Today is my birthday. It’s 5:30 am and I’m sitting in an airport in Augusta, GA. My flight got delayed, so I could have slept in for an extra two hours. On the bright side, I now have time to write a blog post before I would usually be awake. What a productive day so far!
Every year I give myself a birthday gift. Well…I did last year, and I want to do it again this year. Last year I got myself a surf board. I sold that surf board a couple weeks ago. This year I want to give myself a different kind of gift.
I’ve written before about letting questions and curiosity drive you rather than goals or knowledge. This is easier said than done, especially when you’ve developed deep-rooted habits of suppressing curiosity via public schooling. But the only way to do it is to do it.
What would it be like to create something every single day for a full year? This is a question I’ve toyed around with for a while. I already create something most days, but there’s not a strict discipline to it. I create mostly when I feel the need to. What would happen if I turned it into a discipline? If I took myself seriously? What would I learn? What would I create? What habits would I develop? What ideas would I come up with? What type of person would I turn in to? What opportunities would I create?
There’s only one way to find out.
I’ve blogged for 30 days straight before, and it was fun, challenging, and valuable. A whole year is a different animal because in a whole year, I’ll be a different animal. In 365 days, I’m going to be a completely different person than who I am now whether I create every day or not. The changes that happen in a month are foreseeable. The changes that happen in a year are unpredictable.
I’m defining a creation as a published form of writing, audio, or video. My default will be a blog post. Some days I may create videos, podcasts, or any other form of published writing. Whatever it is, I must be satisfied with the fact that it represents my ideas, and it must be published for the world to see.
If I create multiple things in one day, I still have to create on the next day. It’s not about creating 365 things, it’s about the act of creating every day.
So this year, I’m giving myself the gift of curiosity. I’m taking myself seriously. There’s no turning back now.
Day 1: check.