Can you change your life in 2-3 months? - an experiment

[Jani]

Here's the situation : I'm 20, living with my parents, "studying" programming in college from which I'll 100% drop out at the end of the year, partly because I'm not planning to go to a single class this year.

Don't get me wrong, I love programming, I've just found that learning it in a university may not be my best option ( not to mention the classes are boring as hell... ), and I've discovered that my real passion is arts, mainly in digital form ( 3D, photo-manipulations, vector graphics )... for my taste.

Of course my parents know nothing about this, mainly because they wouldn't support me in this kinda thing, so I figured it's best if I show something up before I tell them.

The only problem is, I don't have anything more than some basic programming skills and some general understanding of the programs I want to work with.

All summer I was planning how great it'd be: build a nice portfolio, make a cool blog with tutorials, writing articles to related sites, ... then I ended up with almost nothing ( two lame pictures and the coding for the blog ).

So that's why this thread: public commitment and daily reporting worked out once for me ( I lost almost 30 pounds in 6 weeks, though I gained back some after I broke my leg 2 months ago... ), so I'll give it a try, and I may even get some help or advise.

So here's a rough plan and goals:
The main issue is money, if my parent get really angry, or tell me I must get a boring job if I wanna stay home, I want to have the financial capability to say no and move out. Moving out is a main goal anyway, but I figured if they don't overreact in December, I can still have 1-2 months to work on stuff and get enough money for a few month's rent in advance.
Fortunately USD converts very nicely to HUF. ( With 600$/mo, I can afford a rent and not starve to death, with 1000$ I can even buy some extra stuff. )
So my goal will be 150$ / week.

The main money sources I was thinking of : writing paid guest articles ( mainly tutorials ) to other sites, selling wordpress templates ( on Themeforest mainly ), and maybe some from blog advertising and commissions as well.

I'll get busy tomorrow and hope for the best.

[Scipio]

I have no idea about the specifics of your field, but there are tonnes of websites out there for photoshop hobbyists and whatnot. Join one of them and have fun making silly pictures as a form of practice. You'll get a lot done because it won't seem like work.

[Nicholls]

My instant reaction is "ARGH OMG YOU ARE CRAZY!" but that probably says more about me then you. I'd advise caution in your plan, but I think it's entirely achievable. Money will be an issue to start off with, but it should become less and less of an issue later on.

As far as freelancing goes, here is some advice:
- Take all the jobs you can get to start off, even if you are not paid for it and they are boring. Sounds like you will be needing all the experience you can get and if you spent a month doing loads of jobs your experience and portfolio would build up pretty quickly.
- Get a website up asap. You might already have this, but you will want something to showcase your portfolio, contact info etc. As a computer artist it'll be your main springboard to work, although of course you will have others.

If I was in your position my main goal would be building a foundation. I may have made it sound like hard work, but I think the start of a project is in some ways the most exciting part of it.

I really admire what you're doing. I'm in school at the moment and detesting a lot of the lessons/atmosphere/other crap. It's not without the good moments though, and I only have a year left so I figured may as well get my A levels and move on. I wish I had your guts in some ways, but I've got a plan and I still believe it's the correct choice for keeping my options open, I'm not sure if I want to go to uni or not yet. Best of luck to you

[Matt Willard]

Read these freelancing blogs for help:

All Freelance Writing
The Query-Free Freelancer

Jennifer Mattern's been in the business for a while and tells it like it is. Her Marketing Boot Camp (currently in progress) can help you get a jumpstart.

[DeborahM]

Hmm. Why not try telling your parents about it? If they understand you like my parents do, they'll most likely support you. After all, they are your parents!

[FazK]

Hey man let me tell you unless you're superhuman you'll only get STARTED changing your life after 2-3 months. I think your goals are great and if you're unhappy you must go for them the thing is it takes a while and real change you take you around 1-2 years

[James81]

Ok, so you are planning on wasting an entire semester's worth of money? THAT is the part that is going to make your parents shoot through the roof, not the fact that you are going to drop out. In other words, they are going to be far less angry NOW, if you drop out NOW, then they will be if you waste their money for a semester and drop out then. Oh I'm sure you have "every intention to pay them back." BS, everybody says that and nobody ever does.

Here's the deal: if you aren't passionate about your college classes then you need to make it known that you aren't passionate about them. Stop trying to delay the inevitable criticism that you know is coming. You're only making it worse.

If you really want to impress them (although at first you are probably going to take criticism), then get so passionate about what you are ABOUT to do, that you are willing to stand up NOW and say that without a doubt you are going to do what it takes to follow your passion. If that means getting up at 5 AM everyday, then so be it. If that means spending every waking minute working on your dream, then so be it. Click the link in my sig and watch the two youtube videos I've got posted there right now.

Here's the thing, though, please don't think that it's a good idea to just not go to your classes and waste a semester's worth of their (or your) money just because you don't want to hear the criticize. Hearing the criticism and pushing through it is a big part of what you need to do. It helps you know if you are on the right track.

My advice?

Sit down and make a plan for how you intend to do whatever it is you want to do. Go drop your classes immediately so that you aren't wasting your money. If it's too late to drop classes, then GO TO THEM and stick it out so that you can at least get something from your money. Then tell your parents what you did and then tell them your plan.

[Jani]

Wow, thank you everyone for the feedback. They're all really useful and above of all inspiring whether you think I'll make it or not.

@Scipio : yeah, participating in online communities and competitions is definitely a good idea, and also a good promotion opportunity.

@Nicholls : website will be probably up tomorrow, so I can post the content and tutorials. About college, if you've got a plan and feel you'll be better off long-term that way, there's no need to "have guts", then you're doing fine . It's just, for me, it's not working out neither short- or long-term, had to do this at some point.

@Matt : thanks for the links, I checked them out, they're great, but I think my main problem currently is getting something done, not the lack of know-how.
But when I find myself getting a lot done and not seeing results, I'll know where to look.

@FazK : I really hope you're wrong, or else I'm screwed But really I think I can do it, my only fear is not going for it 100% because of fear of failure ( kinda ironic... )

@Deborah and James : I've thought this, through, but telling my parents is way too risky, even the most positive outcome is not much better than my current position, and the negative consequences can be much worse. A few years ago my father used to remind to me I don't have to live in his house for much smaller things ( to put it VERY mildly )

About the money, I don't know how it goes in the US, but here in Hungary those who do well enough to get into college can either pay for it, or if you get into the top, it's paid by the government.
And I got enough credit in the last year that this current semester is free as well. So my parents haven't paid me a dime so far, I wouldn't even go to a university if they'd need to. All the books I needed so far I get from the library too.
So fortunately it's not like I owe them or waste their money or something...

[Jani]

Okay, this day wasn't the typical kick-start like I imagined, but I got some stuff done, gained some momentum, and will keep going tomorrow with all I can.

James was right on the i-should-prove-I'm-commited-enough thing. My actions haven't reflected that so far. If I'm gonna go for it, I have to give it 100% before I find myself dropped out of college, with no money and a really angry family.

Today I did some 3D modeling and texturing though, some turned out pretty well and gave even more ideas, some that I can build some tutorials on, for my blog, and also for paid guest-posts in the future.
I also started to plan out the whole strategy like you suggested, it really helps to realize how much I gotta work and I also feel more secure when I have a plan. It's like I'm one step closer to my goals.

But from tomorrow, I promised myself I'll do something each day that I can do something with, something I can generate money from, either directly or indirectly.
My only other concern is my leg. I try to strain it, but it's just not strong enough to work out normally, and I'm often feeling sleepy during the day without exercise. Maybe I'll try some easy yoga exercises or something...

[toasterwater]

It's awesome that you have a dream and are willing to make big (possibly scary at times) changes to make that dream come true. As for your original question ... can you change your life in 2-3 months? ABSOLUTELY! you can change your life in an instant. Now, so that I don't give the wrong idea.. I'll explain what I mean...

I recently changed my life. It probably boiled down to a couple of days in which this change occurred, but what it comes down to is that I made a decision, and when I finally acted on that decision, my life changed. substantially.

I know our situations are different, but to provide more clarity and credibility to my story, i'll go ahead and explain briefly...

Over the course of maybe 10 months I developed this habit... (this is actually kindof embarrassing, but for the sake that it may help someone, I'm telling the story). It was a video game. Just 1... but I played this video game for many, many hours every day. There were times when I would think to myself "wow... I play this too much... there are other things that I'm neglecting... I should cut down..." but it proved impossible for me to just cut down. The amount of time I spent playing only grew and grew. And what made it harder was that I had friends in game who didn't exactly want to see me quit. One day I was talking to one of my in-game-friends and she mentioned that I may wanna take a break... maybe take a month off to get my life in order. Something about that conversation really hit me... And I decided then and there that I would do it. In order to take a break from the game, I decided that I would cancel my subscription (you can't play AT ALL without a subscription). So I did... it's kinda funny cuz my actions actually influenced 4 other people to quit at the same time... all of us were very good at the game, and all of us played ALOT... but we all quit.

Anyway, since I quit the game... even if I have an urge to play again, I can't because I don't have a subscription... but with the time that I have recovered (literally LOTS of hours per day... I wouldn't hesitate to say about 10 hours a day or more depending on other obligations-school or work or whatever) my life is completely different! Now when an idea pops in my head ... "I need to organize x", or "I need to learn to y" I actually act on it because I don't have this terrible habit that draws me in and occupies all my free time.

I have since started putting several hours per day into the guitar. I started guitar lessons. I actually do homework... I'm more social in the real world... I act on desires, etc.

So anyway... Long and drawn out story, but my life definitely changed dramatically and the change only took 2-3 days max. So I reemphasize that YES, you can change your life, and no, it doesn't have to take years... you just need a plan... looks like you already have your goal, so decide what it is exactly that you would like to change, figure out a way to guarantee that change, and take the leap!

We're all here to help, so ask the community if you're having trouble with anything.

GOOD LUCK!!!

[Jani]

@ToasterWater : thank you very much . About the changing your life thing, ever since I decided upon this, I feel relieved, I'm feeling much happier in general and ( strangely ) I don't stress anymore.

So I'm sure that your perception can change in an instant, I'm just not sure if the actual results I'm aiming for can be manifested in that short period of time. We'll see... and the other interesting question is, if I fail, would I regret it and feel depressed and stuff, or am I gonna keep this positive attitude and great feeling that I have now.

Well, let's hope I won't need to find that out

[James Reno]

Yes, you can change. A couple of things help. You must be willing to change a little each day and stick with it. And you must surround yourself with like minded individuals.

[Jani]

Okay, today was DEFINITELY a serious improvement. I got up at 7 AM and worked all day till now ( except for a few breaks to eat, clean the house and some exercise for my leg ).

And I enjoyed it all day. Two times I even got this burst of energy, I suddenly felt all excited and felt like I'm gonna explode, it was kinda cool. Haven't experienced that in a long time.

So I came up with a simple design for my blog ( tomorrow gotta code that up ), made some 3D modeling + texturing, and even began a digital painting.

The bad news though is it seems working all day alone just won't cut it. Compared to the tremendous amount of time I put in, I got done very little. That's mostly because I often got caught up in the details and lost sight of the big picture.

So the attitude and energy is OK now, but I have to control it from tomorrow with some serious planning. Time-boxing, 20/80, prioritizing, I'll throw in everything I can and focus on getting done as much as I can in the least amount of time possible.
I'll plan the day every morning I guess. ( Now I'm too tired to think clearly anyway... )

[Jani]

Finally it's coming together.

I wasn't really keen on the super sophisticated planning, but at least I put first what I was most afraid of : a video tutorial. I finished it in the morning and really enjoyed creating it. It certainly won't be my best ( my speech is not on the top yet ), but at least I got going.

The blog design is also starting to manifest, although I still need to work a lot on that one. I think I'm gonna put aside 30 minutes each day for that, and the site will be quite functional till I make it perfect. I also have 3 posts on the blog already from earlier, that gets around 20-30 visits from Google each day, nice.

I also have a fairly nice-looking 3D sword as well, way to get some exposure on Deviantart and CGSociety in the next two days

The only thing that bothered me today is I spent half the day trying to figure out the best video format ( both time- and quality-wise ) to upload to Youtube, Blip.tv and Vimeo, I'm still not sure, so I'll have to delay the actual post for tomorrow.

Today I also worked much more on my leg than usual, now I can put around 70% weight on my foot.

This was quite a good day indeed, and I hope it'll just get better. I'm tired now, but I'm even kinda sad I have to go to bed just to get some energy. I get the feeling that tomorrow 's gonna start very-very early...

[Jani]

Well, today was my only day off school, so I tried to be productive. ( Actually I don't go to classes, but I can't stay home all day either... ).

The blog design is still in baby state, but at least it's somewhat functional ( arteezy.rjworld.net ). I could also find a nice video format and fairly quick conversion method for my videos, and I could finally upload it to blip.tv and post the vector pencil tutorial on the blog. ( though the youtube and vimeo upload still awaits ).

I did a lot of administrative stuff today, registering here and there, analytics, feed, ..., I almost finished the 3D sword as well. Still need to spend my time more effectively though, considering I worked all day ( except a one hour softball-weapon-tryout thingy with my brother and his friend and a 30-minute exercise for my leg and the meals. ).

From tomorrow, I'll seriously set some rules on how much time I'm allowed to spend on things. Overall, I'm quite happy cause I'm progressing, but it'll not be enough.

Also, it's day 4 already, so I'll focus more on creating my first 150 USD for rest the week. I have some plans, we'll see how they work out.

[Jani]

Huhh, just finished writing an auto-rss and sitemap generator ( I don't use Wordpress... ), worked all day again, tired, but a quick update can't hurt.

Still not feeling fast enough. I worked all day again, and I still haven't gotten to the money issue. And it's day 5 already. Though I progressed a bit in that matter too.

Another good news is I discovered I can install all the programs I need for digital graphics on my pen-drive, so now I can work while "in school" full-time too.

Gotta sleep now, tomorrow is gotta be a big day. A few images at least and a guest-post proposal is awaiting me. But six hours of sleep first...

[Jani]

Okay, clearly not my best day. Today it all came down to me, this whole thing and had some thoughts of what if I don't succeed, cause I'm doing this so far with no real progress or results, so I had some weak moments and felt a bit down. Well, at least not so good as usual.

What really bothers me is how it affects my productivity. I accomplished nearly nothing today, except for some 3D modeling in the evening.

Well, I hope I sleep a bit and it'll be gone for tomorrow, that usually works...

[nin64]

>change life.
>2-3 months.
You sir/ma'am, are either overestimating yourself, read too much Tony Robins, extremely talented (I assume you're not because of your age), or possess Self Discipline rank A+.
Yes, your life will change like... 1-5 % during this 2-3 months.
I suggest don't think of changing your life around in term of 2-3 months, but try to think in term of 5-10 years. But if possible, try to think it after you die. I myself is trying to answer this question.

"I love programming, I've just found that learning it in a university may not be my best option ( not to mention the classes are boring as hell... ), and I've discovered that my real passion is arts, mainly in digital form ( 3D, photo-manipulations, vector graphics )... for my taste."
"Here's the situation : I'm 20, living with my parents, "studying" programming in college from which I'll 100% drop out at the end of the year, partly because I'm not planning to go to a single class this year."
"Of course my parents know nothing about this, mainly because they wouldn't support me in this kinda thing, so I figured it's best if I show something up before I tell them."

20? Interested in art? Parents will not support? Boring University classes?
I finally found my doppelganger. Although I am more interested in traditional arts.
Wait, WHAT!!!? 20?! Living with parents?!!?! I take back what I said, no, you are not my doppelganger.

Tell you what, OP, I will make a thread of 90 days goals of my own. I can't stand to have a 20years old to be better than me. I'm competitive, yes. That's the way of the world, man. Besides, I've already wasted 2 1/2 years of my life.

[Talkofthatown919]

It is so wonderful to see someone actually going after they're dreams and knowing what they want to do. Life is to short to be lived unhappy.

[gus]

a few ideas on making money

if you're still into programming: rentacoder.com (I'm sure there are other similar websites, just not aware of them )

Also, you could try selling 3D models on your website.
And I vaguely remember 3D models being sold for the Sims game that might still be popular.

Good luck

[Stacey Grewal]

Start by creating a short term goal -something you want to achieve in 2-3 months, then work backwards by setting and accomplishing daily goals that will get you closer to reaching them. If you stick with this plan you will either a)accomplish your goals within your desired timeline or b) be on the path to acheiving it eventually. Either way, set goals and stick with them. Trust me, you will be surprised to see how much you accomplish during because of it, some of it pleasantly unexpected.

[Andrew Gubb]

Cool odessy.

Good luck

Try to look long term and don't get discouraged if one day isn't quite right. Consistent improvement beats inconsistent perfection.

[Jani]

Wow, thanks a bunch guys, the replies really helped a lot. I felt much better and inspired after I read them in the morning.

My leg is getting kinda annoying. I'm patient, but it's been almost 2 weeks since they removed the cast and I still can't walk normally. And exercise would help a lot on my mood and energy as well.

Anyway, today wasn't the best either, but at least now I feel energized and inspired again, and have a lot of ideas. All that's left to do is ignore the mood swings and act on them.

One thing I realized though it's not gonna be such a joy-ride as I thought. Maybe I aimed too high. But the other thing I realized, it doesn't really matter. I haven't ever been in a though situation like this, but regardless how it turns out, I'm gonna learn and grow a lot from it.

So now I'll try to focus on what I can do: money is my first priority, not having fun all day, and if I have enough money 2 months from now, I can have as much fun as I want. So -> my first priority will be always to produce the article/freebie/whatever that brings me money on any given day/week. If I still have some time after that, I'm allowed to have fun and work on personal projects. Those are the rules from now on. I've already made a social media icon set I'll offer to a site tomorrow and we'll see from there...

Oh, and gotta get myself out of bed at 5AM. Nomatterwhat.

[Jani]

@Andrew : "Consistent improvement beats inconsistent perfection." - I love this, it's gonna be me motto I'm a perfectionist idiot

@Stacey : that's exactly what I'm trying to do. The plans are ready, the execution awaits...

@Gus : thx, I already looked at those alternatives. For now it seems more profitable to write articles to blogs and give them freebies where they pay, cause on sites like rentacoder there's an enormous amount of competition, and selling 3D models, they cut so much of the price, it's totally unfair and time better spent elsewhere

@Talkofthetown : thx, and well said, and in theory it sounds fine, hope we'll see a happy ending

@nin64 : BRING IT ON!

[Jani]

Mkay, the good things : today I was in school almost all morning and worked on a model all time, not even taking a break to eat. That's quite good considering that isn't the most comfortable place to work in. ( Though I just noticed the freakin' computers are faster there than the one I have at home )

The not so good stuff : I see it's not going anywhere like this. I mean, today, I worked a lot as well, got nowhere. I'm not focused enough, and not doing my best, I can feel that clearly. Although I've been feeling really great in the last couple of weeks, even my "down" moments were better higher than my average mood before.

But feeling good won't get things done. So change of tactic : I created a rough daily schedule. I was procrastinating on this a lot, cause I just hate constraints of any kind, but this dinamic approach could work out.

I figured I fave about 17 hours per day. 10 hours of work seems like a nice goal. From the 10 hours I'll spend 4 hours working directly for money, 4 hours indirect/personal projects/portfolio build..., one hour pimping the blog, and one hour on other stuff I've planned.
How and when I do any of those ten hours is totally up to me until it fits in the categories I wrote above.

This starts tomorrow, and I'm very curious how it works out in terms of productivity and how I'll feel about it during the day. Well, only one day can show me how good this approach is, and the first day is always critical, so I'm just gonna get a great sleep and report back tomorrow with the results.

( P.S.: Lately I've been feeling strange posting here, like if I don't succeed with this, I'll be letting a lot of people down who're watching, it's kinda interesting since I don't know anyone personally here, and I didn't even promise anything. But a little of this pressure actually helps. )

[Cochonette]

Jani, good luck with this! I recently discovered the wonders of journaling. I now have several journals: a fitness/health journal, a dream journal, a purpose journal, and a newly created writing journal. The one that's been the biggest for me is definitely the fitness journal. Personally I prefer to keep my journals private, but the thing about them for me is that they keep my mind on improvement. Regardless if I fail or succeed on a given day, I feel I will succeed eventually if I keep journaling because that means I keep thinking about it, reflecting, and planning.

[Jani]

Thx, Choconette, and I agree, since I started this thread I noticed I search much more consciously for solutions and methods to improve myself and my productivity.

[Jani]

Okay, the 10-hour thing actually worked. Not 100% though, but just fine. I spent about 4 hours on money related ( kinda finished the modeling of a rolex watch and pitched a blog for a paid tutorial, finally! ), and 4 hours of personal projects ( mainly learning organic modeling ), which I really enjoyed.

One improvement I can instantly think of for tomorrow is to be more specific how I spend those four hours, it seems to me that regardless of the time i pt aside, I can finish what I want, so basically I just need to give myself less time for everything and I'll focus more.

That's for today, I'm looking forward to tomorrow.
( Just a note to self for future reference : I'm still a little anxious what'll happen and how it will turn out, actually going for the stuff that'd make me money makes me realize it's the real deal, which is kinda scary, so that might be the very reason why I procrastinated so much on it... )

[Jani]

Can't say much about today. There were some work done, and there were some slacking off ( didn't measure - big mistake ). But I think mostly the latter. Browsing inspirational 3D stuff mostly.

My mood is great, my leg is almost ready to roll, I'm very positive, that's cool, not that will get anything done, just saying.

And as always, I have PLANS for tomorrow, but I decided I rather keep my mouth shut until I see if they're working or not.

[Jani]

Today was a fine and relaxed one ( maybe too relaxed ).

I start to believe it's just that damn perfectionist in me who wants to get everything changed and done in seconds, but on the other hand, I'm still not sure if this is gonna be enough.

I got back a message from the tutorial site I pitched, the guy asked for more samples of my finished work. I'm not sure whether that's good or bad, but I'll work on that tomorrow.

Other than that, I did some organic modeling and came up with a rather pleasing blog design ( finally, the current one was really bothering me ), so after I code that up, hopefully I'll have more willingness to post and send people there.

Anyway, in this last hour I watched some Sean Stephenson videos. That guy is quite and inspiration. It also made me realize I should work on the "inner stuff" as well, so even if everything falls apart externally, I can still keep it together. From tomorrow, I'll set aside some time for that too, now I'm too tired to even type this anymore.