My First Stumble in the 30-Day Writing Challenge
So yesterday I had my first stumble in the 30 Day Writing Challenge. It was about 10:30 p.m. when I realized I hadn't written my post for the day.
I knew I'd be home around 11 p.m., but truth be told...the last thing I wanted to do was sit down in front of a computer.
In fact, one of my current goals is to limit my screen time. As a freelance writer, I spend a lot of time typing away at the computer.
Add to that the endless online distractions that we have to resist these days, and it's easy to see how easily we end up staring at the warm glow of computer screens much longer than we'd like.
Sometimes You've Got to Make a Choice
As I drove home, I had to weight my options...and I had to make a choice
On one hand, I'd committed to writing a post every day for 30 days. If I dropped the ball on this one, then I would have failed in my goal.
On the other hand, I knew that what I needed most in that moment was sleep. If I jumped on the computer at 11pm...who knows what time I would've ended up going to bed.
I was damned if I did, and damned if I didn't.
This brought up the realization that in order to achieve any goal, one must often achieve a balancing act between multiple goals.
We have to choose between remaining committed to our objectives while allowing ourselves the flexibility to avoid some common issues.
These include...
- Burnout
- Anxiety
- Guilt
- Loss of motivation
There's a tendency to take on an "at whatever cost" approach to achieving our goals. There's an attachement to the idea of the "hustle".
But this attachment can set us up for a setback if we're not too careful and if we don't remember that flexibility is just important as commitment in achieving any goal.
Flexibility in Goal Setting
Yes, commitment is important, but being too rigid in our goals can be just as problematic as being too flexible. This is a common pitfall that we need to look out for on any journey towards personal growth.
After all, what was the real cost me missing a post in this 30-day challenge? There was nothing to really lose other than my own satisfaction of knowing that I was sticking to the plan—of doing this perfectly!
My goal in participating in this challenge was to increase my activity on Steemit, create something useful or interesting in the process, and connect with other people who are also participating in the challenge.
It's an experiment that can have nothing but positive results. So stressing out over missing one post—feeling like I've failed, or questioning my own abilities— goes against the entire process.
The same is true for any personal or professional goal.
As an exercise coach, I've often had clients come to me with feelings of guilt or shame for not having done what they said they´d do to achieve their fitness goals.
Maybe they didn´t exercise on the days they said they would...maybe they had one too many servings of dessert (or alcohol or whatever) the night before.
My response has always been the same: It happened, so now what are you going to do moving forward? Becuase that´s all there really is. What's done is done. We can only pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off, and keep moving forward.
As someone once told me, "When a tire blows out on your car, you don't get out and slash the other three."
Hurdles are Essential to the Learning Process
We should recognize that hurdles, mistakes, and other challenges will happen along any journey. They're essential to the learning process.
They contain valuable lessons that we can learn from if we choose to recognize them.
Maybe I should've planned better. Maybe I should have set up a reminder somewhere to keep from being out later than I was. I would've been back home at a reasonable hour and with enough time to complete my daily post.
Regardless...now I know what I can do next time.
We wont´be able to clear all of the hurdles all of the time. By accepting this as a normal part of the process we can avoid the pitfalls that can really set us back.
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