"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." -- Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

This post is a followup to Leveling IRL. Thanks to SarahC, taryneast, Benquo, AdeleneDawner and MixedNuts, we have an outline of level 1. At this point I feel it's more productive to post it as-is than discuss it further:

• Strength: reach the "untrained" level on each exercise in the ExRx tables.
• Endurance: run 1 mile (1.6 km) without stopping.
• Social: initiate a conversation with someone you know and arrange a meeting with them later. Do that 4 times with different people within 1 month.
• Self control: work for 2 hours without interruptions. Do that on 8 separate days within 1 month.
• Memory: memorize and recite a passage of your choosing, at least 250 words long, without making any mistakes.
• Programming: solve Project Euler problem #1 by writing and running a program in any language you choose.
• Cooking: make pancakes. Here's a good recipe.
• Finance: make a simple buy vs rent calculation, using prices appropriate for your area and your current standard of living.
• Creativity: write 500 words of fiction in one sitting.

The list has some glaring omissions, like math or chess, because I don't yet know of a crisp enough way to test those skills. Ideas are welcome! Also it seems very likely that some items on the list are wildly miscalibrated, some of them will turn out to be too hard for a beginner, and others will be too easy for anyone with a pulse. I'll be happy to hear about such miscalibrated requirements from the people who achieved them or at least tried :-)

And here's what I think the rules should look like:

1. The requirements for a level are frozen. No discussing them while you're trying to achieve them.
2. A level is indivisible, you don't get moral whuffie points for doing half of the tasks.
3. The only exception is that some people may opt to try for Level 1 No Physical, so they don't have to meet the Strength and Endurance requirements. (In university we had a saying that "sports is the only test you cannot cram in a weekend".)

Personally, I'm going to try to make the level, but already know that some tasks will be difficult. I hope it's the same way for you.