QUESNEY21 (Day15): An Update On My Steemit 21 Day Writing Challenge

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The 15th of April 2018 was the end date of our challenge together, @joannewong and I to create one post a day of good quality content consistently for 21 days. I wanted to do an update on this challenge as I personally failed spectacularly as you will notice from this post that I am only on Day 15 and in my time zone is now past mid-afternoon the 17th of April. ( And I still haven't finished this post yet!) I spent some time reflecting on the last 21 days and felt compelled to share my experience of this challenge.

How did I get myself into this? Well, it was pretty much a spur of the moment decision made blindly without thinking what I was really agreeing to! It came about one day when @joannewong and @aaronleang asked if I was free for kopi (coffee in Malay language) and I said 'Yes!' We met and chatted about Steemit and a whole lot of other stuff. I was also excited and was wanting to celebrate my recent rise in SP with someone and a coffee meet up was just perfect. After talking for a while, we chatted about the best way to succeed in Steemit which I think all of you would know which is to write 1 post of good quality content everyday! I shared with them the idea that @elizacheng gave me which was to announce publicly to everyone (anyone that would listen to you anyway) and go on a 21-day writing challenge to write 1 post a day. I have been considering it for a few weeks prior but just didn't have the guts to commit to something like that because I work full time and have 2 little boys aged 2 and 4 years old! Plus I really hate to lose as I am pretty competitive! My worst nightmare has just come true!! Arrgh! Anyway here are 7 lessons that I learned over the last 3 weeks or so.

Lesson #1: Change my mindset for success!

My Experience: This challenge was really tough for me. I do enjoy writing generally but this really tested just how MUCH I actually like writing. Due work commitment I was only able to write late in the night after a long day at work and after my kiddos went to bed and after every else that I had to do coming home. Sometimes I would start at 10.30 pm, other times nearly 12 am. You can imagine that I was pretty much brain dead by then! 😵😴 Not to mention bone tired, so much so that I just wanted to fall into bed and visit Neverland! Like I mentioned before, I hate to lose so there were time out of sheer determination and fear of losing face, I decided to stay up like a good girl and WRITE! The other thing that really affected me what the fact that I keep thinking how difficult everything would be. I silently complained about using markdowns, expressed how difficult it was to find good pictures to go with my content, not having enough ideas of what to write about, not time, so much to learn...yadda yadda yada....and on and on and on...I am sure you get the picture.

My Learning: I must change my mindset. Writing in Steemit should be fun, fulfilling! This internal struggle and silent complaints need to stop! I started telling myself that writing is easy, fun and super fulfiling when I post something! Even better when people respond by upvoting, commenting and engaging in a dialogue with me! I mean who doesn't jump with joy seeing your post value goes up? So fun to just refresh the page and see your post value change right? I started making time and writing anywhere I could. @elizacheng says that she even does postings on her phone! I haven't gotten that pro yet, but soon. I found that when I make myself sit down and focus, a lot of ideas came pouring out. Just like anything, it all starts up there in between your ears. Was it Henry Ford who said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right."

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Lesson # 2: Get into a routine/develop a habit of writing every day

My experience: I was all over the place. I didn't sit down and look at my schedule and pen in a specific time that I would be writing. I didn't make an appointment with myself to sit down and write. I would write when it was convenient for me and I started missing days because I was just too caught up and too busy.

My learning: This is basic stuff! I know it already and yet I didn't implement it. Setting a specific time every day to work on your goal for a specific amount of time is critical to success. I believe that if I had a routine, I wouldn't have gotten sidetracked and distracted so easily. I should have set up routine that could possibly be, write once a day every day at 8 am - 9.30 am or thereabouts...😜 But then again routines or habits take time to cultivate.

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Lesson #3: Swallow my FROG!

My experience: To be honest, because my mindset was already all wrong (see Lesson #1), I put off writing until I absolutely had to and that's where starting at midnight happened quite a few times. So yeah, I procrastinated and pushed it aside, giving every excuse of being tired, busy...etc.
My learning: Ok, what to do? Mindset already wrong but in hindsight I believe, I could have done better if I "swallowed my frog first" every day. I remember this idea from a book called EAT THAT FROG by Brian Tracy The simple idea was that you tackle the most challenging task which you are most likely to procastinate on FIRST and that task has a positive impact to you goals. According to the book there is an old saying that if you eat a live frog first thing each morning, you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that it's probably the worst thing you'll do all day! Umm...Yuck!

Image source from Pixabay

Lesson #4: Best your own best cheerleader

My experience:I felt really bad and guilty that I wasn't able to do that one posting every day. I then started to feel embarrassed because if someone asked me on discord how my Quesney was coming along, I would change the subject really quickly. I started to feel stressed out, strained and generally bothered about the whole thing. It was just no fun anymore. This is Steemit for crying out loud, I am doing something that I like and I am earning money..icing on the cake la? I really need to chill man...

My learning: Be kind to yourself, failure to do something doesn't mean that you are a failure. It doesn't define you, it doesn't define who you are! It just means that you didn't manage to do something or a achieve a goal. You need to learn to be your own best cheerleader and speak to yourself in a positive and encouraging manner. Put it this way, if a friend came and told you that they failed at something, what would you do? Would you tell your friend what a weak willed, excuse ridden, undisciplined person her or she was? Or would you encourage that person to do better? Hmm...no prizes there for the right answer. 😝

Image source from Pixabay

Lesson #5: Be accountable to someone for results

My experience: I told quite a few people what I was doing and they made sure to bug me if I didn't. I remember there was one day when I got on the computer wanting to write and then decided to check discord (bad idea I know...) Well, I thought I would just check for a little while, when I saw @zord189 online and told complained to him how tired I was and how many postings I had missed. He then gave me this cryptic reply "gg" and he was laughing at me. I of course demanded to know what that meant and if you are a gamer, you would know. He finally told me that it meant, "the end or you are finished" hence GOOD GAME (GG). I practically jumped out of my chair all fiery and indignant. Suffice to say, I churned out a pretty good post before heading off to bed and in half the time. Then there was of course @joannewong whom I am doing this challenge with and dear @elizacheng who would threaten to rotan (cane/spank) us for being naughty and not writing.

My learning: It is imperative to have an accountability to someone for your goals. I think I would have done a lot worse, if it wasn't for the fact that there were people who were willing to call me out, encourage and remind me about what I intended to do. Hmm...maybe I would have gotten even better results if I had to pay them all something like 10 SBD each if I failed to post that day???? 😂

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Lesson #6: Your environment can motivate you

My experience: I decided to join@qurator and delegate SP to them to receive daily upvotes as an additional motivation to write! I am also hoping to join Steemit Bloggers and Sndbox (in the future) because they are a community that makes a difference on the Steemit platform and has some really interesting and encouraging initiatives that I would love to be part of. I have also found wonderful, positive and supportive friends at @thesteemengine who were ever ready to provide help and encouragement. Through them, I have also discovered some really superb authors! Thank you @thesteemengine. Last I am extremely grateful to the teachers at @thealliance who have spent much of their precious time to give feedback on my posts to make it better!
My learning: Use external motivators where possible. Surround yourself with like-minded people. Go and check out some of the challenges which are happening now, like the 100-day poetry writing challenge...anything! Just immerse yourself in an environment that can help motivate you. Sometimes, that is all the additional push that you need on days when you own personal motivation is low. You know, those days when you don't feel like doing anything or you turn into an antisocial hermit (when you are usually a happy sociable person) or you turn into a she-devil with your kids or even leaving stupid messages on discord! hahahaha!

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Lesson #7: Don't give up!

My Experience: I decided that I was going to write the next no matter what. It's ok if I was 2 or 5 posts behind but I was just going to keep going and write 1 post the next day. After I finished 1 and there was still time, I would do another one. I am glad to share that there were days when I did manage to churn out two to three posts!
My learning: If you fail, just get up and try again. Don't let the failure of the previous day deter you from having a new day of success. Every success adds up and you get nearer and nearer to your goal. You will fail somewhere, somehow unless, you are an alien or a special genius... What matters is if you have more successes than failures, you will SUCCEED! I like what Dory sings in the cartoon Finding Nemo "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..." to encourage Nemo's Dad not to give up!

I hope this will help if you are going through something and failing spectacularly like me. Or even encourage you to start your own writing challenge if you are new to Steemit. It has really been so awesome because I know that I have improved so much and have learnt so much from different people here. It has forced me to also engage with more people and communities and it has been rewarding. The friendships that I have found are priceless!

By the way, I have seen 100 days poem writing challenge floating around and I am thinking that I might do the same thing....NOT...I think I will work hard at achieving my 21 days proper and when I have achieved it, I will then go fry bigger fish! Here is to finishing my 21 days!🥂

Thanks again to everyone who has supported me on this journey, commenting and upvoting, encouraging and threatening (with a rotan! That's Malaysian for a cane!) I know I couldn't have gotten this far without everyone mentioned here.

Share with me if you have failed at something, got up and pulled yourself together and then succeeded at that something! I need the encouragement from your story! Thank you so much!

So what is QUESNEY21? @joannewong and I are challenging each other to create great content for the next 21 days. Starting 26th of March and ending on the 15th of April. We needed the discipline and motivation that comes from being accountable to each other. Tell us if this is interesting to you, do you think you could benefit from your own QUESNEY 21?

Check out my other postings for this challenge:
QUESNEY21 (Day14): I am Grateful - An Overwhelming Work Week
Quesney21 (Day 13): The Love It/Shove It Challenge by @snowpea
QUESNEY21(Day 12): Personal Finance Series #1: Living Without Debt
QUESNEY21 (Day11): Persistence & Perseverance
QUESNEY21(Day 10): Review #1: Weaning Tots - Kid Friendly Restaurant

Do check out @joannewong postings too for this challenge!