For the past 2 weeks, I’ve been posting here every day.  What have I learned about myself, my writing, and my desire to create?  I’m glad you asked cause I’d like to share my experience with you.

Why I Did It

The reason behind deciding to post every day was a way to challenge myself.  I wanted to see if I could post every day, with the exception of Sunday which I’ve incorporated as my rest day.

After WarriorDave.com launched to the public in January there were things I did for the site that were challenging.  For example, I wrote my first ebook The Warrior’s Manifesto and released that (for FREE) to go along with signing up for my email newsletter.  Then I wanted to create a “First Time Here?” page as a way to introduce some of the concepts and the intent behind the site.

After those challenges were complete, I really didn’t know what the next step was for me.  I wanted a challenge and one of the first ideas that came to me was to post to the blog every day.  I knew it was going to be a tough goal, but at the same time achievable.  So that began 2 weeks ago and has continued right up until today with this post.

Details From the Process

I began this challenge with my first 2 blog posts basically completed, they needed some fine tuning, but most of the content was there.  So I had a bit of a head start on posting every day.  Monday and Tuesday morning when I got up early to write, since my posts for that day were basically done, I began working on future posts.

I use a program called Scrivener to do my writing in and it’s where I keep all of my ideas for future posts as well.  I began this 2 week challenge with lots of ideas to write about, so that certainly helped.  I’ll usually write 1-2 sentences in Scrivener about the intent of the post when I get an idea so that when I re-visit it later I can expand upon the idea and turn it into a formal post.

The first week went by quickly and I found it was easy, in a sense.  Yes it was hard to publish every day, but I felt that I had put up quality content for the week and I was happy with the process.  I was empowered that I could get into this routine of posting every day.  Hard yes, but doable.

The second week began and it started off well, but as I got to the middle of the week things got difficult.  I felt as though I was just publishing to publish cause that’s what I had set out to accomplish.

I didn’t feel that it was my best work and honestly some of them felt rushed and kind of like fluff.  That was NOT something that I wanted to continue.

I still had ideas for posts, so it’s not as if the ideas for content weren’t coming, it’s just that I didn’t feel that the posts were complete and given the care they deserved.

I don’t ever want the readers to feel that I just published to publish and that’s what I began to feel as the second week wore on.  By Thursday and Friday I had decided that I was going to finish the week so that I could give it 2 solid weeks to form an opinion, but intuitively I knew this would not continue.

What I Learned

I have published to the blog every day for the past 2 weeks.  I learned some valuable information along the way that I’d like to share with you.

• I LOVE writing: That’s the most important piece of information I’m taking away from this challenge.  The first week was pure joy of the process of writing and the second week, while difficult, still reinforced my love of writing.  The reason the second week was hard was because I loved writing so much that I wasn’t satisfied with the content.  If I didn’t care about what I wrote, then I wouldn’t have been unhappy with the process.
• I don’t like forcing posts out: Posting every day just for the sake of posting every day did not align with who I am and what I want for this site.  I completed the challenge, but I learned that I could not get into the habit of posting every day just to post every day.  I need to be emotionally attached to my content and have it aligned with myself and the purpose of the site before it’s published.
• Ideas flow when you’re creating: I found myself writing down more ideas for future posts when I was in the process of creating.  It was as if the Muse was coming to me frequently because she saw me creating and was rewarding me with more ideas.  So in order to get more ideas to create, you simply have to engage in the process of creating.
• I have the ability to do it, if I wanted: I found that I could post every day if I wanted to.  Yes it was hard to generate posts every day, but it’s certainly doable.  The first week I wondered if the habit of posting every day was going to stick around.  I was actually doing it and it felt good.  In the future, if I decide to try it again, I know I can do it and that’s an empowering thought.
• I have LOTS of respect for people that post every day: It is a lot of work to create content on a daily basis and to push “publish”.  People like Jeff Goins and The Write Practice are sites that post every day and I enjoy what they create.  I have so much more respect for them and what they do now having gone through my own process of posting every day.  Great work by them, they are rocking it!
• I learned that for me, right now, 2-3 posts per week is ideal: I think posting 2-3 times per week will ensure that I feel good about the content before it’s published and remove my feelings of just pushing “publish” to push “publish”.  The scale back in posting frequency is certainly not due to a lack of ideas, it has everything to do with me being comfortable that the content that gets published is aligned within me.

Conclusion

I am so grateful that I decided to do this exercise!  I pushed out of my comfort zone and by doing so learned a lot.

Most importantly I learned that I love writing!  I don’t write here for the accolades, I write because I have to.  I write because I have a message that needs to be shared with the world.  There are people out there that need to hear what I have to say so that they keep pursuing their unique Warrior’s Path despite the difficulties of doing that so they don’t get stuck along the way.

What’s Next?!

I’m going to be scaling back the frequency of my posting to 2-3 posts per week.  You will also be happy to know that I have 2 projects that I’m working on that are going to require my attention in the next few weeks, which will take me away from writing blog posts. Not completely away, just less frequent posts from me.

I do promise that it will be worth the time away when these projects see the light of day.

The first project is some new content for the site while the second project will be my first product/service offering.  Make sure you’re on my mailing list to be the first to hear about it.  It’s going to have a VERY limited release initially, so be sure you’re on the list so you’re in the loop on when it comes out.

What Can You Take Away From My Experience?

Think about a goal that will push you out of your comfort zone that will allow you to grow.  I’m sure you already know what the goal is, it’s been whispering to you for a while.  Listen to that whisper!  Go for it!  You’ll be glad you did.

Going outside of your comfort zone is where our growth happens.  You can’t grow if you stay in your comfort zone, it’s not set up to foster that.  If you want to grow, you have to push yourself.  Start today and see where it leads you.  At least you can say that you tried, but I know that you’ll do more than try, you’ll succeed!

 

 

What lessons did you take away from my experience?

Please share in the comments.

 

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Photo Credit: Rob Shenk (Creative Commons)