Chris Mance II - Mental Skills Coach

Have you ever had the fear of hosting an event to only have no one show up? Spending all day setting up chairs, then at the start of the event all the chairs are still empty…

That’s how starting a daily blog feels.

Today I have officially been writing this daily blog for 47 days straight without missing a day. My previous personal best was 45 days in a row back in the spring of this year.

When I started this new blog, my first goal was to reach a new daily blogging personal best. Now that I have achieved this, I’ve realize that the key to keeping a daily blog going is mastering the art of writing even when no one is reading (i.e. hosting the event even if no one shows up) .

As of this weekend, on average, the blog post I write on Saturdays and Sundays only get read by 1 or 2 people (me and my wife if I’m lucky). Even on a good day, during peak hours, I’ve maxed out at 40 people.

For example, yesterday I really enjoyed writing a blog post I titled The Peanut Butter and Jelly Manifesto. I feel really good about what I wrote and think it’s worthy of a Facebook like or two.  Even a re-tweet.

Yet, only one other person read it (and they didn’t even share or comment on it).

Paltry numbers like this deterred me during my first attempt at a daily blog. This time around I’ve accepted the fact that I’m writing for myself more than I’m writing to get readers.

The art of writing when no one is reading is simple. Set personal goals that have nothing to do with traffic numbers, track your progress, and repeat.

My first goal was to break my 45 day record. Done.  Now, I want to go after a streak of 365 daily blog post in a row. Basically, that’s it. Of course I want to write inspirational and insightful content on this blog, but that’s not really measurable. So while I’m trying to find that inspirational and  insightful voice, my goal right now is to show up consistently, everyday, regardless of how many people read what I write.

Cheers to the party of one!

I can remember in elementary school there being a kid who ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich every single day for lunch. Literally.

This was the late 80s. Now, just over 20 years later, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is borderline illegal to bring to school. It’s practically contraband.

I know you must be wondering what the heck I’m talking about. So, let me explain.

A few weeks ago I packed my pre-school son a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for his brown bag lunch. That day at lunch time I got a stern, yet awkward email from school.  It stated:

[Your son] has a Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwich for lunch today. Because of the number of students in his class with severe peanut allergies (prescribed EpiPens), we had to alter his normal lunch procedures.  In order to ensure that no other student is exposed to the Peanut Butter, [Your son] has to sit away from the class, next to the teacher, and cannot start eating his sandwich until the teacher has served all of the other students and is sitting next to him.  He does not appear to be bothered by the wait, but we wanted to make you aware of the changes we have to make to accommodate his lunch.

My first thought was WTF!  My son is an outcast because of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?

I decided not to respond to the email and instead just let it go since it was not really that big of a deal. Although now I have this lingering feeling that this may be a trend spreading across the country.

A trend that is indicative of an emerging new normal in our society.

A normal that makes it okay to inconvenience or offend in the name of accommodating the exception. A normal where the exception becomes the rule even when the exception is not the rule. A normal where normal is not normal anymore.

Obviously, phasing out the peanut butter and jelly sandwich from the American lunch menu is not a one to one correlation to a referendum on a new normal. Yet, I still believe the rise and fall of the American peanut as a staple in our diet presents us with a tremendous amount of symbolism.

Every generation experiences changing norms.  Normal always has and will always be a moving target.  While the peanut butter and jelly sandwich is not something I’m personally willing to stand up and fight for, there are other norms that I won’t compromise.

With that said, the Peanut Butter and Jelly Manifesto is simple:

It is up to each family to recognize what things they do, say, and believe that are becoming abnormal in our evolving society. Then, they must decide to either adopt the new normal or stand up and fight for the values they’re not willing to compromise.

Tonight my wife and I enjoyed a holiday party at a fantastic venue.  It was at an urban farm in College Park, GA owned by one of the instructors at the Cooking School at Irwin Street.

The event was a series of mini-cooking lessons and taste test all while enjoying wine and laughs with friends. Needless to say, my wife and I had a great time.

I am sharing this story as a result of a comment my wife made about the event on the way home. She said that tonight we got to experience someone’s dream.

When she first said it, I had know idea what she was talking about.  As she explained, however, it really touched a chord in me.

She explained that the idea of having an urban farm, a cooking class, and hosting parties for groups like ours was the dream of the owner. Tonight, we were part of that dream.

This got me to thinking… Everyday we experience someone’s dream. From the local pizza shop to the big box retailer to this WordPress blog I am writing on right now. At one point, it had to be someone’s dream before it became a reality.

The guy who owns the local pizza shop dreamed of owning that pizza shop years before he opened it. Sam Walton started off making $75 a month working at J.C. Penny before making the dream of the first true Walmart come to life on July 2, 1962. Matt Mullenweg majored in Political Science before dropping out of college and pursing his dream to become the Internet blogging king as the founder of Automatic, the company behind this WordPress blog.

I’m saying all of this to say that nearly everything in life outside of nature started with a dream in one person’s head. Phones, apps, cars, restaurants, toys, furniture.  Everything!

It’s quite amazing to think of the world in this way. For me, it makes me excited to think of the dreams in my head right now that will one day create an experience for someone else.