At the start of August, I set out to achieve a feat. I have always found writing challenges fascinating. My admiration for people that are disciplined enough to see it through knows no bounds. I am not that much of a disciplined writer. I just like to write when I feel like it and be on my way.
When the idea to engage in a writing challenge crossed my mind, I was like “Nah, not going to happen”. But then I asked myself “why not?”. And that’s how it started. Without giving it much thought, less I get discouraged and back out, I opened a fresh page and started typing.
The challenge was to write every day for the whole of August. There are 31 days in the month, so that meant churning out 31 write-ups. I had never even written 15 articles back to back, so this was really “the challenge” for me.
Nothing prepared me for the experience I had doing this challenge. There were days when I didn’t feel like writing at all but forced myself to. There were days I didn’t write at all because I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. There were days when I was bursting with ideas and wrote without any stress. There were also days I tried to make up for missed days by writing more than one article. It was a rollercoaster journey.
“Shoot for the moon.
Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”
— Les Brown
At the end of the month, I did not hit my target. Even though I aimed for 31 posts, I was only able to write 23. At first, I saw it as a failure. It made me sad that the challenge was too much for me to handle.
Then that famous Les Brown quote came to my mind.
Yes, I shot for the moon — to write 31 times — and missed. But I think I landed among the stars with 23 articles, which is a personal best for me. Take that result anywhere, scoring 23 out of 31 is not a bad result at all.
Am I disappointed in myself? Absolutely NO.
Am I motivated to do more? You bet I am!
I have learned to give myself grace for bad and unproductive days because life happens.
So today, a new challenge officially starts. I deliberately did not announce the last challenge because I wasn’t sure I could pull it off. But with the last result, I am no longer afraid to tell you. This time, I am doing it AFRAID.
Today, I am embarking on a 100-day challenge. I don’t yet have it all figured out, but I am doing it regardless. What’s the worst that can happen? I now know that, even if I don’t hit the mark with the challenge, I will never be the same person again.
Wish me luck as I embark on my journey to 100.
