I’ve been working as an advisor with Praxis for 1.5 years now, and one of the modules that all the participants complete is a writing module. During this module, the major task they complete is 30 days of blogging.
After 1.5 years of advising participants on this writing module, I figured it was time to do it myself. The last time I wrote every single day for 30 days was when I participated in NaNoWriMo back in 2014 (I completed the 50,000 word novel but never actually published it).
Because I’ve written every day for 30 days before, I know 2 things: first is that I can do it, and second is that it will be hard. Not only is writing every day a time commitment, but it’s an exercise that tests you mentally. It’s on the busiest days and the latest nights when you want so desperately to just go to bed and call it quits that you have to make the conscious choice to go against the challenge you set for yourself. And it’s those times when you know that it is only yourself that you will be letting down if you don’t write. There is almost nothing worse than disappointing yourself.
I’ve told myself for nearly 6 months that I was going to do this challenge, and there has always been a reason not too.
I’m traveling too much.
I’ve got too many projects on the go.
My social life is too busy.
The point is that there is never going to be a perfect time to dedicate time each day to writing. So, why would I challenge myself to do this?
Here’s why:
1.Creating a new habit
Habits aren’t formed overnight, and writing every single day for 30 days is a great way to create a new habit that you didn’t have before. Writing can be likened to working out. When it comes to building muscle mass, you need to exercise that muscle everyday in order to see it grow. The same goes for improving your writing and creating a new habit.
2. Proving to myself that I can
The idea of writing and publishing content that anyone in the world can see at anytime is intimidating. No one wants to fail at goals that they set for themselves, so instead of potentially failing people just don’t set goals (myself included). Here’s the thing – what if you surprised yourself and succeeded? Of course, I don’t want to fail at this blogging challenge. I know it will be hard to complete, but I also know how good it feels to prove to myself that I CAN do anything I set my mind to.
3. Improving my writing skills
Perhaps this is the most obvious of all the reasons. I spend most of my time communicating via the written word, so why not strengthen that skill? And, even if I didn’t spend most of my day sending emails, creating content, writing show notes, etc., there is no harm in getting better at writing.
4. Pushing myself out of my comfort zone
Comfort zones are meant to be pushed and stretched. As humans, I think we strive for comfort, but we also excel in the areas slightly outside of where we feel most comfortable. For me, I enjoy doing things inside my comfort zone because I tend to excel at them, but I also continue to push my boundaries to grow as a human. This is no different.
Normally participants start their writing module at the beginning of the month, but as the old adage goes, “there’s no time like the present”, so here goes nothing!
1 day down, 29 more to go.