I Failed At My Challenge
And what a Roman General can teach me about keeping my word
Marcus Atilius Regulus was held captive in Carthage for five years.
He was allowed to return to Rome to negotiate peace, on the condition that if he failed, he had to return to imprisonment.
He gave his word and began the journey to Rome.
After convincing the Roman Senate to reject the offer (because rejecting was better for Rome), he returned to Carthage and his prison.
He chose the hard path, even though he paid a heavy price.
Because he had given his word.
A month ago I set a 4-week writing challenge for myself.
My goal was to try — again — to form a writing habit by publishing daily from Monday to Friday.
Far less difficult than a journey of hundreds of miles between Rome and Carthage, with a prison cell waiting for me.
But I didn’t complete it.
I published 12 times, then I missed a day.
Then another.
Then I gave up.
It’s easy to say that I was focused on other priorities.
