32 Days Of Blogging—If I Can Do It, You Can Do It!
Thus ends an entire month (plus the last day of February) of writing and publishing a blog post every single day.
If you would’ve told me six months ago that I would do anything every single day for a month, I would’ve said, “Haha, yeah write,” and laughed in your face at your ridiculousness and my terrible jokes. Through my many attempts at writing (or doing anything) daily, I’ve never had success past maybe a week.
But here we are—it’s the end of March and there’s a whole pile of posts sitting in the archives, just waiting for me to look back on them (and maybe shudder a little, but that’s not the point).
How did I do it? How can you do it? Why should you do it? Let’s discuss some things I learned and how they can apply to you.
Wanting to do something doesn’t count for anything unless you actually. start. doing. it.
So, I’ve been wanting to start a blog for a long time. In my mind, it would discuss topics of great depth and mental/emotional/spiritual significance. It would be intellectually stimulating. It would change people’s lives with fresh inspiration, bold truth, and raw authenticity. It would shift the course of history as we know it, bake really good cake, and probably cure cancer.
Essentially, I had high expectations for myself. And because of those high expectations (and thus great potential for failure/less-than-resounding success), I never even attempted to start writing in any capacity beyond my “How can I be having another existential crisis?!” 15-page Word documents.
So being forced at virtual gunpoint by the loving Praxis team to blog every day this month was a welcome shove outside my comfort zone.
Like I said—it’s not like I didn’t want to do it! I wanted to do it more than anything! But I wasn’t doing it. And that’s the point.
Does that mean that the minute I started writing and posting and receiving feedback, I was immediately writing people to tears and changing the world?
No.
Not even a little. I wrote about people adopting photosynthesis, but that was about it for improving humanity.
However! I started writing something. And although it’s been a whole 32 days and I still haven’t reached Absolute Perfection, I know that my writing has improved from the beginning of the month. You have to start somewhere, you know? Otherwise you’ll just keep being perfect in your imagination and immobilized in your reality.
If you’ve ever thought about writing, but are consistently stuck on the fence about it—I urge you to just do it. Start somewhere and see where it goes! Don’t put pressure on yourself to write the amazing stuff right away, but take some time to get the hang of it. But you’ll never grow if you never start, so just stop wanting to write and just write!
Community is (surprisingly enough) really helpful.
You might assume that for your initial blogging binge you should just keep it to yourself as you work out the kinks. That way when you finally let people into your little world of writing, they’ll be there for The Good Stuff.
Unfortunately, the opposite of that is true. (At least, it was unfortunate to me, the perfectionist-in-recovery.)
Having people who consistently A) expect you to write, B) read what you write, and C) (best case scenario) give helpful feedback on what you write, is an essential part of the growing process. Whether that’s your mom and grandma (thanks, guys) or a whole group of strangers off the internet (thanks, guys)—the interpersonal dynamic is terrifying and wonderful.
If you’re considering doing something as drastic as commiting to blogging every day for any period of time, I’d highly encourage you to make it known. Whether you’re sending it to your mom or even posting it on your own social media, having other people read it will change the whole experience for you.
It’s not about your experiences, it’s about how your experiences will help someone else.
This one was groundbreaking for me.
I didn’t know how to find a happy medium between writing exclusively for and about myself, versus writing stern “How To” articles on topics I knew nothing about.
I knew that it was important to provide value to my (sometimes imaginary) readers and not to take advantage of their time. I knew that nobody wants to read rambling, incoherent thought-vomit, but I felt like I didn’t know how to write anything other than that.
The lightbulb turned on when I realized that I could still write about my experiences, as long as they were conveyed in a way from which someone else could glean something valuable—even it it was a laugh or a question to chew on.
It’s a slight shift, and I still don’t really have it totally figured out, but there’s definitely a difference. As you write your daily blogs, think about how what’s going on in your life can impact someone else.
Think about what you’re going to write the day before.
A lot of people will tell you to create a weekly schedule of topics to help eliminate some of the overwhelming feeling of “Oh my gosh there’s so much to write about.” More people will tell you to brainstorm a master list of topics at the beginning of the month so you have a resource to fall back on when the going gets tough.
I didn’t do either of those things. I wanted to see what I’d come up with on my own, shooting from the hip. Not saying the results were particularly spectacular, or a reason to do so in your own writing endeavors, but that’s just the honest truth of it.
All those people recommending the first options are probably much smarter than I am, so I’d say listen to them first.
However, if you do end up relying on daily inspiration, I’d highly recommend thinking about what you’re going to write about the day before you write it. So if you see the Grand Canyon on Tuesday, save writing about it for Wednesday—when you’re in the car, there’s nothing to see, and you’ve got no other sources of inspiration.
That way you’re always one day ahead in content ideas (even if it’s just mentally).
Consistency empowers further consistency.
This was one of the most unexpected results of the month.
Halfway through the month, I started drinking 100 ounces of water every day. It was a very small step towards doing something somewhat intentional and healthy with my life. It’s now the end of March and I’m still going strong!
This would’ve (most likely) never happened had I not already been writing every day. But the knowledge that I was already writing, so I might as well drink water, was incredibly motivating.
I wrote a whole post about this concept which you can read here. It was such an enlightening revelation, though, that I felt like it needed to also be included here.
If you’re wanting to start crushing big goals, start crushing mini goals!
Being able to create something every day is a valuable skill to hone.
Many people argue the value of blogging every day. The essence of the argument is that instead of posting one (potentially sub-par) piece of writing each day, you could be spending that same amount of time each day working on one excellent piece that you’re truly proud of.
I had that mentality at the beginning of the month. I was the one making those arguments. (Mostly just because I didn’t believe that I could produce quality content on a daily basis—that my work needed weeks-long revisions to be truly acceptable.)
However, at the end of it, I truly see the value of being physically capable of producing something every single day. In a job setting, you might not have more than a 24, or 12, or 4 hour turnaround time on any kind of project! Don’t let it take you by surprise—write now, right now!
The practice of blogging every day did wonders for getting my mind out of the “Good work takes a long time—if it didn’t take a long time, it must be terrible,” mentality. While your brain might not take the same extreme rabbit trails as mine, I hope that the exercise also helps you kick over any mental blocks to producing quality content on a daily basis!
So, those were some lessons. Not all of them by any means, but some of the major ones. I hope you feel empowered and excited to embark on your own writing adventure!
What’s next for me? Well, now that I’m finally beginning to get the hang of some things, March is over.
I’ve found too much value in writing every day to stop now. Plus, the consistency component is a weirdly reassuring presence in my crazy, never-knowing-what-the-next-day-holds kind of life.
So the next goal is to write for 100 days! Check back on June 7th (give or take—math is hard) if you want to see how things have held up!
Thanks for reading! Happy writing!