As I publish this article you're reading right now, it makes today the thirtieth day in a row that I've published an article. This is quite intentional. I've been doing a thirty day challenge to write an article on GlowingFaceMan every day. It feels great to have this under my belt. I've learned quite a bit, and I do feel that the exercise has really hit my self-discipline, in the same way that a heavy dumbbell hits a weightlifter's muscles.
WHAT HAVE I GAINED FROM WRITING AN ARTICLE EVERY DAY FOR THIRTY DAYS?
For one thing, I feel like I've strengthened my creativity. It's easy to start out on a thirty day challenge to write articles every day, especially when just returning from a trip to Japan chock full of interesting things to write about. As time stretches on, though, it gets harder and harder to decide what to write about.
That's not to say I don't have ideas for articles. I have tons of ideas; I keep a list, and these past thirty days, it's been changing at an alarming rate. The thing is, on any particular day, some items on the list may or may not seem motivating to write about. On some days, I get a flash of inspiration during my lifting session, and write about something entirely new despite having a big list of articles to work on. Other days, something that's been on the list for a long time might suddenly call out to me.
The main thing, though, is I don't want to write about something when my heart's not entirely in it. That's the difference between running GlowingFaceMan on my own, versus working as a writer for someone else. I write what I feel like writing about, and I think as a result the writing provides you, the reader, with a lot more value. But, it does also make it more difficult to do a thirty day article-writing challenge!
Without my strict requirements for motivation before writing an article, the thirty day writing challenge would be really easy. I could just hit "random article" on Wikipedia once a day and take ten minutes to summarize whatever popped up there. Of course, that would provide almost no value, to my readers or to myself. The challenge has really been to write an article, every single day for thirty days, that I really care about and feel about.
Another thing I think has improved, is my conversation ability. I've always wanted to be a better conversationalist. Part of that, is having things to talk about. I'm getting near a hundred high quality articles here on GFM now, and that means even if I'm drawing a total blank in conversation, I have nearly a hundred things I can draw upon to nudge the interaction along.
Related to that, I'm feeling "stronger in my reality." I feel like my "character" has solidified a bit just through writing here. I've learned certain things about myself, I've become more confident about certain things, and so on. When I first started writing here, in December 07, I was afraid of writing about Japanese because I thought people would see that as being too "dorky" (thanks to all the otaku culture that exists around Japanophiles). Now I've really grown past that, and seen how silly it is. As the Mirror Model predicts, it's my own feelings about Japanese which drive the other person's feelings. When I'm enthusiastic and passionate about it, it becomes gold. The same would happen for anything-- Star Wars, Dungeons and Dragons, even "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers", if I was into any of that.
I guess I've also grown as a writer. Like with weightlifting, it's hard to tell day to day whether I am growing as a writer. It happens slowly and so it's difficult to notice. But, looking back at some of my early articles, I do definitely have to say I've grown a lot in this realm.
From doing the thirty day challenge, I've gained insight into how motivation, habits, self-discipline, and behavioral momentum work. I've realized the power of doing something daily to etch it in as a habit. When I first got into weightlifting, dragged to the gym by my buddy, I went sporadically, usually two or three times a week. Thus it never built much momentum. Going to the gym was a chore and a hassle. Now, after a six-month break from lifting, I've been hitting the gym again, but this time on a daily basis, and I'm amazed how well it's becoming a part of my day. With the blog, writing every day has made it more routine and habitual. Getting an article pushed out is no longer a matter of exerting willpower. Some days, I'd have to exert willpower in order not to post here!
HOW HAS GLOWINGFACEMAN.COM CHANGED DUE TO THE THIRTY DAY ARTICLE BLITZ?
The blog itself has obviously been massively effected by the blitz. The article-base has practically doubled in the last thirty days (some days I actually wrote two posts, so the actual growth is closer to thirty-five new articles over the challenge period.)
This month of September so far, the blog's income has almost doubled compared to last month. Of course, a lot of last month was spent in Japan (has it really only been less than two months since I was wandering the trails of the Samurai??) But by the archival nature of a blog, income isn't actually dependent on my writing new material- even while I was dancing in Japanese nightclubs, the website continued to provide value to readers and Google continued to sponsor it. So doubling the income over last month is still a huge accomplishment, despite spending much of last month in Japan. Plus, there's still almost a week left of September!
Not just the quantity, but also the range of the Glowing Face Articles has improved throughout my thirty-day challenge. Many of the topics I've written about, like weightlifting, prayer, music addiction, cussing, the Air Force, and so on, really add new dimension to the site. I'll be open with you, the site's ultimate goal is still in flux. Who even knows what I'll be writing about at the end of my next thirty-day challenge!
Not directly related to the post-a-day challenge, but incidentally related, I've been growing my network with other writers. Writing these articles has really opened my eyes to the vast world of blogging, and how much intense value is out there, free for the reading. I want a strong network with other writers, so I can improve my own writing and provide more and better value myself.
SO WHAT COMES NEXT??
Over the next thirty days, starting tomorrow, I'm going to do another thirty-day writing challenge, but this time I'm mixing it up a bit. For 30-day-challenge number 2, instead of requiring an article every day of myself, I'm going to require a certain amount of time every day. Maybe an hour, maybe two, I still need to think about it. In certain ways, I anticipate the time-based challenge will be easier: for particularly long articles, I can split them up and not do them all in one sitting. That'll add freedom which I've lacked over the last thirty days. During the last thirty days, because of the article challenge, I've felt slightly constrained from really doing any intense "magnum opus" type posts. No single post over the last thirty days took more than five hours to write, and a few took less than an hour.
With a time-based challenge, I can put off publishing for a few days and then provide some real gems. I can delve deep into research, maybe even visiting the university library. I can invest time in original photographs and scans, or even draw pictures or diagrams. Perhaps most importantly, I can write something, and then proof-read it after a good night's sleep. That could be one of the biggest drawbacks of a post-a-day challenge, the poor proofreading forced by sheer lack of time.
I might also go the other extreme and experiment with smaller posts. Maybe instead of a single magnum opus, create some more multi-part series, publishing multiple smaller posts in a single day. The time challenge gives me freedom to switch back and forth between the two extremes.
There is a sense, though, in which a thirty-day time-challenge will be more difficult. It'll be less flexible on a day-to-day basis. A few times over the last thirty days, I really felt pressed for time, and had to push out a very hastily written article, for example the Week 2 Report about Fighting Music Addiction. With a time-challenge, I'll no longer be able to fall back on the short-n-dirty posts. And that was before school started (first day of class was yesterday)! I might have to really go out of my way, on busier days, to find that extra hour or two. Of course... if I can't find the time in a day, and don't do the time, that means the challenge starts over at day zero! Them's life.
For your part, I challenge you to the Thirty-Day Glowing Face Challenge. That means, every day, you have to read at least one article you haven't read before on GFM, and tell one new friend about the site. Do it, it'll increase your self-discipline! :)
You can start with one of these other articles I've written:
Training Self-Discipline
My Trip To The Fujitaisekiji Buddhist Organization
No Regrets - Regret Is A Useless Emotion
The Throw: Reactivity Vs. Responsiveness
WHAT HAVE I GAINED FROM WRITING AN ARTICLE EVERY DAY FOR THIRTY DAYS?
For one thing, I feel like I've strengthened my creativity. It's easy to start out on a thirty day challenge to write articles every day, especially when just returning from a trip to Japan chock full of interesting things to write about. As time stretches on, though, it gets harder and harder to decide what to write about.
That's not to say I don't have ideas for articles. I have tons of ideas; I keep a list, and these past thirty days, it's been changing at an alarming rate. The thing is, on any particular day, some items on the list may or may not seem motivating to write about. On some days, I get a flash of inspiration during my lifting session, and write about something entirely new despite having a big list of articles to work on. Other days, something that's been on the list for a long time might suddenly call out to me.
The main thing, though, is I don't want to write about something when my heart's not entirely in it. That's the difference between running GlowingFaceMan on my own, versus working as a writer for someone else. I write what I feel like writing about, and I think as a result the writing provides you, the reader, with a lot more value. But, it does also make it more difficult to do a thirty day article-writing challenge!
Without my strict requirements for motivation before writing an article, the thirty day writing challenge would be really easy. I could just hit "random article" on Wikipedia once a day and take ten minutes to summarize whatever popped up there. Of course, that would provide almost no value, to my readers or to myself. The challenge has really been to write an article, every single day for thirty days, that I really care about and feel about.
Another thing I think has improved, is my conversation ability. I've always wanted to be a better conversationalist. Part of that, is having things to talk about. I'm getting near a hundred high quality articles here on GFM now, and that means even if I'm drawing a total blank in conversation, I have nearly a hundred things I can draw upon to nudge the interaction along.
Related to that, I'm feeling "stronger in my reality." I feel like my "character" has solidified a bit just through writing here. I've learned certain things about myself, I've become more confident about certain things, and so on. When I first started writing here, in December 07, I was afraid of writing about Japanese because I thought people would see that as being too "dorky" (thanks to all the otaku culture that exists around Japanophiles). Now I've really grown past that, and seen how silly it is. As the Mirror Model predicts, it's my own feelings about Japanese which drive the other person's feelings. When I'm enthusiastic and passionate about it, it becomes gold. The same would happen for anything-- Star Wars, Dungeons and Dragons, even "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers", if I was into any of that.
I guess I've also grown as a writer. Like with weightlifting, it's hard to tell day to day whether I am growing as a writer. It happens slowly and so it's difficult to notice. But, looking back at some of my early articles, I do definitely have to say I've grown a lot in this realm.
From doing the thirty day challenge, I've gained insight into how motivation, habits, self-discipline, and behavioral momentum work. I've realized the power of doing something daily to etch it in as a habit. When I first got into weightlifting, dragged to the gym by my buddy, I went sporadically, usually two or three times a week. Thus it never built much momentum. Going to the gym was a chore and a hassle. Now, after a six-month break from lifting, I've been hitting the gym again, but this time on a daily basis, and I'm amazed how well it's becoming a part of my day. With the blog, writing every day has made it more routine and habitual. Getting an article pushed out is no longer a matter of exerting willpower. Some days, I'd have to exert willpower in order not to post here!
HOW HAS GLOWINGFACEMAN.COM CHANGED DUE TO THE THIRTY DAY ARTICLE BLITZ?
The blog itself has obviously been massively effected by the blitz. The article-base has practically doubled in the last thirty days (some days I actually wrote two posts, so the actual growth is closer to thirty-five new articles over the challenge period.)
This month of September so far, the blog's income has almost doubled compared to last month. Of course, a lot of last month was spent in Japan (has it really only been less than two months since I was wandering the trails of the Samurai??) But by the archival nature of a blog, income isn't actually dependent on my writing new material- even while I was dancing in Japanese nightclubs, the website continued to provide value to readers and Google continued to sponsor it. So doubling the income over last month is still a huge accomplishment, despite spending much of last month in Japan. Plus, there's still almost a week left of September!
Not just the quantity, but also the range of the Glowing Face Articles has improved throughout my thirty-day challenge. Many of the topics I've written about, like weightlifting, prayer, music addiction, cussing, the Air Force, and so on, really add new dimension to the site. I'll be open with you, the site's ultimate goal is still in flux. Who even knows what I'll be writing about at the end of my next thirty-day challenge!
Not directly related to the post-a-day challenge, but incidentally related, I've been growing my network with other writers. Writing these articles has really opened my eyes to the vast world of blogging, and how much intense value is out there, free for the reading. I want a strong network with other writers, so I can improve my own writing and provide more and better value myself.
SO WHAT COMES NEXT??
Over the next thirty days, starting tomorrow, I'm going to do another thirty-day writing challenge, but this time I'm mixing it up a bit. For 30-day-challenge number 2, instead of requiring an article every day of myself, I'm going to require a certain amount of time every day. Maybe an hour, maybe two, I still need to think about it. In certain ways, I anticipate the time-based challenge will be easier: for particularly long articles, I can split them up and not do them all in one sitting. That'll add freedom which I've lacked over the last thirty days. During the last thirty days, because of the article challenge, I've felt slightly constrained from really doing any intense "magnum opus" type posts. No single post over the last thirty days took more than five hours to write, and a few took less than an hour.
With a time-based challenge, I can put off publishing for a few days and then provide some real gems. I can delve deep into research, maybe even visiting the university library. I can invest time in original photographs and scans, or even draw pictures or diagrams. Perhaps most importantly, I can write something, and then proof-read it after a good night's sleep. That could be one of the biggest drawbacks of a post-a-day challenge, the poor proofreading forced by sheer lack of time.
I might also go the other extreme and experiment with smaller posts. Maybe instead of a single magnum opus, create some more multi-part series, publishing multiple smaller posts in a single day. The time challenge gives me freedom to switch back and forth between the two extremes.
There is a sense, though, in which a thirty-day time-challenge will be more difficult. It'll be less flexible on a day-to-day basis. A few times over the last thirty days, I really felt pressed for time, and had to push out a very hastily written article, for example the Week 2 Report about Fighting Music Addiction. With a time-challenge, I'll no longer be able to fall back on the short-n-dirty posts. And that was before school started (first day of class was yesterday)! I might have to really go out of my way, on busier days, to find that extra hour or two. Of course... if I can't find the time in a day, and don't do the time, that means the challenge starts over at day zero! Them's life.
For your part, I challenge you to the Thirty-Day Glowing Face Challenge. That means, every day, you have to read at least one article you haven't read before on GFM, and tell one new friend about the site. Do it, it'll increase your self-discipline! :)
You can start with one of these other articles I've written:
Training Self-Discipline
My Trip To The Fujitaisekiji Buddhist Organization
No Regrets - Regret Is A Useless Emotion
The Throw: Reactivity Vs. Responsiveness
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