In November, I set a goal. My goal was to become a more proficient writer. I talked about in an earlier post that looking at my past, you would never peg me as someone who would be a “daily blogger.” I had never been a writer, I had never even been a big reader. I basically hated words.

It’s easy to set goals like “I want to become a better writer,” or “I want to get in shape,” and then never do anything with those goals. They are such broad goals that it’s hard to get a good start on them. Unless you get more specific, you will almost never accomplish these goals.

So that’s what I did. I got specific.

I made myself answer several questions. Here are three of the questions, followed by the answers I wrote in November and my commentary now.

What does successful completion of this goal look like to you?

Have at least 100 posts of some sort by May. These can be on my blog, Medium, or even Facebook or Instagram. They just must all be unique from each other. Feel confident enough to go to a business saying I am a writer and can do whatever writing necessary for them.

It’s still 2 months until May, but I currently have almost 200 posts across all platforms, including 130 of them being blog posts. 4 months ago I wouldn’t have dared talk about my writing ability. Mainly because I didn’t have any. If a company had asked me to write content for them I would have freaked out and probably fallen over dead. Now, I am confident that I could do any writing necessary for any company that asked.

I still have a long way to go with my writing and there is always work to do, but I am so comfortable with shipping my work that it wouldn’t be a problem for me.

What forms of resistance are you facing in obtaining this goal? What obstacles do you foresee getting in your way?

I think apathy will be my main resistance. While apathy seems like it should contrast a goal, I often find what I am passionate about now will seem less important in two weeks. I think a key to this will be consuming great content so that I can’t help but write on the things happening!

This was definitely a factor for me soon after I made this goal. I made the goal at the beginning of November and by mid-November, I had already grown numb to the idea of increasing my writing ability. However, when December hit, I looked back over my goals and knew I had to do something to resist the apathy. I set another goal: daily blogging. I committed to 60 days of daily blogging. Reluctantly, but cautiously excited. Now, it didn’t matter whether I was apathetic to writing or not, I was writing and hitting publish every day anyway.

The content I have consumed the past couple of months has been incredible. Because I have been forcing myself to write on the content, I am taking so much more of it in and applying it to my daily life. It’s one thing to learn something, but when you have to learn something and then turn around and explain it, you truly have to understand the topics you’re consuming.

What are the first steps you need to take to move towards obtaining these goals? What comes next?

In general, I think I just need to write. As they say, practice makes perfect. Specifically, I would like to write something every day. Not necessarily post something every day, but I want to be writing on the things I learn or think of each day. Even if it’s short snippets, or personal. I will create a folder so that I have a record of what these writings are whether they’re blog posts, or simply personal writings for myself.

I already touched on this, but like I said, I didn’t do too well at this in November. I think I did still write something every day in November, but I’ve realized if you’re not publishing what you’re writing each day, the value is substantially smaller, even to the point of insignificance. Since December, I have posted at least one post on my blog every single day. Often 2 posts or a post and a video. I legitimately feel like I can say I am a content creating machine.

That doesn’t mean that I never struggle creatively. On the contrary, I can’t tell you how many times it’s been 10 o’clock at night and my bain has completely left the station and is functioning at 0%. It can’t think of one thing to write.

Complete honesty, I was relieved this was my 100th day of daily blogging so that I had a topic to talk about because I had no clue what I would have blogged about otherwise.

Because I have been able to push through these times of mental barricades and creative blocks, I have pushed myself to new heights of creativity. I have nearly cut in half my writing speed, I can write on almost any subject I come across, and, I’m even, starting to figure out, where to put, commas!

Future Blogging?

I really can’t imagine not blogging every day now that I’ve been doing it for almost ⅓ of a year. My plan is to go for 365 days. However, it’s no longer a commitment for me. I feel good about what I have accomplished. I accomplished my goal. Now, anything more is extra to add on. I’m a big fan of the extra mile, so that’s why I’m going to continue.

This has been the most productive goal I have ever set for myself. Do yourself a favor and set a goal with a specific outline. Or commit to doing something every day for 30+ days. The value you create for yourself will more than compensate for the time you spend achieving the goal.

Set and achieve daily.