concept, however the true origin is not known but appears to predate the blogging phenomenon. I originally saw a post about 6 years ago where a blogger was attempting to complete a list of 101 things in 1001 days. I was instantly attracted to notion that that you could create a challenging plan for your immediate future – in a sense a game where you are competing against yourself. After about nine months of casual brainstorming of ideas for my own list, I wrote up the mission, criteria, and goal setting tips that have now been been proliferated across thousands of websites and used as the template for participants around the world.

3) How has goal setting enhanced your life?
The first thing that I discovered when I sat down to make a list, is that almost all my goals are both achievable and realistic. What I was missing was a sense of urgency to achieve them – the act of goal setting alone does not necessitate motivation or action. By imposing a time limit I found it kept my goals in the forefront of my mind and the immediacy to act on them. This year I completed my second list and managed to cross off all 101 tasks.

4) How many people have used this feature on their blogs?
The project has gained a lot of momentum over the past few years. There are over 3,000 registered lists on the site – but many times this number have been created both online and off.

5) What drives you to be a successful person in the world of blogging?
For me, success is about sharing ideas and experiences. I’m not driven by numbers or popularity. To be more successful in this way I am currently developing tools and additional projects that will help the sharing of ideas and increase participation in a community sense.

6) Who do you idolise for personal development? Is there a book you enjoy? A blog or audiobook?
I don’t tend to idolise people, it’s ideas and principles that inspire me. I read very few productivity blogs and instead seek out people who write about things they have achieved and what they have learned. However, two blogs I would recommend in this area would be Zen Habits and The Happiness Project. I’m also interested in pioneers in personal development, such as Benjamin Franklin who came up with a list of Thirteen Virtues and worked tirelessly to find balance in his life.

7) What goals have you attained by creating 101 things in 1001 days?
Where I think I have gained the most from this project is in the things I didn’t put on my list – things which arose from situations where I put myself out of my comfort zone. For example, one of my goals was to travel to another continent. I had no clear destination in my head when I created the list, but in 2007 I ended up spending four months in South America. Just trying something different and new gives you a sense of achievement – take a vacation (even just a weekend away), change your job, move city etc – just break your routine.

8) Has anyone told you about any success they have had from this project?
The majority of feedback I get is from people who have just discovered the project and still have that initial enthusiasm from sitting down and figuring out their immediate life goals. One of the most rewarding parts is seeing what ideas people come up with and what things are important to them.

9) How often do you review your goals?
I probably review my personal goals at least weekly. Goals and ambitions naturally evolve over time – the more things you experience the clearer your direction in life is. Well, that’s the theory anyhow!

10) Have you been inspired to create this list from the Tony Robbins at all? And if so why?
I’m only loosely familiar with Tony Robbins – I understand he also leverages the idea of written goals as the core to his systems. I think Tony does a great job making people feel motivated, but I don’t personally advocate a Neuro-linguistic programming approach.

11) If there is any tip you can give bloggers to be more successful what would it be?
It seems all the rules of blogging are made to be broken. But a successful blogger knows that what you are doing or writing about must be something that others would want to share or comment on. To break out of the niche you have to know what kind of audience you want to try and attract.

12) Finally, do you a special traffic tip that you could share with us?
If you want to build an audience and generate traffic then you need to add value and affirm your brand. One of my pet peeves about social media is that it’s making people lazy. When you are posting a link, photo or video clip etc, at the very minimum you should add a line about what you like about it. That point of difference is your personality.

Thank you so much for your time it has been a great pleasure hearing your answers. Leave a comment below and tell me your thoughts on the project.