From Impossible to Possible One Day at a Time for 365 Days
On this day exactly 365 days ago I made a commitment to use one of my strengths to help others. Here I am one year later having fulfilled that promise to myself. Today marks exactly 365 days in a row of writing and publishing a helpful and insightful article in this blog.
Up until recently I thought this feat was an impossible task for me. In fact, this current streak represents my third attempt at a daily blog. The first time I tried was back in 2012. I only pushed my streak to 45 days in a row back then. Next, I tried again in 2013-2014 extending my streak to 73 days in a row.
During my first attempt at a daily blog I popped up a wordpress site on an impulse. I fell off after 45 days because I picked topics specifically to drive traffic and was trying to write something groundbreaking in every post. This was exhausting and just not sustainable.
During my second attempt, I was very vocal about my goal to get to 365 days in a row, and it was a public failure when I didn’t achieve this goal. I privately had a “Come to Jesus” moment as I realized that after writing 73 blog post in a row that something magical didn’t happen. I wasn’t growing a list of followers and the traffic to my blog wasn’t growing at a significant rate. When I ended this streak I thought I was done with blogging for good.
Writing with a Purpose to Help Others Changed Everything
This all changed on the day before I started this latest writing endeavor. I met with my mentor and coach on June 27th, 2018 to start planning on how I was going to ignite my purpose by the end of 2018. He then assigned me a task to review my strengths and passions and then create an action plan.
Through this process I spent a good bit of time thinking about one of my strength themes called Intellection by the Gallup Strengthsfinder. It turns out that writing is one of the activation steps for this theme. Gallup suggest that those with this strength theme should:
- Consider beginning or continuing your studies in philosophy, literature, or psychology. You will always enjoy subject matter areas that stimulate your thinking.
- List your ideas in a log or a diary. These ideas will serve as grist for your mental mill, and might yield valuable insights.
- Take time to write. Writing might be the best way to crystallize and integrate your thoughts.
- Find people who like to talk about the same issues you do. Organize a discussion group that addresses subjects of interest to you.
Subsequently, I decided to take this “Intellection” strength and apply it to my passions around helping others with personal growth and youth sports. This combination became my purpose.
Unquestionably, finding this purpose to help others is what propelled me to 365 days in a row of writing and publishing in this blog. What I once thought was an impossible goal for me, went from possible, to now achieved.
As a result of this experience, I am now a firm believer that having a clear purpose driven by innate strengths, passions, and motivations is the best way to go from impossible to possible.