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When I was a college senior, I motivated myself bright and early one icy January morning to stop by the rec center before my challenging Creativity Workshop "morning" class at 10 am.  I felt extremely, ridiculously proud of myself. An elderly lady, naked as the long-ago day she was born, sidled up to me in the locker room. "We see a lot of your types in January," she said, cynically. Feeling abashed and overdressed in my bathing suit, I protested, "You'll be seeing a lot of me all year!" My new early morning swimming habit was no resolution-based romp! I was for real!

At least for the next few weeks. And so it goes in the world of New Year's Resolutions. Which is why I was so pleased to learn about the 50/50 challenge. The 50/50 challenge is the kind of year-long-commitment that actually sounds fun and enriching and—what!—like I might actually do.

The idea is to read 50 books and see 50 movies in 2012. (That's about one book and one movie a week, mathematicians.) You can sign up on the website, but don't be scared by words like "commit" and "rules." You don't have to know what you're going to read or watch. They don't even have to be "good." As the website says, "Go ahead, read Kardashian Konfidential, we won't tell."


One of the 50/50 founders writes that he was disappointed in how few books he read last year, and that he knows it was "because I stopped making time for reading...I needed to make a change because reading is one of the best things on Earth. Next to Tim Tebow and Snapple."

Doesn't this sound like a fun challenge? Plus, if you join up, the main site will link to your blog or Tumblr or Twitter account. In other words, the idea is to create a community, and to share your journey towards cultural edification with others. What I love about this idea is that I'm good with deadlines. Once something is on my to-do list, I know it will bother me ceaselessly until it's done. But, like so many other busy people I know, I rarely think to put fun stuff on my to-do list, so things that I really love, like chain-reading novels, or watching Jimmy Stewart movies, get put off. But if I commit and my fellow fifty-fifty's are waiting for me to weigh in—well, I'm sure I'll dig into my to-read list much sooner. 

Learn more about the challenge, get inspired, and join up here. And did I mention there are stickers? There are stickers. Now what are you waiting for?

Read More:
How To Not Kill Your Book Club
What to Read Now
Start Your 50 Movies Challenge With This One