When I started doing the One Post a Day project for the month of August I really wasn’t sure what would come of it. I made a couple little challenges in it to see if anyone wanted to join in and a few takers emerged. While it has been relatively difficult to keep the pace up, I’ve been able to figure it out. There has been a few very surprising things that have emerged from it.
First of all, I am taking a few more minutes everyday to think in a little more structured way. Typically my head is filled with swirling thoughts that have some structure, but not enough to really put my arms around. I find myself grabbing at those thoughts as thread starters of sorts and working to organize them into a story that I can write about. I am calling it a story, because I am working to structure the ideas in a way that I can expose them in short bursts without a ton of build up, explanation, or long term depth. I am thinking hard about how to write to the point and use examples to expose the concept I am working towards.
Another thing I am finding is that I am taking more time to comment elsewhere on other peoples’ posts. With more fresh content everyday I am working to read things and reflect on their thoughts as well. I have been trying to comment on at least one of my colleague’s post a day, but have found myself doing more than that. An added bonus is that I discovering more people through the enhanced blogging that is going on.
Finally, and this is the strangest thing I have noticed, I am more interested in getting exercise and physical activity. I’m not sure where that is coming from, but I think having my head a little clearer has given me the space to remember that I used to love to be very active. I’ve started playing tennis again and just added a second weekly match … my game is still coming into shape, but it feels great to be dead tired after a couple of sets. The coolest thing for me, given my long time love of biking, is that I have finally started to ride my bike to work. A lot of people give me shit about my Cafe Racer, but it is exactly what I wanted when I decided I needed something that was more street friendly. I actually bought it last summer and rode it to work exactly once. I’ve tripled that in the last three days and can’t say enough about how much more focused and (dare I say it) happy I feel at work. Not sure what is going on but I have exercised in one way or another everyday for the past seven days … not great for most, but with my recent track record, it is great.
So the One a Day challenge has had some surprising side effects … I think I need to consider what to tackle in September to keep it going.
