The Summer of Zems

I’ll explain in more detail next week, but this summer is filled with work on Zems, my latest website project. In fact, most of the tenlist revolves around accomplishing goals that further the Zems project.

Compared to my first few tenlists, this is the first tenlist that has a strict focus on one specific project. Previous lists have focused on an even spread across different genres such as athleticism, literature, and a small website project. Zems is going to be my first “large” website, as well as one that will need to be consistently updated. For this reason, the summer before college is the best time to devote an intense amount of work (remember that the beginning roots, or the foundations of a project, are usually the most important parts) to something I am passionate about.

Tenlist Balance

Being passionate and devoting an entire season to something is great. However, just like a wise college student doesn’t load up on purely technical courses, an ideal tenlist shouldn’t comprise narrow categories either. In fact, one of the most important ways to keep up with a tenlist is to include a variety of goals. Let’s face it – even though we really want to improve in one area, sometimes we have days where we just don’t feel like exercising that category. For this reason, smaller but substantial unrelated goals are an absolute must for every tenlist.

From an abstract, holistic viewpoint, tenlist balance can be weighed similar to a college schedule. Simply divide up your goals into categories such as fitness, humanities, projects, etc. If you have one category taking up more than four of your tenlist goals then you should highly reconsider your goals for that season.

A tenlist is more than simply a way to keep focus. It’s a way to remind you to branch out and try things in different areas and discover new hobbies or rekindle old ones. Without this variety, the tenlist is nothing more than an annoying list reminding you to do a bunch of similar things, which is like focusing on your job while neglecting your family.

Here It Is – Summer 2010 Tenlist

  1. Update https://www.zesix.com weekly until I move to California.

  2. Commission all Zems web designs. This includes card back plus logo, card front, splash page, index page, vBulletin 4 forum skin.

  3. Finalize all Origins Set card texts.

  4. Organize and attend my Eagle Scout Ceremony.

  5. Acquire an Alienware M11x laptop (with Core-i7, 8GB RAM, and 500GB HDD) for college use.

  6. Complete an entire P90x routine.

  7. Read EVE: The Empirean Age.

  8. Commission artists to paint the Zems Origins Set.

  9. Complete 10 Photoshop tutorials on web design.

  10. Get Sudden League up and running.

You’ll probably notice that Goal #10 was on last season’s tenlist. This is a testament to the fact that even hard work can result in failure, and sometimes you have to ‘carry over’ goals from the previous season or simply drop them if you decide they’re not worth finishing.