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Inspired by Youtuber Chimdi Ihezie, I chose to embark on a 6-day Writing Challenge this week following last month’s 30-day Writing Challenge where I fell short. 

Six consecutive days of writing and publishing felt so much more palatable, realistic, and motivating, than the original 30 days I had set out to tackle.

Below, I share a few lessons from the last six days of writing. 

1. Showing Up Is The Hardest Part 

Once you get over the hump of sitting down at your desk, opening your laptop, and pulling up a blank document to write, anything is possible.

The act of showing up every day allows any type of goal to be achieved, from fitness to meditation, to any other daily act – where compounded – will make a difference in your life over time.

This type of lesson gets read, written, and shared all the time, everywhere, yet it’s not until first-hand experience that you can internalize and take it with you. 

Takeaway

• Make it easy for yourself to show up.
• Insert your writing practice within two other habits you have already developed to check off your daily writing goal. 
• Start off your day with your most important activity. This week for me was writing.

2. Writing For Yourself Is A Helpful Starting Point Before Learning How to Write For Others

I treat my personal blog as a public journal entry of sorts. 

I write for myself, not an audience. While the opposite of business-savvy, I am clear with my intention with my blog, and it’s at once liberating and terrifying. 

Liberating in that I am not preoccupied with how I come off to readers, whether an editor will like my work enough to publish it.

Terrifying in that my freedom of expression may somehow lead to backlash. My subconscious fears getting cancelled for whatever reason, which could very well happen.

I will aim to show myself grace if and when I do get called out for saying or doing something problematic. I am here to grow.

I do practice writing for an audience, especially over on Medium.

Still, writing for myself these last six days has allowed me to get out of my head and simply put words on the page, and that’s a critical milestone. 

Takeaway

• I feel safe to unleash my most authentic voice on my website to be witnessed by all. 
• I’m so thankful for the likes, followers, and subscribers from my fellow WordPress community members and for everyone who spends time reading my innermost thoughts.
• My decision to venture beyond my private journaling practice and to make myself present on the internet is a stepping stone for me to manifest my wildest dreams. 

3. A Daily Writing Practice Yields Greater Creativity and More Ideas

The more I write, the more ideas I have for my next piece. The higher the backlog of drafts accumulated, waiting to be shared with the world.

I am now nursing a well of creativity, not yet unleashed. I am now even more motivated to show up for myself every day and write.

Takeaway

• I hadn’t expected a positive compounding effect when you show up to do what you love with the intention to learn and grow. 

4. Building the Right Habits Is Critical To Success 

Aristotle says, “We are what we repeatedly do.”

To prioritize writing is the crux of what makes me a writer. 

Not only does it build confidence and momentum, it also builds a repertoire of words on the page – my words curated from my mind and my life experience. (Thank you, Fingers, for typing so fast, and thank you, Brain, for having thoughts worth sharing!)

Takeaway

• Writing for myself these last six days has been an exercise in building habit and consistency, which in turn yielded greater confidence and momentum. 

Moving Forward

Next week, I will aim to publish twice – once on Monday and once on Thursday. 

Thanks for reading and until then, have a restful weekend!