Sometime in late 2005, after a fish pen, camp stove and snowmobile were added to his list, I discovered Kyle MacDonald. Kyle had decided earlier that summer to obtain a house through incremental trades. He gave himself one year to do it, and began his bartering adventure with just one red paperclip.
I read all of Kyle’s clever updates and watched the media surround him. I cheered with everyone else for his success, all the while wondering (with everyone else) why I hadn’t thought of the idea – especially after having lived with my in-laws for the previous year.
Since that time, I’ve noticed no small number of short-term projects (STPs) like Kyle’s: Live with only 100 personal belongings for a year, Take the Bible literally for a year, Produce no household trash for a month. These aren’t invent-the-telephone or get-the-first-plane-to-fly projects. They’re more related to curiosity, personal goal-setting, and the advent of social and electronic networking.
Three observations
I can’t say for sure if STPs are a recent bandwagon phenomenon, or if the internet has simply increased our awareness. I can say that humans have an insatiable need for attention. Blogger, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter feed that need. Social connection tools provide us with a feast of curious eyes. And if those eyes can represent far away places like California, Kenya and Columbia, then all the better for our analytics measuring and lust for international reach.
"An example of a power law graph showing popularity ranking. To the right is the long tail."
Second, browsing, linking and forwarding make it easier than ever to gather disciples. The Long Tail principle says that STP hosts have a far better chance of finding followers online than if they were to knock on every door in town. Diverse and far-reaching communication outlets and the ease of using them result in gathering a niche of disciples from around the planet willing to do whatever you inspire them to do.
Third, while plenty of One Red Paperclip projects exist, most STPs seem to carry a humanitarian element. Despite our sinfulness and insecurity-driven quest for fame, people are remarkably motivated to change the world. They don’t all have Christ in mind, but they demonstrate a desire for healing and justice.
STP examples
Consider a few STPs that crossed my desk recently.
1. Michael Abbaté, author of Gardening Eden, created “No Waste November.” He and his wife are blogging about their efforts to waste no garbage this month. Check it out before Black Friday.
2. Dave Bruno, friend of HCB member, Michele Corbett, started the “100 Thing Challenge” last year with the hope of paring down his personal items to 100. Visit Dave’s site or read Time Magazine’s article on him.
3. A.J. Jacobs treats life as a series of STPs. He began by reading the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica. He spent another year taking the Bible literally. And he captured his latest endeavors in The Guinea Pig Diaries, a compilation of “radical lifestyle experiments” such as “I Think You’re Fat,” and “My Outsourced Life.”
Why do we undertake such interesting projects? To pinch ourselves to see if we’re still alive? To get a dose of public affirmation? To make a difference?
Not all STPs have a spiritual bent or exist to serve the environment. Maybe that’s okay. While I tend to think our heart, mind, soul and strength ought to be stewarded in a particularly biblical way, I understand how playfulness and curiosity, like Kyle’s, are good items in God’s world.
So how about you?
What STP would you consider starting? I’m serious. Tell us. Sketch it out below. Tell us which of the following relationships it might affect most: With Self, Others, Creation, or God.
Post written by Sam Van Eman of New Breed of Advertisers. Long Tail photo by Hay Kranen / PD. Used with permission.
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Tune in next Friday for L.L. Barkat’s Random Acts of Poetry. Here’s her Poetry Prompt: This week over at @tspoetry, we had a poetry writing party around the theme “Fruits, Herbs & Spices (and the occasional snap pea & golden beet)”. You can see all the info offered up by @tspoetry by stopping in at ts’s Twitter account and looking at the November 10th tweets. Using the info as grist, cook us up a poem and post it by Thursday evening November 19 (you could also use info from one of your own recipe books, as an alternative). For sample poems, click on the #tsp tag to see what our party goers tweet-poemed. Drop your post link over at my place so I don’t miss you. I look forward to your sweet offerings (or maybe they’ll be spicy? 
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Sam- Didn’t it all start with Julie and Julia – The blogger who decided to cook one of Julia Childs’ recipes every day? I also was intrigued and delighted when I read that paper clip trading story a while back. It just seemed so cool. But really, I was more jealous of people who actually have that kind of time and freedom in their lives to dream up such schemes and then actually devote all of their time and attention to it. Your other examples (reducing waste and material possessions) are more meaningful, and actually more do-able, I think, for normal people who have, like, real lives and responsibilities to consider.
The only STP I have ever seriously considered was to get in a car and drive through every place that I have ever lived, to do a serious contemplation of my life by geography. I moved around a lot as a kid (8 times) , and have distinct impressions from each house/town we lived in, representing different developmental stages of my early life. Then, growing up, as I went to college, grad school, my first job, my first apartment, getting married, the poor-broke newlywed’s apartment, the bigger apartment to fit the new babies, the first house with a mortgage, the second house, etc etc. It somehow has a nostalgic draw to me, as it marks my unique personal story of life.
I will definitely do it some day.
Life by Geography. I like it, Brad. Give me a ring when you’re ready and we’ll make it a road trip.
Bradley, that sounds so cool. And, hey there’s your book title too: “Life by Geography.”
When people write books about these STP’s they’re called stunt books. While it technically describes what the writer did, I feel like it doesn’t express the heart of the experience.
I did an STP when I sat outdoors every day for a minimum 15 minutes of solitude. As an incredibly busy person I did not want to sacrifice the time to do this. But it seemed like the thing to do at the time. Many days I ended up staying out there for up to an hour. It was an amazing experience over the long haul of an entire year.
Now I’m doing a year-long art pilgrimage. I like the idea of focusing on something for a period of time. Who knows, maybe I will extend when I finish.
My current STP (although I never thought of calling it that) is to post one of the multitude of poems that constantly flow through my mind on my blog. It’s rather terrifying, since they’re probably not worthy, but the point is more to discipline myself and give my poetry a chance to leave the confines of paper scraps and forgotten moments. And, as expected, the daily part is what’s difficult, so I guess the category is “self” for personal growth, although I also hope it glorifies God, points out the beauty of creation, and helps others gain a new perspective or a moment of humor, also.
Brad, LL can do the art work for your book, and I’ll…well, okay, I’ll just drive while you write.
Phoenix-Karenee, I wonder if the more personally significant STPs all have a “terrifying” element. I’ll have to think about that. I also love your line about giving your poetry “a chance to leave the confines of paper scraps and forgotten moments.” I have these paper scraps, too, and some of them are fine left alone. Yet some…
Ah, the ones better left alone… well, I decided I can count on people not to read the poetry if it’s no good… and I do my best not to output anything of which I should be ashamed (though it’s an effort and not a guarantee).
I like the idea of coming up with something positive about negative situations, too. That’s one to implement immediately!
Sam, that’s really funny. You should do a stand-up comic STP for a year.
Way too terrifying.
For who? You or the audience? ; -)
Is the audience middle schoolers or passengers on the commuter train? “Terrifying” has degrees, you know.
I have often wondered what would happen if I committed to not traveling any further then 100 miles from home for a year. No flying around, no getting in the car and driving aimlessly, but driving with a point and purpose.
I read that the relatives that we are usually closest to are the ones that geographically are closest. This makes sense for obvious reasons. You can still see them, but by staying closer to home longer you have to block out the urges, subliminally planted and otherwise, to travel. Travel has it’s glamor, and it has it’s inane portions as well.
What I have been learning in regards to a healthy church is that it is a healthy expression of the culture of the area. By staying closer to home for longer periods of time you begin to see the rhythm of your neighborhood, observe the quirks and appreciate the differences that make your community so very unique.
I love globalism and the things that The Radio, T.V., Internet and other such things are making possible. But only when we see our local culture and community as part of the whole, a unique part of the whole, can we truly appreciate it.
Carl, your comment about 100 miles makes me think of the locavore movement.
And your overall push for the local community is something I’m learning to appreciate more and more. I wrote on the subject just recently: Into the wild…of snow globes.
Thanks for tuning in!
Bradley, as someone who moved a lot as a child… I once spent a journey of sorts trying to find all the old homes on google earth’s street application . Incredible , as I virtually “walked” to school etc.
great post, Sam.
Good idea, deb! I may try that as a warm-up.
BTW, here are my geographies. by state, rather than specific town (to avoid getting too personal!)
MD
NY
NY
CT
NY
MI
NY
NY
MA
MA
MA
MA
MA
PA
14 moves. Not too bad, I guess.
The good news, Brad, is that you ended well.
Go PA!
Thanks, deb.
My STPs at this time are pretty boring compared to the ones I’m reading about here…My family agrees to try one new food every week, and L.L. has inspired me to read poetry with my children every night. Not so concrete, I guess, but has changed our lives a little.
short term project…i have been sitting here thinking about it and have come up with a few ideas.
#1. when something is really bothering me, write it down, and then write something positive about it.
#2. send a hand written note to someone, once a week.
#3. see how many days i can go without saying anything negative.
#4. see how many minutes i can go without saying anything negative.
Hello, I’m sort of new to this blog space, and I like coming here. To Mr. Brad: I had the exact same idea (I felt it was “inspired) last week. Mine would be by streets as I am in the same town I grew up, living on 6 different streets. Midlife crisis is hitting me, as life happened to me and I never lived overseas nor moved every 5 years–which I was always certain I would do! 48 years and I’m still here. Waaah! Waah!
I do remember years ago some guys drove across the country and cooked their meals on their hot car engine and wrote a cook book about it. I thought that was cool.
To Ms. Carol: you are right about staying around home. I made a commitment once to stay in town every weekend for 4 months and go to the same church every Sunday. It made all the difference in my church life.
This has got me thinking about STP’s, and I’m excited to pray about it and actually do something. It doesn’t have to consume all my time-smile at everyone I encounter and say, “hello,” for example. Thanks,
We’re glad you’re here, Brenda. And I hope your mid-life crisis turns into a mid-life extravaganza! Keep us posted on how it unfolds.
Title for Bradley’s STP: “Mapping Bradley: A Moving Life”.
My STPs:
* Locating every Maureen who’s known as Mo (an online STP?)
* Visiting the studio of every major artist in the Washington, D.C., area
* Dining at each of Washingtonian Magazine’s 100 best restaurants without gaining an ounce
* Swimming with manatees in Florida (of course, I’d have to learn to swim first)
I like the title, Mo! ( Now you are Mo!)
Sounds like you are already working on #2, from the sounds of your weekend Twitter updates…
And my shortest STP: getting a new icon for my posts here. I’m really not the sad sack in the pic!
Laura said, “changed our lives a little.” nAncY and Maureen, I imagine yours will do that to you, too.
Maureen, if you’re paying, we’ll all join you for the 100 Best Restaurants Tour. I have my calendar out.
P.S. I wonder if our little STPs make us braver to attempt the biggies we fear.
What a stroke of Providence that I dropped in here today! I’ve been wondering how exactly to think of my current situation. This discussion takes me in interesting directions…
You see, some are born to STPs, some achieve STPs and some have STPs thrust upon ‘em (apologies to Shakespeare). God has thrust upon me one of those scary STPs – cancer. My treatment is scheduled to run about 1year.
One year to lose hold of all the projects I’ve chosen. One year to be the needy one, the un-able, the circumscribed. One year to focus on saving my own life (something about that just seems wrong to a lifetime, frontline Christian :p).
Nevertheless I still have choices, in the grace of God. So the STP that I chose is: How to NOT (merely) survive cancer. I will be looking for opportunities that come to me uniquely because I have cancer. I will be hoping to cross the finish line next Thanksgiving with something more than (merely) my life in my hands.
One of the things I want to do is to switch over from writing non-fiction & lecturing to writing fiction. I joined the American Christian Fiction Writers today. I will accept challenges, encouragements and even lurkers at my blog, if you’d like to follow along.
Wow, Kim. What a year this will be for you, and an excellent time to consider what really matters. Most of us, most of the time, get to choose what STP we take on. But what do you do when you have no choice?!
It seems that you have a good attitude going into it. We’ll look forward to your updates. Thanks for tuning in.
Great article!
I recently embarked on a STP – Life on purpose for 30 days. It’s been an amazing, and very eye-opening journey that has shown me how many of my days, even months, before this journey felt unaccounted for, routine, and without a specific focus.
Very timely, as I am planning launch a journey to Love Out Loud in January.
Cool stuff, Pamela. Sorry for the slow response but I’ve been out of town. Can you say more about Love Out Loud?
Sure! Thanks for asking. A few months ago, I wrote an article: What’s Your Status (http://itisbygrace.blogspot.com/2009/08/whats-your-status.html) If you get a moment, check it out! In this article, I shared the importance that love plays in the life of the Christian/Christ-follower/disciple. “…by this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Jn 13:34,35. Beginning in the new year, we will venture to purposefully live a life of love for 30 days. Love Out Loud focuses on how to pattern and exemplify love each day, as each day’s focus will be tailored to Love Out Loud in a specific area. We invite you to join us! It will be an incredible and love-illuminating ride!
I’ve started a mini one for Advent.
http://forsakenforlent.blogspot.com/2009/12/hope-every-day.html
Pamela and deb: Thanks for the good links. I pray that both of your STPs bear fruit.