In his one year project, David Wright is changing one bad habit a month. He want's you to join him.

by Mike Kravinsky

I discovered David Wright reading a blog that he wrote for Pick The Brain. The piece was on the bullshit we believe. "7 Lies You're Wired To Believe." The article covered all the untruths in society that keep a lot of people unsuccessful, unfulfilled, and broke. It's a great list.

That blog led me to his web site, Project 30 Days. It seems Wright will be doing a lot of reinvention this year, one month at a time. He started the project this January. Wright will tackle one bad habit he wants to change per month.

The forty year old writer / artist says that he's miserable because he's "living a life almost opposite of my belief and wants." So like George Costanza who in Seinfeld took the advice, "If everything you do is wrong, do the opposite.", Wright is making changes.

Documenting everything he goes through, he's inviting others to join him in his monthly endeavors. This past months' project is decluttering. He's throwing away all the "weird crap" he doesn't need or want anymore. Posting video's of his clutter on YouTube, Wright asks others to join in with a video called "Show me your junk".

He's not letting on what habit will be changed monthly. But there may be a habit he works on that affects you. I asked Wright a few questions about himself.

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Q.  Tell me about your background, school, family, career.

A. I was your average underachiever throughout school. I didn't fit in, so I lost myself in books and comics, and then drawing and writing my own stories. I took a few years of radio broadcasting and newspaper in high school, and really found myself in those arenas. However, instead of going to college, I wallowed in retail hell for more than a decade, believing I wasn't good enough to do what I wanted to do – write.

Eventually, I went for a bookkeeping job, a step up in pay, even though I had no office experience. I worked my way up to credit manager, overseeing A/R for several branches of a distribution company. I did the job well, and worked with some nice people, but I didn't love my work. And I was always stressed out over things I couldn't control.

Around this time, I was also drawing a comic strip on the web and in a few papers, Todd and Penguin , and a local newspaper took notice. They were in the market for an editorial cartoonist, though it was a part-time gig at best.

The editor at the time, Jason Whited, loved my work and thought I had the raw talent to be a reporter. He pushed for me to be brought on full-time, and volunteered to help teach me the ropes.

This was a big risk at the time, because I was leaving the job security I had built at the other job, where I was valued, to a job where I was the new guy and probably highly expendable. But I would be living my dream – writing at a newspaper. I took the job, covering the city government beat and doing  occasional feature stories.

While I appreciated politics, it was entirely too divisive. The stories that really stuck with me were the ones about everyday people living extraordinary lives – the features I wrote.

I had hoped to be put on features full-time, however, the staff was too small. And more people read for the political issues and hard news than to read features. However, I came up with a way I could do a column – a contest I pitched to my bosses, where I would try to lose 100 pounds in a year. The column was a success, even if I failed to lose much weight. People came up to me all the time, even after the column had been over for a year, saying how much I'd inspired them. It was humbling and touching to feel that connection with people I didn't even know.

After three years of reporting, the market tanked and the paper laid off all of its writers. I was devastated. For one, I'd lost my dream job. For two, I was a new dad with a one year old son and no way to make a decent living. My biggest fear was going back to the soul crushing reality of retail work. I'd wasted more than decade in retail already. I couldn't waste any more time.

But with my skill set, where was I going to get work, without leaving the area?

I stopped drawing my comic with nary a word to my readers, and began writing at bloggerdad.com. The main goal was to keep my writing sharp and maybe land a syndicated column gig somewhere with my style of humor and heart.

Then, I met another dad who was writing – Sean Platt of writerdad.com and we hit it off immediately. We began writing together and then, eventually, working together and we formed our own ghostwriting company, Ghostwriter Dad, and now work together for clients and our own work. 

Q.  You say you're a writer / cartoonist. Are there examples I can see?

A. Most of my editorial comics vanished when the newspaper folded. However, you can see almost eight year's worth of my comics at Todd and Penguin, though I haven't updated it in forever. The publisher also printed a book of my comics, Todd and Penguin: Embrace Your Inner Dork – which was my first book, and all kinds of awesome to see my comics in book form!??

Q.  What prompted you to do Project 30 days. Personal growth? A need to reinvent yourself? ?

A. I was very depressed last year. I've not been living the life I wanted. I've not been true to my ideals – I'm overweight even though I value health, I hold on to clutter even though I am all about being organized, and I have a laundry list of things I want to change about myself.

Turning 40 was the turning point for me. It's that feeling of it's going to be now or never. How much longer will I live against my own principles?

You are what you do, not your intentions.

Mostly, though, I want to be a good example for my son, not this overweight slob who has an office and garage filled with clutter. I feel undeserving of the hero role which my son sees me. I want to be worthy of that glimmer in his eyes when he looks at me.

In short, I want to l ive authentically.

Q. What are some of the other "projects" you'll deal with in the coming year?

A. I don't want to give any of the details away as it's going to be a surprise each month. The only one which I will mention is weight loss, because – duh, I'm 350 pounds, if I do a year of self improvement and DON'T lose weight, that would be overlooking my most glaring personal flaw.

The one thing I will say, is that each goal will be broad enough that people will be able to relate and play along at home.


Q.  Will they cover strictly personal lifestyle, or will you cover career advancement?
 
A. It's mostly personal lifestyle. However, I think the principles can be applied to one's career in some ways. The better you feel about yourself and the more you are living authentically, the better employee/salesperson/businessperson you'll be, right? Everything begins with you.

The trickiest part of Project 30 Days from a readership-perspective is carryover from month to month. For instance, you might be interested in decluttering your house, but have zero interest, or need, in losing weight, so you might tune out during that Project. My hope is to try and be entertaining enough that you'd read along even if you're not interested in each project, but I won't take offense to the part-time readers.

The main goal here is to change my life and to inspire others.

I don't say that out of any sense of ego, but I know when I was doing my weight loss column, people used to come up to me all the time, people who didn't even need to lose weight, and tell me how much it inspired them in other areas of their lives. I was surprised and humbled that my words had such effect.

Now I want my words AND actions to have that effect.

While I'm not a self-help guru, I do connect well with people and to use that for something positive and inspire others is something I love doing.


Q. What's been the response to your project?
 
A. Response has been great. I've gotten a lot of support, though I'm notoriously bad at commenting.

My schedule is pretty hectic between work and my own creative projects, so I don't have large chunks of time to comment. And whenever I sit down to comment or respond to comments, an hour, two hours vanishes immediately. So it becomes an issue of whether I want to devote that time to my project or do I want to comment? It's a balancing act, especially for a new blog.

So sometimes, readers may take my lack of participation as me ignoring them, and I respect that – but I really do read and appreciate every comment I get. And I don't want people to think I'm a jerk who is ignoring them. It's simply a matter of time.

Perhaps one of my Projects will be commenting at blogs every day!

I think response will vary depending on the Project I'm doing and how many of my regular readers connect with that. At least until Project 30 Days stands on its own a bit more.


Q You say you were "downsized" from your job. How are you supporting yourself? Do you see a book / documentary with your experiences of this year?

A. Working. My partner, Sean, and I write, ghostwrite, consult, and design websites, and occasionally illustrate stuff. We've been lucky enough to find a great group of people to partner with on a lot of our projects – intelligent, devoted, creative, trustworthy people. I couldn't imagine being involved with a greater team.

Sean and I are also co-writing several fiction books which I'm very excited about.

As for Project 30 Days, I am working with the idea that if it succeeds, then a book is possible. But it would have to be something of value for the reader, in that it inspires them, or entertains them. Or maybe both.

Here's the thing about Project 30 Days – this is the kind of website/book/anything I've always been looking for.

After I started planning Project 30 Days, a few of my friends told me about other people who have done similar ideas. Similar in concept, but not exactly what I was looking for, or to create.

Whether it be writers, cartoonists, or other creative types, I like to surround myself with knowledge and companionship (even if its one-sided which I get from reading them) from those who have been there before or are doing what I want to do.

It's that knowledge that we're not alone, that connection, which helps make the day a little bit easier to get through, helps inspire you when you need it most. Someone out there needs this. I know because I need it. If even one person relates and feels a little less alone in their battle, and then changes their lives for the better, then my mission is accomplished.