In my blog post
yesterday I discussed how I recently took an unscheduled 2-week break from this
blog & it was only once I took some time away from my daily writing that I recognized
the benefits that blogging had unexpectedly brought into my life. I originally
started writing this blog because of the advice of Scott Adams (creator of
Dilbert comic & best-selling author), who discussed creating systems
instead of goals which I covered at length in my day 43 post on systems versus goals.
In short, I wanted to find a way to hold myself accountable to my fitness
goals, & a daily blog seemed like a great way to accomplish this goal as I could
work on my writing skills at the same time. My hope was that this improved
writing ability would help me in my career.
Since I set out on
this blogging journey nearly 70 days ago, I have learned a lot & developed
some new skills. In the post below I look at some of the benefits I’ve noticed
since I started this blog, as well as some of the reasons that I believe are
behind the benefits.
First, I want to look at some of the benefits that I
have noticed since starting this blog nearly 10 weeks ago.
- In best shape of my life:
the first reason is obvious; this blog has been a catalyst in helping me get in
the best shape that I have ever been in. While certainly the changes in my
exercise & diet regimen have been the reasons behind the transformation,
the blog has been a primary motivator in helping me stick to my diet & push
through PR’s at the gym. I will speculate a little more on how blogging has helped me to improve my fitness levels so vastly
below. Additionally, it wasn’t until I started writing about a few of the
topics that I realized just how little I actually knew about subjects such as
caffeine, intermittent fasting, & creatine, & how much of my knowledge
was based on hearsay. By being forced to research health & fitness topics
for blog posts, I learned more & was more inclined to implement the new
habits into my own life.
- Introduction to the OCR community:
in my last post before my layoff, I discussed how great it has been to join the OCR community.
To get somebody to actually read this blog besides my girlfriend (which I’m
pretty sure she has given up on at this point), I had to hit up social media
& start looking for fellow OCR’s. I am not usually one for social media (my
last FB post was from 2014), however I have greatly enjoyed the time that I
have spent on social media under my 100-Day
Spartan accounts. I have found the OCR community to be helpful, supportive,
motivating, & incredibly friendly thus far, & this blog is the only
reason I managed to stumble upon this community so early on. Had I simply
showed up to race day on June 24th, I may have realized that a lot
of OCR’s are friendly, I’m not sure I would have recognized how close-knit the
community was & also how much those around me had sacrificed to make it to
the start line, & just how important the accomplishment of finishing the
race is to so many. If nothing else, this blog has been an incredible way to
meet some great people!
- Gained time management
skills: it turns out that blogging takes up an awful lot of time! When
I first started this blog, I intended to spend 15 to 20 minutes at most per
day, however this has quickly turned into a minimum of an hour per day. When
you add an hour & a half per day at the gym, an hour blogging, & are
trying to sleep more, managing your time gets pretty important. I have become
much more proficient at managing my schedule & my day-to-day tasks. One
major change has been to cut my workload from 60+ hours per week including most
weekends, down to a more manageable 45-50 hours & no weekends. Although I
am working less, I believe I have become significantly more efficient first
because I realize I don’t have as much time in the day, but also because it has
forced me to prioritize the important tasks & delegate those that I can.
The increased mental clarity that has come as a result of an improved diet
& increased amounts of exercise has also helped me become more mentally
sharp, allowing me to be more efficient. In short, starting this blog has
forced me to develop better time management skills which have transcended into
all aspects of my life resulting in more efficient workdays & a better
work-life balance.
Now that I’ve identified 3 of the major benefits I’ve
experienced from blogging, I want to look at some of the reasons I believe
writing this blog has allowed me to experience these benefits & will close
with a poor effort to convince you to write your own blog!
- New perspective on old problems:
we all know that person, or may even be that person, who is excellent at giving
advice, but never seems to apply the same logic to their personal life. When we
are faced with a challenge in life, most of the time we intuitively know what
the right thing to do is, yet we rarely execute on the plan that we know would
lead to success. While I am certainly in no position to advise anyone on making
good life decisions, I can speak on why I believe this blog has helped me to
implement many habits that I have wanted to for quite some time but have never
been able to. By providing advice, or my take, on topics I’m struggling with in
my life, I’m able to approach the subject as though I am giving the advice to
someone else, allowing me to distance myself from my emotions or feeling about
the matter. Once I do this, I am often able to objectively weigh the benefits
of said action or habit, & it becomes much easier to implement into my
life. I often feel that if we were able
to step outside of ourselves & look at our lives objectively, we would all
be able to steer ourselves in the best possible direction, yet we get caught up
in emotions & are often unable to act rationally. I believe the process of
meditation is the best way to develop this ‘objective look’ at our lives, however
writing this blog has been a major catalyst for me in helping to improve my
life.
- The hypocrisy dilemma:
each day I attempt to write a post that may be able to help somebody,
somewhere, gain some motivation to workout, eat healthier, or improve their
life in some other way, regardless of how small or large. Though I write most
of these posts in a self-deprecating way, the few comments I’ve gotten about
people reading my blog & deciding to do a race, or that they are going to
lose 10 pounds has been incredibly motivating. It would be awfully hypocritical,
then, for me to preach the importance of daily exercise while sitting at home
in my underwear. Each day that I write a new post, it reaffirms to me the
importance of proper diet & exercise in a well-balanced life. It would be
very difficult for me to consistently get up & write these articles if I
was not, myself, following the instructions that I was offering to others.
- Peer pressure: the last reason I believe this blog has helped me to stick to my fitness goals is because of peer pressure! I put myself out there that on June 24th I’m going to run this race, & now thousands of people have read about me completing this race. Anytime I want to skip a workout or cheat on my diet, I think about letting those thousands of people down, or sometimes more motivating, affirming those that have inevitably looked at my post and thought ‘nah he won’t do it.’ The reality is that peer pressure is a powerful motivator when used correctly, so even if you don’t want to start a blog & tell thousands of people about your fitness goals, I do suggest telling family members, friends, & co-workers about your goal because it makes it much harder to quit. Each of us inevitably gets used to letting ourselves down or not fulfilling our own expectations, however it is a lot harder to quit when you know your mom or kids are cheering you on!
In conclusion, the
two weeks that I spent away from the blog after over 50 days of consecutive
(ish) posts helped me to realize that, though at times burdensome, this blog
has helped me to get into great shape, follow my fitness goals, learn to manage
my time, & has improved my writing abilities. Whatever your next goal is, I
encourage you to start a blog! Even if you don’t post daily, it is an oddly
therapeutic process to put your thoughts out there to strangers on the
internet. Who knows, one of those strangers may provide you the inspiration you
need to tackle your next big challenge in life!
100-Day Spartan
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