Today’s post marks my 100th post on this blog. I haven’t been counting down to this moment, it has just sort of popped up on me. But when I noticed the blog post ticker at 98 I began to think how I arrived here and why.
I’ve touched on goals and consistently reaching them in the past, but today I want to talk about how to write 100 blog posts of unique content. The lessons are more than applicable to other areas of our lives, just replace writing with your own muse.
1.) Have a Purpose
If this blog had just been a hobby, I would have quit or only written a fraction of the posts I have today. If my writing didn’t have a purpose I couldn’t have made it happen. It’s nearly impossible to stay committed to something you don’t believe in.
As I’ve said before, the purpose of my blog is two-fold: A.) To practice writing so I don’t look like a fool when my book comes out late next year & B.) To build my audience for the book release. If nobody knows I write, who’s ever going to want to read my book besides some close friends and my family?
Those were my initial motivations, what I didn’t count on was the therapeutic value my writing has produced. Some days I feel like I haven’t had a complete day if I didn’t make a post. Needless to say, my writing will continue far past my book release, it’s a part of me now.
2.) Commit To Your Purpose
Once I decided why I was going to start writing, I made a personal commitment. I told myself that every weekday I was going to write. So when I wake up in the morning, there is no question of, “Well I wonder what I should do today?” in my mind. I already decided what I was going to do today, long ago.
That seems very simple, and it is. But summoning the willpower to do it is not easy. I wrote down what I wanted to do on my bathroom mirror “write every day” and I remind myself with a weekly whiteboard log in my room that has an “X” or a blank spot for each day of the week I write or don’t. I hate to see blank spots, and they rarely happen.
You can have all the extrinsic motivations and happy-go-lucky motivational quotes around you, but if you don’t decide that this is important, you’ll never follow through with it. You need intrinsic motivation before extrinsic motivation can ever take hold.
3.) Make it important
I heard a while back that if you want to find out what someone deems important, look at where they spend their time and money. I would go even further and say look at their morning routine.
If someone gets up and they study the bible, they put weight on their personal time with God. If someone gets up to workout, they put weight on their personal health. If it’s early morning work a second degree, they put weight in their education.
Some people argue that they are night owls, and that’s great. But you never know what’s going to happen at the end of the day, your morning is your time. This is when I write, this is when I get the most important things done so that no matter how the rest of my day goes, at least I read and wrote.
4.) Sacrifice
Not many great things comes without sacrifice. It might be time, it might be money, it might be a relationship. But ultimately, something will have to be exchanged to commit to your goals.
Mine was time and other projects. As I mentioned a few weeks back, I have had to tell a few people that I cannot work with them (which usually elicits a weird response since I don’t have a 9-5 job). I have to tell them I have other commitments, my writing being one of them I’m not ready to give up.
5.) Set Limits
Don’t let your commitments consume you. This is the polar opposite of what I just said, I realize that. But we have to strike a balance or we’re going to end of sacrificing everything for this commitment, not just a couple things.
I do my best to cap my writing at an hour and half every day. Sometimes it goes longer if I have a lot to say or had little sleep the night before and it’s hard to concentrate. And sometimes, like today, my fingers cannot keep up with my brain. But after about and hour and half I have to start peeling myself away to get moving with the rest of my day. I cannot let this consume me, I have to stay balanced.
100 blog posts is a mile stone to me and I’m glad you’re along for the journey! This has been a path to self discovery and I’ve been able to open more doors than I realized through my writing.
What is something you have committed to doing every day or every week for a long period of time? How have you stayed committed to it and what have you had to sacrifice?
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I would love to hear more from you about ongoing commitments like my blog here. Leave me a comment or chat with me on Twitter.
Have a great weekend!
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