While I haven’t published all 40,000+ words I’ve written this year, my writing practice is probably the strongest it’s ever been.
Part of the success has been a commitment to writing something, (anything!) every day. Right now, I have a 100-word-a-day commitment to myself.
This isn’t the first time I’ve done a daily challenge like this. For example, I’ve written and shared 30 poems in 30 days several times as a celebration of National Poetry Month in April. It’s a fun and creative adventure that’s led to some cool opportunities, like my first published book of poetry! In June of this year, I started writing every morning and every night, the only rule was that I would show up and do it. That led to the relaunch of this newsletter which tends to focus on virtues, leadership, and community building.
It’s not always easy. There are certainly days I’ve missed, sometimes for extended amounts of time. But writing when I don’t necessarily feel like it has led to some of the most inspiring breakthroughs. As I’ve heard on the Bare Performance podcast, “consistently good is better than occasionally great”.
Writing without posting has also kept me from the pressure of perfectionism, but I think it’s time to raise the stakes with a new 30ish-day creative sprint.
33 Life Lessons from 33 years of Life
I stumbled upon a LinkedIn blog post a couple of days ago that had a similar title and it inspired me.
For yesterday’s 100-word-a-day commitment, I decided to use “33 life lessons from 33 years of life” as a fun prompt.
Then I realized there were 33 days until December 31st, the last day of the year which also happens to be my 33rd birthday.
So THEN I thought…what if I made these 33 lessons my prompts for the next 32 days as I continue my commitment of at least 100 words a day?!
Writing every day is one thing but taking the practice public and publishing every day keeps the philosophizing out of my personal library and onto the field of life.
So, let’s get started!
1. Appreciate life as it has been given to you
Life is a gift. It may not always feel that way, but the fact that we can feel is a miracle in itself. I try to remind myself often how drastically different my life would be if I were to grow up in a different family, perhaps as a different sex, in a different state, in a different country, and/or during a different time period.
I try to remind myself of what Robert Emmon’s says in his book Gratitude Works: to not take people and things FOR GRANTED but AS GRANTED. It’s a subtle distinction that can make a marked difference in our outlook on life. In fact, Robert and his colleague Mike McCullough were the first researchers to show journaling about 5 things for which you were grateful once a week for 10 consecutive weeks boosted happiness in participants by 25%! I learned about Robert’s book from this Philosopher’s Note, which I recommend you check out for new Gratitude filled goodness.
We can’t control everything that happens to us in life. But we can control how we respond. The response is where the magic happens. The grass is greener where you water it. What you appreciate, appreciate. Stay grateful. 🙏