05 Mar #task4today – review

I am now back home again after a trip to Thailand. I used this trip as a trial for the #task4today project which was carried out as part of a class I am currently taking in pursuit of my MA degree. The idea of this project was to define a new way of experiencing & documenting travel. You can read the detailed description of #task4today here.

Looking back at the past days and the different tasks I accomplished each day, I can say that overall, the project itself was a success! A big reason for that success was, of course, the quality of tasks that were given to me by friends, family, coworkers and even strangers. Thank you all for your support and the wonderful (and always a bit challenging) ideas that you shared with me!

There are many positive aspects of taking part in a project where you’re goal is to complete one task every other day. The tasks I was presented with day by day pushed me to go outside of my own comfort zone and helped me broaden my horizon by really making an effort to get to know the country I was visiting as well as its culture and the people living there. Oftentimes we tend to get stuck by being comfortable and then resort to staying in places – and doing things – that we already know. Having a task to fulfill pushed me to be less comfortable, less shy and more daring in my daily experiences. #task4today gave me a daily incentive to vary the way I was going about my day. From making sure I was staying active and trying new things to asking me to spend much time in one place and being ‘zen’ – the diversity of tasks I was presented with urged me to vary who I was and what and how I was doing things on a day to day basis. The mystery of not knowing what adventure I will ‘have’ to embark on tomorrow also empowered me to generate plenty of new ideas of how I could approach a current situation in order to make the most out of it. The main thing I took away from this project is that through #task4today each day was given a purpose and that therefore I was able to focus on one day at a time, truly rejoicing in the current moment.

There were however also some minor downsides. As you might have noticed while following my individual, day to day postings to this blog – even if you have the best intentions of fulfilling the task there might always be some reason why you can’t do so completely. In one occasion I was unable to upload a video to the site, so that documentation in the form of a picture and text had to suffice until the end of the trip. However, such are minor issues that can certainly be disregarded within the greater picture. The bigger challenge was the fact that while the actual completion of the task might go smoothly and possibly even without taking up much time and effort – the documentation of it always required me to sit down and process what had happened. This took at least 30 minutes every evening. Consequently, that part of the process might sometimes seem stressful and a hindrance to enjoyment.

For future application (whether for my own travels or for other travelers) it is obviously up to the individual as to how far they want to take it. While some travelers might be mostly interested in the tasks themselves, others might find true joy in the documentation of their adventures. Most likely the aspect of documenting each task and sharing that documentation does become even more interesting once other people are doing it to. Then the images/videos/text not only serve the purpose of recollection but also include a comparative element as can be found in gaming. Overall, I did enjoy the documentation for several reasons. 1. Others (especially those people that came up with the individual tasks) were able to follow my day to day progress. 2. Each of the blog posts is almost like a journal entry and will help me remember the great experiences I had on my trip through Thailand. 3. This material will serve as the basis to the final part of my project, which I am planning on publishing in the form of a book. (I will let you know once that is done!) =)

Please feel free to contact me if you are planning any travels in the near future and would love to try #task4today out as well. I’d be happy to share some tasks with you! =)