Learnings from 1 week blogging for the 90-day-content-challenge

It has only been one week since the 90-day content challenge by “Those That Inspire” started and I am already realizing things about myself and my style of delivering value I would not have thought about before.

• I set huge demands for myself and I get frustrated if I do not have enough time to fulfill them.
• Perfectionism sometimes stops me from doing things. I rather would want to wait with publishing to work on it again the following day but this challenge forces me to actually care less and go with the motto “Done is better than perfect”
• This perfection has been holding me back from a lot during the last years of building my business. I generally waited too long thinking I need to be more confident, more knowledgeable, more experienced before doing something. Now I can say with conviction that you usually get better with something by just doing it more frequently and imperfectly in the beginning. The famous reminder of toddlers learning how to walk comes to mind. They do not care about failure and just get up and try again and again and again until they know how to do it. Coincidentally, I have a one-year-old nephew now and he is teaching me a lot regarding this.
• When I start, it actually flows: Sometimes I procrastinate on writing (even though I enjoy it) but when I then get into it, it actually flows and I am surprised what kind of things come out of my hands. Another famous teaching is what emerges at this moment: If you want to do a task but do not feel like it, start with a little thing, e.g. if you want to work out, start by wearing your running shoes and go for a walk. It will be much easier to go for a run if you are already outside in your shoes. Or if you want to write an article, aim for 1 sentence. Naturally, you will want to continue. This article is a great example. It is late, I am tired and I wanted to pick a topic which does not take long and is easy to write about, now it evolves already in something which is so much deeper. I had the same experiences dreaming about a certain lifestyle, e.g. traveling the world. There was always a certain imagination, how it would be but not a 100% plan how it will turn out. I just took the first step, bought that one-way ticket, made arrangements and had a rough idea for the first days or weeks but then just allowed myself to go with the flow and be open for people and circumstances. EVERY TIME in my years of long-term travel experiences I was absolutely blown away with what life gave me which was SO MUCH MORE than I expected. I just had to take this first step and then trust. Just like now with this article. Be bold, do not care about perfection and just take the first step. Try, just try, you can never go wrong and it will lead you to unexpected miracles.
• I am actually not short on ideas what to write about and I get inspired nudges throughout the day what topics I could focus on.
• When you make a decision and commit to something, it releases energy you would not have thought possible. It takes time and it takes daily work to write daily but there are no questions asked because you commit to this thing for 90 days. It is non-negotiable. That is why decisions and commitment are so important: In business, in love relationships, personal fitness and nutrition. It seems like committing to something restrains us but it actually helps us to catalyze our potential and let it emerge. We are becoming less and less committed in today’s society and also in the digital nomad world because we have so much freedom, flexibility, resources, and choice. But it can leave us lost and it can hurt: In relationships, friendships and not following through on things we set out to achieve. This is actually a topic I could write about in another article because it is so omnipresent.
• The power of a common goal is grand: The facilitator of this 90-day content challenge The Ginger Nomad is doing a great job to motivate us and to emphasize mutual encouragement. If you know that you are not alone in this, and others also are doing this, it makes things so much easier and there is no excuse to skip a day. Accountability is so important and everyone needs it. That is why we need mastermind groups, coaching, and simply like-minded community.
• We are so much more powerful than we think: “90 days of writing? 90 days of making time for that? 90 days of coming up with a great topic? 90 days of providing actual value? Are you even capable of that?” I and probably others asked themselves. I really have a lot of other things going on but it is a big one on the priority list and I manage to do it even though sometimes I write it in the night. I am surprised that I actually manage to create high-quality content. Again, it is just about setting your mind to something and you can move mountains.
• When you pour love, effort, and energy into something, people feel it and you will get great feedback. Now, this is nothing new but this challenge just is another proof for that. People actually DO care what you have to say. Just share your thoughts and make them accessible for the world, e.g.through social media. We have the power of voice.
• You get to know yourself so much better: By writing itself — seeing what kind of thoughts come through you, by noticing resistance, patterns, demands you have to yourself, by procrastination, by noticing your productive creative hours of the day and how your mood and energy level influences your content but how you have power over that too.

I am humbled and impressed with the learnings by only one week of doing something new and slightly out of the comfort zone. I can’t wait to write down my lessons learned after 90 days.

Thanks for reading.