Commitment
This is another 12-hour post, I have half an hour until midnight to finish it, so it will be brief and rough, I apologise, dear reader, for the nature of this, but I think the vast majority of the blogosphere suffers from this malady, but at least I am honest enough to admit to it.
Anyway, the world blogging month has had me thinking a lot about commitment. I am actually surprised that I have lasted as long as I have, considering how easy I have always found it in the past to just drop a project when it becomes inconvenient. I was trying to ffigure out why, and come up with a couple of reasons. I hope you may learn something from them, yourself.
Reason the first: Public commitment
Unlike my other projects, this one was publicly announced, both here in my blog, and on twitter. The twitter commitment was actually more influential, since I actually personally know a couple of people I communicate with on there, and the immediacy of that medium makes me feel far more connected to the people on there
Reason the Second: Time Limit
One of the things that actually helps me is the understanding that I ahve to keep my posting schedule only until the end of March. Previously, I have made the mistake of trying to make myself permamently change my habits, which actually turned out to be counter-productive, since then I would simply find myself asking:
”Do I really expect to be able to this forever?”
Which alway brings up all sorts of resistance. Doing it for a month seems like a far more reachable goals. If at the end of the month I decide that it was a worthwhile exercise, I can always do another month, if not, I can just drop it.
Reason the Third: I enjoy it
As strange as that might sound, I am actually enjoying the challenge of trying to stick to the schedule. There is also something immensly liberating about being able to just type, without worrying to much about formatting or relevance, since, at least for me the whole point of WoBloMo is to get our thoughts out there, without worrying too much about the editing, relevance, SEO, and all that crap which hangs heavy on our minds when we normally do a post.
Reason the Fourth: Family Support
One of the things that has always prevented me from fully sticking to my personal commitments is the idea that my family would not approve of me working late into the night (which is the only time at the moment that I have to work on my own projects, beween my commitments as an employee, husband and father).
This idea seems to have been a figment of my overactive imagination, since my wife has been completelly understanding and supportive… I think I just allow myself to get in my own way too much.
Anyway, these are the three reasons I have come up with so far. I hope you find something useful in them to help you motivate youself to stick to your commitements. Even if you don’t, at least I ahve stuck to mine.
