There is one website I’ve been mourning for more than a decade now. I was on it between 2011 and 2012, and I still keep its ashes in a proverbial urn.

43 Things.

Apparently, it was a nod to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Specifically, a reference to the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything, which is 42. The idea is once you know the meaning of life, you need a plan to do something about it.

43 things landed in my life at the right time. It helped me through a very hard time. Personal issues, health issues, work issues… I documented everything as I reclaimed my health, my goals, my life, and my joy. 

We had our own tight-knit community of goal-getters (not just goal-setters) all constantly encouraging each other. There was no algorithm, no ads, just pure support. Unfortunately, that’s probably why it didn’t last. With no solid business model to carry it through, it was a genuinely amazing product that just didn’t bring the money in.

Ah… I’m still sad about it. 

It had many successors, but none of them ever felt quite right. Some of us migrated to a spin-off called Popclogs (the idea is creating your bucket list of things to do before you pop your clogs), but the magic just wasn’t there.

But hey, there you go.

While I was on the site, you had a specific number of “cheers” you could distribute daily to other people’s goals. Talk about excellent dopamine! You’d set a goal, document your progress, cross it off, and write a piece about how it felt to finish it before moving on to the next one. They even had a monthly prompt if you lacked inspiration.

I was an absolute machine at one point. Through the power of those cheers, I managed to do 100 consecutive push-ups for the first time, got my health into top-tier condition, and became a lean, mean fitness machine, the fittest I’ve ever been in my life. I did a few open mics, and I even recorded my first song professionally! Truly transformational…

Dang, I really am sensitive to encouragement. With it, I fly; without it, I tend to shrivel. Is it just me?

Well, in the meantime, let me sing in memory of 43 Things…

And iiiiii will always love youuuuuuuu!

By the way, that period of my life features heavily in my Youtube series “The Long Way Round With Rudiano”. Check it out!

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