30 days

I just rolled over 30 days since starting my little writing challenge.

I’m aiming for 101 days straight of blogging (at least) and so far so good.

Kinda…

These 30 days have been challenging, fun, exciting, and eye opening.

I’ve done this type of thing many times before, and I’ve had so many of my clients do it for their health that this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, but I always learn a lot when I challenge myself like this.

Here are some highlights of the 30 days so far:

The first 2 weeks were the hardest.

I know this one in and out. Anytime I or a client starts something new, the first 2 weeks are the most challenging. It’s when we are first setting up the habit and fighting against our normal routine of life. Committing to something every day is tough, because it’s EVERY DAY. When you have a routine already established, this means it can be hard to fit it in sometimes.

I struggled for content to write about.

In those first 2 weeks, because I hadn’t established a routine yet, there were a few times where I wasn’t even sure what to write about. It wasn’t my finest moment, but I even figured a simple holiday post would suffice.

2 things came of that:

1. I had already built up a database of articles so I started to focus on using those for my daily posts. I would write a new blog as well, but I could take from my database if I was struggle to put my idea to (digital) paper.

2. I was not happy with that post and committed even harder to make sure I’d have more quality content every single day.

I got inspired.

Through writing every day, even when I didn’t want to at times I actually started to get inspired. When writing one post, a concept would come up that I would want to expand upon in a separate post. I started having a list of new posts that I wanted to write and I couldn’t even keep up with them.

It got easier.

By the 3rd week, and with my new list of ideas for posts, writing daily got a lot easier. I was making it more of a habit, I was planning for it in my day or getting it done first thing, and I was actually just enjoying the process. This wasn’t every single day, some were still a struggle, especially with 2 little kids running around but overall it was starting to get easier.

Funny how things get easier with practice…

It’s set me back.

Truth is, by prioritizing these posts every single day, I’ve spent less time on my new discipline book than I would have liked. I have been chipping away at it, but very slowly. Some days these posts take longer than I would like so I have less time for other things. However, this experience of building my own discipline, which was the point of this challenge in the first place, is perfect for helping me write a great book.

I’m more committed.

Long before I started this 101 day challenge I had been doing a couple of other daily tasks like reading, stretching, and mental fitness work. They were things I wanted to do every day, but I hadn’t actually committed to doing them daily. This meant there were plenty of days that I did do them and plenty of days that I didn’t. But since starting this blogging challenge, I’ve been 100% on those as well. It comes from a process of habit stacking, that I’ll write about at some point, but put simply, the momentum I create from this writing helps me keep going into the others.

So those are some of the ups and downs so far. And it’s only been 30 days! I’m looking forward to the next 71 at least!

If you’ve been following along already, thank you! I hope my content helps and inspires you a little to make your own life better.

If you’re interested in this little challenge I’m doing for myself, fill out the form below to get an advanced copy of my Discipline 101 book when it comes out. I’ll be sharing it here first and it will be free for all of my subscribers!