Draft blog posts somewhere offline first

Today, just now, I learned a valuable and frustrating lesson: draft my blog post somewhere not in the web browser, or else I could risk losing the whole thing.

I just put a good 30+ minutes into a blog about morning routines, with a nice exercise at the end for bringing awareness to our routines.

And then there was some sort of error when saving it all.

So, I lost all of it because of that error.

Frustrating. And a great learning moment.

Even if its just a short daily post, I’ll draft my blog in a word doc or something first.

Are at-home comprehensive body health tests worth it? (Part 1)

Have you ever done an at-home health test?
Not a genetics tests like 23andMe, and not an allergies test. I’m talkin’ a comprehensive body health test that uses blood, stool, or saliva samples—or, all three. It’s the kind of test that provides an in-depth assessment of one’s health on many levels.
Have you done something like this before?
What service or product did you do, and how’d it go?

I’m asking because I decided to one of these for the first time.
As you might know already, I’m a bit fan and advocate of preventative health. I think our health starts with our daily-weekly lifestyle, what we put into our bodies, how we move our bodies (sitting, walking, running, stretching, dancing, etc), what we consume mentally, and how we tend to our mental-emotional states.

I’ve done my annual doctor visits for years now, and I get bloodwork analyzed every one or two years. I want the annual visit to be like a routine car maintenance appointment with a multipoint inspection. I want a full assessment. I want to know what’s going on under the hood. I likely haven’t had an issues, but I want to know if any are coming. Any warning signs? Anything yellow flag? Any weird stuff I should look further into? I would rather pay two or three figures to prevent an issue than to pay in the high three or four figures to fix something after it’s broken down. The logic is when essential-functioning things break down they start stressing and damaging other things. I think this applies to both our automobiles and our bodies. It can feel tough to justify the expense when it’s not critical, but I always tell myself its better to pay this much now rather than 2-5x this down the road.

And so, I want to try one of this comprehensive at-home products to see if can add real value. Similar questions.. Is there anything I should look more closely at? Any warning signs or yellow flag? I feel and look like I’m great health, but things could look different under the hood upon closer examination. Is it possible for me to know I’m in good health down to the cellular level? Is there anything I should consider altering in what I eat or how I move, on a daily-weekly level?

Back to the tests.
There’s quite a few out there, such as Ombre, Viome, Thorne, Wellnicity, Floré, Biohm, & Verisana.

After hesitations because of cost and trying to figure out which product is best, I finally did some research and went ahead with Viome’s Full Body Intelligence test. (https://www.viome.com)

Just a heads up, these products can cost into the $400 range.
Viome was one of in not the most expensive, but it seemed to test the most stuff. It’s really 3 different tests. They sell each of them individually in this all-in-one bundle.
I hope it’s worth it. That’s a big price tag for experiment. But of course, I won’t do this again if it doesn’t actually help me in some relevant way; or can just buy any 1 of the 3 tests that actually helped. Only way to find out is to treat it as an experiment. You probably know my mantra by now: fuck around and find out. In this instance, I’m okay with paying $400 one time to find out.

I provided the samples (stool, saliva, and blood) many weeks ago and the results just came in. I haven’t looked at it all yet, but I’m excited to dive in and see the results!

I’m going to make this blog topic a two-parter. After I’ve had time to look at and act on the Viome results I’ll follow up with another post. It won’t be tomorrow or this week, and I won’t promise it’ll be this month. I’ll take time to act on the results and integrate any recommendations into my lifestyle. After enough time, I’ll see if it’s helped. Obviously, I won’t be able to notice on a cellular level or anything like that unless I test again, but my hope is that acting on the results impacts my body in a way I can see, feel, or notice somehow.

To be continued. :)

Below is a few pics from their website. Hopefully I’ll get interesting info and useful recommendations in all the categories!

Can we be honest and kind?

Can we be honest and kind at the same time?

Yesterday I posted a coffeeshop review on instagram, kicking off a fun little hobby where I’ll review coffeeshops in that way from time to time. In that first review, I challenged myself to be very honest and blunt about my experience of that coffeeshop.

Why did I challenge myself to do that? Because most of life I’ve had a tendency to be kind or nice, and to downplay my experiences, feelings, and opinions for the sake of ‘being nice.’ There’s a part of me that prioritized not being abrasive over be bluntly honest and direct. You may have heard me talk about this before as the “conflict aversion” I’ve been working on and transforming over the past 4 years. I’ve made progress, but the work continues.

In projects, hobbies, and activities in my life I like think there’s at least two layers: the thing, and the meta of the thing. Another way to say this is, “there’s the game, and then there’s the game inside the game.”

For example, with the coffeeshop review project, the game is to enjoy visiting coffeeshops and sharing about my experiences in them. I enjoy this because I profoundly love coffeeshops and I aspire to open and own one someday. The game inside the game is to do these reviews as a way for me to practice being uncomfortably honest and direct in my critique. Not as a way to be mean or to lord over the establishments on my high horse of judgement, but to simply grow as a person. I know being nice or kind is absurdly easy for me, so leaning the other way is my growth edge. So the game is to review coffeeshops for fun, and the game inside the game is embrace discomfort, own my voice and perspective, and share my thoughts without holding back or downplaying what I’m really thinking.

So this brings me back to the opening question:
Can we be honest and kind at the same time?

I ask this because I don’t want to view being truthful and being kind as mutual exclusives. For now, my working answer is: yes, we can be honest and kind. I want to be both but in that order of priority. I don’t yet fully know or understand HOW to do that, but I’m daring to believe it’s possible, and I’m determined to figure it out via direct experience.

What’s your take on the question?
Can we be honest and kind at the same time?
Why or why not?
I’d love to hear your perspective.

Beware of preparation as procrastination

Have you ever struggled with this ailment? The clever hindrance of preparation as procrastination.
It’s when we do the work and take action to research, gather, prepare, preempt, poise, anticipate, calculate, train, and so on BUT without ever getting to the work of real progress.

Its like gathering the supplies and setting up everything to paint and then never painting.
Doing all the prep work of starting a business, a venture, or some side hustle, but then not actually doing it.
Its like looking up gyms, getting workout clothes and shoes, and maybe even signing up for the gym, BUT then not going!
Maybe it doesn’t even make it past the mental ‘what if’s’, ‘but’s’, and ‘what about’s’ that come up when we think about doing something new or making some kind of change.

Preparation as procrastination can look an infinite number of ways.

I’ve danced with this adversary a lot throughout my life.
Committing to this blog daily was one way of breaking through the shit.
For years I’ve thought it’d be cool and fun to write a blog. BUT x, y, and z were always in the way.
I never felt prepared. I thought I had to do a bunch of research to learn how to blog (because I wanted to do it well), and learn how to use the squarespace blogging functions (because I don’t want to mess up), and learn how to share the blog out so people will actually read it, and blah blah blah.. what about [this], what if [that], but [yada yada yada], and on the excuses, self-defeating thoughts, and limiting narratives would go. Anytime I thought about blogging, that shit would come up. And I gave in to it for years.

Until I decided to intentionally jump in without feeling ready.
To intentionally start doing it unprepared.
To do it no matter how messy, ugly, imperfect, and UGH it could be.

I didn’t even know how to effectively share links on Instagram until last night, y’all. A week into posting the blog daily!! I posted it about the blog on Insta every day but with no easy or quick for people to get to it!

MESSY. IMPERFECT.
Awesome.

The antidote to preparation as procrastination is just jumping the fuck into whatever it is and figuring it out as we go.

Procrastination and grasping onto preparation is a reaction of fear. Fear of failure. Fear of rejection. Fear blah blah blah. And the antidote to FEAR is ACTION. I’m talking the action of real progress. The actions that incur a risk. A risk of failure or imperfection.

Preparation feels like action, it feels like progress, BUT ITS NOT.

If you’re like me, you’ve struggled with overthinking things, over preparing, over analyzing, and taken forever to get to the real action. If you’re like me then listen up:

Jump in and figure it out as you go.
Get messy. Fail fast and fail forward.
You will never be 100% prepared.
You will never be able to account for and plan for everything.
You will learn more though the risky messy process of doing things than the safe process of preparation.
You will see and feel the difference between actions of preparation and actions of real progress.
You cannot learn to swim without getting in the water.
Listen to and real think about that an analogy..
You cannot learn to swim without getting wet; you cannot learn to swim without getting in the water.
No amount of study, analysis, and preparation can replace the need to actually put our bodies in the water in order to learn to swim.

Preparation as procrastination is when we look at the water, think about about it, talk about it, analyze it, read and study it, imagine our bodies swimming in it..
and then believing that all of that was us learning how to swim. That all of that was the same as actually getting in the water.

It’s not.

I’m not trying to be crazy literal here, because preparation is helpful, appropriate, and builds safety. What I’m speaking to is when we hide in the process of preparation and put off getting wet to instead keep preparing and preparing and preparing and preparing to get in.

Beware.
Be aware.

Where in your life have you experienced preparation as procrastination?
Is there any area where its currently happening?
This is the invitation to look, notice it, and make a new choice. Jump in and get wet.

Reflections on a week of daily blogging

Today rounds out the first week of blogging every day.
This post also marks my 7th blog. Ever.

With 1 week down and 3 to go, this seems like a good moment to reflect on the past week and the 3 ahead.

So how’s it going?
It’s feel much like jumping in to a cold river or pool, or taking a cold shower.
Scary at first, uncomfortable for much of the time, flashing moments of euphoria or bursts of energy, and the ever elusive and delicious moment of being in “flow.”

Half of the past 6 posts have felt like a rushed shit show, just trying to check the box and follow thru on the commitment. The other few provided glimpses into what it’ll feel like when I don’t have to cram a finished post into every day, especially the very dense or busy days.

I feel as though I'm growing more comfortable with the discomfort of this commitment and the resulting implications. The hope is that this’ll be like training or running with a weighted vest. After the month is over, I can shed the vest, enjoy the gains, and draft the posts with a level of comfort and ease I can’t currently imagine. It’s perhaps a combination of optimism and faith that I’ll be able to more fully see and feel the gains of this month of stretching and training when I’m no longer in the gauntlet. I do believe it will be there.

TLO: trust, let go, be open.

Trust the process.
Let go of needing the process to go or look a certain way.
Be open to what I don’t know, and especially what I don’t know that I don’t know.

Bits of this daily blog commitment remind me of the poem-a-day for a year that I did about about a decade ago.

I can taste fleeting glimmers of my writing ‘voice’ and depth of mind coming through in some of the bits of writing in these posts.
I can feel a familiarity with showing up for the blank white page and attuning to what I authentically want to talk about in today’s writing.
I can feel the intense discomfort of an inner critic yearning (and sometimes screaming) to make these words, sentences, ideas, and visual formatting PERFECT.
I can feel the little moments of ‘flow’ where the writing process kinda’ takes over and becomes effortless.
I can feel the absence of flow, the excruciating opposite wherein every word or sentence just feels like trying to have a bowel movement while constipated.
(apologies for that intense analogy, but its quite accurate and effectively communicates the point)

I wrote recently about the power of making a daily commitment. I very much enjoyed that post. And right now I’m thinking more about the idea.

One thing to note is that in jumping into a daily commitment is its like the archetypal Heroes Journey. There’s idea about of what lies ahead, there’s an end goal, and there’s a ‘why’ for embarking on the journey.

The unknown, or Mystery, is a prominent element in a daily commitment. It’s a scary and empowering risk.

What’s going to happen?
How’s this going to work?
Will I be successful?
What will I gain from this?
What will I learn from this?
Who will I become, or who can I become, thru doing this?
What is possible? What’s possible for me in this commitment? What’s possible for me in my life?

Possibility. This is gift of the unknown or the Mystery.
There’s so much we don’t know, and even more that we don’t know that we don’t know.

Adventure is an Add-venture. We talk about ventures in business, but can talk the same way about ventures in life?

This is adventure is a venture, an investment with a risk of success and failure, an investment into a vision of new and better possibilities.

I’m not trying to overinflated this or make it seem grandiose, BUT this is microcosm of the macrocosm.
Such as the provocative statement that: how we do anything is how we do everything.

That can sound like nonsense but it also holds the wisdom of how the macro is in the micro.
Anything we do or embark upon has the potential for life changing impact.

I’m here for it.
For the unknowns, the mystery, and the risks of aspiration.
For the myriad possibilities in the micro moments, and the possibilities of macro impact.

I’m here for it. For this life. For this blog.

I’m here to fuck around and find out what’s possible.

A heliotropic headspace, always growing toward the light.

What makes a good coffeeshop?

What makes a good coffeeshop?

 If you know me, you know I LOVE coffeeshops. A good coffeeshop is one of my ‘happy places,’ one of those special spaces where I feel great and relax easily. It’s a kind of place I generally enjoy being.

Over the years, I’ve made a point to seek out and visit coffeeshops when I travel, and it’s been really cool to see the varieties and nuances between them all..

From time to time, I’ve wondered to myself and in conversation with friends—
What makes a good coffeeshop?
What would I critique and rate if I was reviewing a coffeeshop?

There is certainly be some subjective and personal tastes to one’s answers, but I’m curious about an objective-leaning set of categories.

I want get a working answer to those questions and identify a handful of criteria because I’d love to review the coffeeshops I visit. I think it’d be a fun thing to put on Instagram. :)

I took some time today to think about it all.
Here’s what I’ve got so far as working set of criteria:

• Coffee

• Drink Menu

• Food/eats

• Mercantile

• Amenities

• Location & hours

• Aesthetic

• Concept/brand

• Vibe/atmosphere

Here’s a breakdown on each.

Coffee: Well, how’s the coffee? It is a coffeeshop after all. We either have coffeeshops, cafes, or restaurants. A coffeeshop, coffeehouse, or espresso bar should really deliver on its namesake. A cafe, these days, focuses equally between the drinks and the eats, or maybe even focuses more heavily on the food than the coffee. A restaurant focuses foremost on the food. Is it a bakery in namesake but also sells espresso drinks? Then I’d expect the pastries and bread to outshine the coffee. The namesake tells us the focus of the establishment. If coffee is the focus then I’d hope it’s good..

Drink Menu: How’s the diversity and quality of drinks? If they only do coffee that’s okay in my book.. But if they offer tea & other stuff, is it good quality or is it an afterthought?

Food/eats: Any food offerings? It’s typical of coffeeshops to offer baked goods, snacks, and light eats. How’s the quality?

Mercantile: Do they sell non-consumables? Mugs, shirts, coffee making supplies, miscellaneous? How’s the quality?

Amenities: Power outlets, water station, wifi, seating quality and quantity. What’s offered and how does it impact the patron experience?

Location & hours: How’s the parking? Ease of access? Hours of operation? Quality of cell phone service?

Aesthetic: How’s the overall décor and visual style of the place? There’s no one right way, but it’s notable if the aesthetic ‘works’ or doesn't work for the place.

Concept/brand: Aesthetic plays into this but its bigger than the visuals. What is the vision or mission of this place? What does this coffeeshop aim to be? Is it clear and coherent, and do they do it well?

Vibe/atmosphere: Temperature, music & volume, acoustics, attitude and personality of the staff and the patrons. What does it feel like just being in the space?

When I start posting reviews of coffeeshops on Instagram, I’ll use this list as a starting point, as well as including basic info like the name, address, website, and socials.  

What do you think of the list?
Do you agree, or disagree with anything on it?
Did I miss anything you think is important to include?

I’d love to hear your perspective. :)

What makes a good blog? (Part 2)

Today’s post is my compilation of a quick google and skim through articles about this question:
What makes a good blog?

4 Essential elements to writing a good blog post, by Jeff Goins
https://goinswriter.com/great-blog-post/

“Over my 11 years of blogging, I've made a habit of studying prolific, influential bloggers, and realized something:
They all have a system and structure for blogging.
While the structures vary, they all some form they follow. I'm sure there are exceptions to this rule, but I haven't found one yet. The norm is that serious bloggers have a set way that they write every blog post.”

The Elements:
1. An attention-grabbing headline
2. A captivating lead paragraph
3. Interesting supporting points
4. A compelling call-to-action

Put it all together (His formula):

1. Choose a topic and write a headline.

2. Write the lead paragraph.

3. List a few main points in the body.

4. Write your call-to-action.

5. Edit and revise. (At this point, I usually revise the headline.)

6. Proofread.

7. Publish (checking the headline one last time to make sure it still works).

From Grammerly
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/how-to-write-a-blog/?q=mobile&gclid=CjwKCAjw3K2XBhAzEiwAmmgrAjvUSZ1EKLqQ2g9DvSSV582tethWbsFrIdZmLBv1U64Yc4AMt6E1_RoCIXgQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Types of Blog Posts:

1. How To

2. List-based

3. News article

4. Interview

5. Review

6. Personal

7. Explainer/Discourse

8. Image-based

   *Subtype: Stand-alone, or as a series

Blogging steps:

1. Set up blog

2. Choose topic

3. Make an outline

4. Hook the reader

5. Call to action

6. Edit & proofread

7. Enhance with images

8. Enhance SEO

Top tips for an effective blog
https://www.thebalancesmb.com/top-tips-to-creating-an-effective-blog-2295733

1. Use your personality and authentic voice; don’t over-formulate

2. Be consistent in posting

3. Keep it simple

4. Allow comments

5. Create a great article title

How to structure a Blog Post
https://www.writerscookbook.com/how-structure-blog-post/

• Have an introduction that explains why they should read your post on the topic, not someone else’s

• Break it up using headings

• Keep paragraphs short

• Write in plain English. You’ll lose people if you try to be too clever

• Don’t be afraid to use your unique voice—that’s what will keep people reading!

• Save the purple prose and complicated metaphors for your epic fantasy or poetry

• Use images that tie in with—and back up—your arguments

• Wrap things up with a conclusion

• Have a call to action at the end, even if it’s just a link to your social media accounts

8 Habits of highly effective bloggers
https://copyblogger.com/effective-blog-habits/

1. Be prolific; write ALOT

2. Be concise

3. Be analytical; strategic

4. Be a lifelong learner

5. Be focused and consistent

6. Plan Ahead

7. Be Persistent

8. Be a self-starter

8 essential elements of a successful blog post
https://www.forbes.com/sites/allbusiness/2018/04/20/the-8-essential-elements-of-a-successful-blog-post/?sh=33ac950c58fc

1. Magnetic headline

2. Compelling lead line or opening

3. Useful subheadings

4. Informative and engaging body of text

5. Appealing graphics

6. Powerful call to action

7. Relevant internal links (to other posts in blog)

8. Good meta description (for google search results)

What makes a good blog? (Part 1)

It’s a worthy question to explore. What makes a blog good?—
The content or topic? Structure? Length? Pictures? Author’s voice or style in the writing?

I don’t know (yet). I jumped blogging a few days ago, but I’ve been thinking about this question.

I started blogging for fun, fulfillment, and growth.
I’m doing this now because I’ve wanted to do it for years AND because it was scary idea.

For this month I’ve committed to publishing a blog post every day.
And, I have a lot going in life right now, so on most days I'll want to spend half an hour or less on this task.

I’m blogging daily, writing ‘em quick n’ loose, and letting them be rather brief.
Let me be clear—THAT is not what I’ve wanted or imagined for years.
I’ve actually imagined the opposite..
Writing 1,200+ words, well-researched and developed, a few rounds of revision, maybe some feedback from a few people in my inner circle, et cetera before finally posting it.
In other words, I’ve wanted to have a space to let my inner academic and inner philosopher come out to play;
like taking your dog to the dog park and letting it run free, I’ve imagined a blog to be that for my mind.
I want the blog to be a space to follow and go in on my ideas, to see what they bloom into, to explore perspectives, and spark interesting deep-diving conversations with people, both online and in person.

Does all of that sound great to you? It certainly does to me.
I’m not ruling it out for this month, but the scope and depth of these posts will naturally be influenced by the commitment to publishing something daily.

There’s a method to the madness, an order to the chaos.
For much of my life I’ve wrestled with analysis-paralysis, ‘someday syndrome’, and preparation-as-procrastination. These ailments are when we have a wonderful idea, intention, or aspiration BUT don’t actually go for it because we’re over thinking it, putting it off to the ‘tomorrow’ that never comes, or busying ourselves with excessive preparations, research, etc.

That last one is especially insidious because preparation can FEEL like we’re taking action on something, but listen carefully here: the action of PREPARATION is not the same as the action of PROGRESS. There’s preparation and then there’s implementing or acting on what one has prepared for.

My commitment to publish daily is about cutting through and squashing any analysis paralysis, someday syndrome, or preparation-procrastination’s that may creep up on me.

Those big three baddies are the reason this blog is JUST NOW happening rather than 2 or 3 years ago.

This is uncomfortable. (good)
This is the forth day of doing it and its still uncomfortable. (good)

I’m going to get really really good at posting things that feel limited, incomplete, too short, not fully developed, unstructured, and whatever else my mind wants to come up with to accompany the feelings of self-criticism, perfectionism, and doubt.

This way, when I commit the space and time to create beautiful robust blog posts like I described above, they will be that much better. And, more importantly, they will actually happen.

Competence vs Credibility

Competence versus credibility, its a topic that’s come up a lot in my conversations with folks over the past year or so. This is an important distinction to look at, and for the sake of time I won’t be able to fully unpack it right now. But, at the very least, I want to get the conversation started.

Competence is the ability to do something well or effectively.
Credibility is about being trusted or believed.

The point I want to drive home here is that these are note the same thing. We often make the mistake of thinking they are though.

I run into this often in the world in helping professions like life coaching or therapy.

For a life coach like myself, a few points of credibility could be:

• Holding the Associate Credentialed Coach (ACC) distinction, conferred by the International Coaching Federation.

• Being a ‘certified’ coach by a training program, such as the Center for Coaching Excellence, where I’ve trained extensively for over a year.

• Client testimonials that say I’m great.

• A ‘professional’ looking website.

• 6 years of experience, and having worked with over 90 clients.

• And so on so forth..

But all of that is akin to “talking the talk.”
Competence is about “walking the walk.”

All of those points of credibility are inferring something like, “Hey, this person is pretty good at this stuff. He knows what he’s doing and does it well.”

But when a coach and client actually meet and work together, what’s the results? What’s the impact? How effective is the coach and coaching partnership in helping a client to make REAL change and progress in their life? This is what competence is about. Actually doing the damn thing, not just claiming and signaling to be good at it.

The issue of competence vs credibility is veryyyy interesting to look at for life coaching and counseling/therapy. One reason is that the landscape of credibility is radically different, almost polar opposite, between these two professions.

As a therapist, there is a tremendous amount of legally required credibility to be able to call one’s self a therapist and work with people in that way. And yet, I can tell, there are MANY incompetent therapists out there who check all the boxes of required credibility but actually suck at the job.

In comparison, life coaching has virtually no barriers to entry. There’s no legal protections or requirements to call one’s self a life coach and charge people money for whatever you do with them. It’s kind of crazy. I find it bittersweet. I enjoy the lack of bureaucracy and red tape, but also sometimes I talk with people who’ve had a shitty experience with a so-called certified life coach. I feel anger when I hear of people misrepresenting my profession and doing harm on others when the entire point of this job to help, not harm.

I chose coaching first precisely because I was burned out on higher education after finishing my bachelors and I wanted a break, BUT I wanted to help people in a real and meaningful way as my life’s work.

I chose to get a year of training and earn an ICF (international coaching federation) credential. But I wasn’t required to do that. I could’ve done some cheap 2-day weekend life coaching training and been able to call myself a “blahgiddy blah yadda yadda certified” life coach and then started seeking to get paid by helping people.

I didn’t choose the quick and easy route because I wanted competence. I felt like I could help people as a life coach, but I wanted to know that I could, and more so I wanted to be effective at it. I wanted to make a real impact and positive in my work.

I wasn’t out for the name and the claim of coaching, I was in it for the results.

I hold myself accountable to getting results with my clients, and if we aren’t able to help them make progress thru our work together then I would rather see them get other help than for me to just keep taking their money, taking up our time, and not making a real difference.

Maybe the takeaway here that there’s a strange polarity and interconnected relationship between competence and credibility. In both counseling and life coaching, we see that credibility doesn’t guarantee competence.

I wonder, can competence be self-evident in firsthand experience?
Can we know it when we see it, feel it, or hear it?

Maybe competence and credibility is like the difference between dinner and the menu.
We eat the dinner; we view the menu.
We experience competence; we look at credibility.

We look through the menu and pick something, hoping its good.
And when the food comes out, and we really experience it, that’s the moment we know if the restaurant is real deal, if it’s competent in it’s claims.

I want to keep growing and exploring in an understanding of this topic.
What’s your perspective? What’s your take on competence vs credibility?
I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

The power in making a daily commitment

The first time I can remember making an empowered commitment to do something daily was in 2012. December 21st 2012, to be exact. And if you don’t remember (or weren’t born yet), that was supposedly the end of the world according the media and the Mayan Calendar. I had been flirting with making a commitment to writing a poem EVERY DAY FOR A YEAR. So I thought, tongue in cheek, that the day the world was ending would be a rather convenient time to make this commitment. So I made the decision. And I told people. And, I probably posted it on my social media, too.

I wrote a poem that day, enjoyed a festive evening celebrating ‘the end of the world’, poked fun at the latest Y2K-styled mass hysteria, and went to bed.

I woke up December 22nd 2012.. and the world hadn’t ended.

Oh, shit. lol. I had a poem to write. Well, actually, I had 364 poems to write.

I ventured on with the commitment. I chose journals to write the poems in. Even if I first drafted a poem elsewhere, such as in a Facebook post, I still rewrote it in my poem journal.

I knew what I was doing every day—write a poem.
I knew where I would do it—in the journal.
I knew when I would do it—sometime before sleeping.
I knew why I would do it—to get better a writing poems; i.e. to get better at doing something I love.
I knew how I would do it, sorta’—by writing SOMETHING in the journal, anything in the journal, any words would count.

In the end, I did the damn thing.
Was it perfect? no.
Did I miss some days? ..yes.
Did I write 2 poems the next day to make up for it? yes.
Did I write 365 poems in a year? Yes, more than that actually.

In my eyes, this poem-a-day-for-a-year was an experiment.
Experiment is an important word here. I denotes a mindset..
I set out to discover something. I was curious. I was bold. I was confident.. and I was frightened.

I had never done something like this before. Could I really do it?
Sure, I breathe, eat, sleep, and so on every day. But this was different.
This wasn’t something essential and about survival.
It was something non-ordinary and about thriving.
It was about getting uncomfortable, setting off on an adventure, and daring to fuck around and find out what happens.. and find out what’s possible.
Its about expanding ourselves and our reality by venturing into unknown territory, unknown experiences, unknown capacities. We can’t find something new until we dare to jump into the unknown.

I found out many things. One being that I CAN make a commitment like this and DECIDE every day for a year to follow through on a decision I made days, weeks, or months ago. Its like keeping a promise to one’s self. Its a concrete example of when people say “showing up for yourself.” Past Cody made a request that present Cody and future Cody show up for him by following through on this commitment. Pretty neat stuff, kinda far out, huh?

Since the Poem-a-day experiment, I’ve done many experiments in a similar spirit, mindset, and template.

• No alcohol for a year; or better named, ‘Sober Socializing’ for a year.

• Strict veganism for 30 days (which, on day 30, I decided to make 100 days)

• Various exercise and eating experiments ranging from 1 week to 1 month in length. The most notables include intermittent fasting and replacing coffee with tea.

• The Garbage Post Challenge: posting to social media every day, multiple times a day, for a month, aiming to post 100 pieces of content in 30 days.

And, currently in process:
-meditation every day for a year
-blogging every day for a month.

All of this can sound BIG and carry clout, but I actually wanna advocate for the opposite. Deflate it. Treat it as not a big deal. Let this kind of commitment be something that is both active and passive. Sort of like zen, let a daily commitment be both a focal point and a background decor.

What would you consider committing to daily? And for how long?
Explore it for yourself: what, when, where, why, and how.