The main part of the Dan Miller Challenge was to read or listen to quality personal development or business skills development content everyday for 6 months.
I attempted to kick this challenge up a notch by committing to the following:
- Read the content
- Select an action
- Do the action
- Use this blog to write about what I selected and what I did (and any results if able to measure)
I Chose My Friend Over This Challenge
I went to visit an old friend on 9/19 and am about to get back on a plane to head home on 9/22. Needless to say, I didn’t write during that time. I did (I wrote for one of my other blogs) and did some rough drafting. Very quickly, I realized that next time I’ll have to preload. It’s awfully rude keeping ones head stuck in a laptop, so I abanded my efforts to write for the sake of my friendship and for the sake of the fact that I needed a vacation.
I’d written daily since 9/1/2014 on both this blog and another. I’m learning some wonderful lessons about writing by writing so consistently, not the least of which is that it takes time to write in a way that is publishable. I’m one of those that doesn’t think a blog has to be the world’s best prose, but I also don’t want to put out schlock.
That said, I did keep my reading commitment (and Friday – the day I flew up to Cleveland – I did take an action based on my reading):
Friday 9/19/14 – Duct Tape Selling
by John Jantsch
Jantsch said that part of a sales professional’s job is to help her clients to think bigger. I love that idea. As an insurance man, it’s not always a logical step in our process. In response I drafted a post for my client-focused blog about the importance of helping your organization think bigger, both on the corporate level and for the individuals that make up the organization.
9/20/14 – The Knowledge of the Holy
by A.W. Tozer
Reading this for my men’s Bible Study group. I read this until my Kindle’s battery died. I forgot my charger.
9/21/14 and 9/22/14- The Power of Consistency
by Weldon Long
I picked up this book quite some time ago. I decided to give Jantsch’s book a break for a bit since it’s heavy on tactics and strategies. I had a feeling Long’s book would be more about mindset. Mindset work is no less practical but any action item would be less about getting on the computer and working on a miniproject, it would be more about reflection.
The action item from Mr. Long? Admit that any results we get in our life is a result of the sum total of our thinking. After that confession, start identifying the thinking and assumptions that might have lead to either our good results or our not so good results.
I promised myself I’d publish before boarding my plane, so pardon any major grammatical or word choice screw ups.
Until tomorrow…
Brett, this has been my story, and everyone else’s story, at some point in time. I don’t know why it’s so easy to begin feeling a sense of, “I couldn’t keep it up,” – at least, that is how I feel sometimes – when I know everyone else struggles with it too.
Even now that I’m full-time running my own business, there is plenty of things that steal me from all that I had planned on doing. Personal stuff, friend stuff, work stuff and more.
Thanks for sharing and being real.
Thanks for reading! I could imagine that your schedule is ridiculous! I was just thinking about how hard it has to be for a person who creates content for others to keep up with his/her own content.
I’m trying (these days) to take at least 20% off of my plate at any given time: If I have 5 things on my to-do list in a day, I pare it down to 3 or 4. Just out of habit.