Three Ways Daily Blogging has Changed Me

Two and a half weeks ago, I heard Seth Godin offer what, to me, sounded like a challenge: blog publicly for two weeks; it will change your life. 14 posts later I can report that he was right. Here are the top three ways my life has changed over the last two weeks.

1. My days are profoundly more productive

Prior to starting the challenge, I had a morning routine that began at 5:30 and was intended to be completed by the time I left the house. But it rarely was. Knowing that I had only about 45 minutes at a certain time each morning to accomplish my writing instilled an urgency and purpose to my morning that had been lacking. The momentum and the early morning win carried me through the day in an astonishing way. The last two weeks have been remarkably productive, especially the Saturdays, which had languished under the lack of demands.

2. I am way more thoughtful

Knowing that I am going to have to wrangle some electrons into a cohesive set of words has really turned me on to noticing and thinking more deeply about the stuff going on around me. My morning commutes have been much richer, my conversations have had more depth, and even TV commercials have become fodder for philosophic discussions.

3. I am more trusting

There have been a few days over the last two weeks, when I either didn’t know what I was going to write until five minutes before I began or I began one thing and ended up with something much better. Two weeks I ago, I would not have believed that there were 14 topics I could even BS verbally on, much less write about. I now believe that I can trust the universe to help me find something interesting if I’m willing to do something with it.

This has been a fascinating exercise, but I’m struggling with the application of the results. Clearly daily blogging has been good, but is it good enough or good for anything? Looking back over the posts, there is nothing I’m particularly proud of. I enjoy the writing on this one, and I think there are the seeds of something interesting here, but it’s not quality work.

And I want quality.

For the next two weeks, I’m going to maintain the discipline of spending the first hour of my day writing, but I’m going to attempt something better by turning that daily writing into something I can be proud of. Without the public accountability piece, it may all fall apart. I’ll know in two weeks, if not sooner.