According to my reminder, this Wednesday (9th Jan ’19), will be when my 100th post since just write something began.
My just write something effort was inspired by a colleague sharing that he had committed to 100 posts in 100 days. No matter how short, or even poss not all that good. Here is how he described his pursuit:
A blog entirely made up of perfect posts? Impossible.
A single, excellent blog post? Time consuming and very rare.
100 posts of variable quality? That’s easy enough. It’s enough volume to cover over the posts you feel shy about, and enough opportunities that a few will clear that nice low bar with ease. – Driverless Crocodile
This kickstarted an effort of my own. I didn’t commit to writing everyday, nor to doing 100 posts, and yet, up until the last couple of months of 2018, I was often posting daily. Also, the fact that I created a calendar entry, suggests I had some inner desire to reach such a goal.
Then life happened. Work, course, and other stuff. demanded more of my attention, and before I knew it, a week or more was passing without so much as a sentence.
On seeing the reminder, I was faced with a couple of options:
- Disappointment that I had not reached my goal
- A mad writing marathon to make the 100 mark
- Reflecting on what I had been able to do and celebrating those achievements
That last point puts me in mind of an interchange I witnessed over new year’s between my friend Tasha and her son (my godson) Kwanza. The following is a paraphrased summary:
Kwanza had some biology revision questions that needed to be answered. 21 in total. He was intending to aim for completing all 21 in one go. Tasha (sub-consciously and quickly weighing up all the factors) posed that that could be asking a lot of himself. She asked something like, “how many of the 21 could he feasibly achieve and be happy with?” Kwanza suggested 15, and so Tasha said, aim for 15 then, and go on from there.
I loved witnessing this mother-son exchange. I thought Tasha exhibited great wisdom, in terms of how to support Kwanza in getting the best out of himself; with regards to the revision in question. It also gave me a glimpse of how Tasha most likely approaches this in other areas of Kwanza’s life. Journeying with him in setting exceptions that will set the scene for him to best succeed.
A day or so later I asked Kwanza how those revision questions had gone, he said he had done 18. No doubt by now all 21 have been completed.
Why does this resonate?
If I focus on the goal (however unspoken) of 100 posts, I will just see my lack. As I am most def minus 100. However, if I think about my main aim, which was to just write something, I have succeeded in writing more posts since September 2018 (71+), than I had written the year before (18), and exponentially superseded my posts prior to November 2017. As prior to a post on the 12th, I had not added to the site since November 2010. I have also seen an increase in the number of people accessing and reading what I write. In addition to this, some people have shared about how particular posts specifically spoke to them or their situation.
So I’ll take minus 100, and will also hope to regain some of my previous momentum. Possibly using a Tasha-esq. weighing up of what is feasible in terms of my weekly JJ’s Muse writing efforts.