writing journal – Philip Dodson

I am now a flying squirrel

Wow, here I am day 1,000 of my daily writing journal on 750words.com and now I have got here and completed this continuous streak (well not yet), I feel that rather than my usual badly spelt and no doubt grammatically incorrect brain ramblings that I privately punch out here every day, I could choose to write something of note and break my privacy and share this one with the world.

So, sorry if you are used to reading my short, sharp daily blogs, this one is going to be at least 750 words in order to get the tick in the box for day 1,000.

Interestingly, the thing I love most about my daily writing journal is the privacy and the fact the I can swear like shit and not have to correct spelling or care about what anyone else thinks, or if it makes sense, reads well, etc etc. Now that I have chosen to share this one, the writing is not flowing as well and I am feeling the pressure and that is odd as I blog and share with the world on a daily basis.

Writing daily is a huge thing for me and I have my great mates Bernie and Seth Godin to thank for that, well I just read Seth’s books and blogs, so not really a mate. They have both met for tea and chat once, well according to Bernie, if you’ve met Bernie you’ll certainly know the story. I am now an email buddy with Seth but can’t claim to have met him, although one day…

So Bernie introduced me to 750 Words back in August 2014, he was an early adopter as always and I took the plunge on 1st September 2014 and had a longest continuous streak of 171 days and then woke up on day 173 with a startled panic that I had forgotten to do my words on day 172 and when I logged on my heart sunk, back to 0. I was aiming for the 200-day badge which is ‘The Pterodactyl’. Badges and ticks in the box each day are what helps to keep me going, the gamification of it appeals and some kind of reward or level of prestige is a great motivational tool and something to brag about to others, even if they don’t give a shit about my badges, at least I feel good.

So missing that day and going back to 0 was hard and I vowed to start again and to never miss another day and I was determined to get that 200-day badge. I also had read about the comedian Seinfeld who set himself the task of writing a new joke every day and he put up a calendar on the wall and crossed off each day and said that he would ‘never break the chain’.

I have written many blogs about the small daily steps, daily rituals, habits, the compound effect and now I know how that all works. I have written about 1.2 million words and completed over 1,200 entries in total in 4 years and if someone said to me do that, I would have laughed and believed it not to be true. I know realise as the world champion of procrastination that if you make it small, not a burden to do and it forms a regular habit that over time it makes a big difference. Patience, something that wasn’t a strong point too, is required.

Our moments of greatness are not on the 1,000th day when I earn my flying squirrel badge, it’s all about the badges really, it was the day I decided to start. As we all know it is the starting that is the hardest thing in life but that is the moment of greatness and each day that you do it the habit builds.

I only have 114 words to go, OK Philip, this is not your acceptance speech at the smug writers’ award ceremony. I just want to hopefully inspire others to take up writing of any kind, private or publically, as I have seen what a difference it has made to my life over the last 4 years. It has helped me to solve problems better, have better relationships, connect with others, share with others, it has helped me to write better, be more creative, not be depressed, by more inspired…it has changed my life for the good.

We all have something to say, a story to tell, knowledge and experiences to share with the world. We do not have to be on TV or own a newspaper to share with the world, we can blog, make a video, do a podcast, post on social media and so on. The only thing that holds us back is ourselves. Please, make your contribution to the story of the human race, before you leave this rock, make a difference.

Ok so that was over 750 words and I am now a flying squirrel.

Ok, so those who know me will know that occasionally I do things without much thought. My mate Bernie always laughs about my 30-day challenge, I did 8 challenges all at once, instead of just 1, every day for 30 days. Yes, unsustainable.

Anyway, I chap called Simon Jordan, who I only know through Facebook, I am not even sure how we got connected, a friend of a friend. Anyway, he’s a super active bloke, I like his posts a lot, last year he climbed to Everest Base Camp, started an amazing campaign called ‘5 Things Clear’ about clearing up rubbish from beaches and is a super positive and inspirational person.

This week he posted a challenge on Facebook to join him in running (or walking, phew!!!) a 1,000 miles in 2018. Well, that doesn’t seem much I thought and I like walking so I said ‘I’m in’ and joined the club on Strava and set off yesterday for my first walk to the nearby lake through the woods and fields, up and down hills, very muddy, Cookie our dog loved it as always, got home 3.1 miles done. Great.

Set off today for the same walk, upped it a bit by taking a slightly longer route back, 3.7 miles. Great.

That means I have 993.2 miles to go in 359 days!! SHIT – that is 2.8 miles a day, every single day for the next 359 days.

I am going to need to up the game a lot more, as there will be days when I will not be able to do it. Or is that the old mentality of ‘not enough time’ bullshit, Philip?

Well, yes it is and as I know from my daily blogging (2 years and 4 months now) and my daily writing journal (928 days completed out of the last 929 and current 757-day streak) that there is always time for the things that you really want to do.

So, I have decided to add to the 1,000 miles challenge in 2018 by doing a 1,000 pieces of writing and that will include my personal blog (365) and my daily writing journal (365) and that leaves another 270 blogs to write on things like coworking, productivity, deep work and other articles related to my Deep Work Project. I won’t publish my 750 Words writing journal, I’ll spare you the ramblings of my mind, but the other 635 posts I will on here as always and on the Deep Work Project site.

Finally, as I do a piece of daily art/photography already as one of my daily rituals, I am going to create/take a 1,000 photos/pieces of art in 2018 and then publish them too. I will post these on my Instagram.

So that’s 1,000 miles walking, 1,000 pieces of writing and create 1,000 pieces of art/photos by the end of 2018.

Shit, it’s going to be a busy year!