At the beginning of 2012, I decided that I would participate in 12 in 12 aka #12er on Twitter, an exciting initiative that @Fitarella launched to encourage people to commit to consistently doing one thing every day for one month at a time. The idea was that each month you might pick something slightly different to commit to. The overall goal, though, was to experience the true reward of daily practice. I actually loved the idea so much that my family also took part, with each of us committing to a different area for the month of January.
Here is what we agreed on as we started 2012:
- Emma – 15 minutes of daily activity that would keep her body moving.
- Brittany – Eating healthy.
- Adam – Using lego to be extra creative.
- @bobhcc – Eating mostly Paleo.
- Me – @boydjane – Writing 500 words per day.
As a family we had fun with it. Certainly we weren’t perfect with our practice but most importantly we tried. We talked about it and over time we felt the benefits of committing and following through. For myself, the value of getting back into writing on a regular basis became incredibly empowering. It enabled me to once again realize the true passion that I have for getting the thoughts out of my head and onto the screen (or paper).
With February now underway, I have had mixed thoughts about where I might next set my focus for #12er. The truth is that I have actually become incredibly reluctant to let go of my daily practice of writing. You know what? That means that the concept of practice really does work! As such, it looks like I will continue with writing 500 words or more per day throughout 2012. For February, in addition to my continued writing, I have decided that I am going to also practice daily acts of generosity. I like how I feel when I give to others – with no expectation of anything in return. I am also encouraging my family to stick with me on this, by having them choose some new areas to focus continued practice throughout the month.
Introducing #1to31
As I have spent time writing, one of the things I have learned is that I would like to easily be able to incorporate my thoughts into more regular blog posts. I love story telling when I write, however I also know that I need to create a bit more variety on my blog. To help me with this, I have developed the #1to31 framework which will help me to create interesting and insightful blog posts a bit more easily. Of course, I will still continue with my posts that tell stories about life, work and passions as well.
How #1to31 will work…
Every time that I write a post that fits within the #1to31 framework I will use that #hashtag on Twitter to help others track and discuss the stories. #1to31 posts will simply be collections of ideas, strategies, suggestions, tips, links or other interesting items. The date that they are posted on will correspond to the number of items included in the post. For example, this coming Monday will be February 6, 2012. As such the post that I write for that day will include 6 ideas, strategies, suggestions, tips, links or other interesting items. Of course, I won’t release a #1to31 post every day – but I do promise that these posts will become a regular part of this blog. Here is the best part though, I will be encouraging other bloggers to do their own posts using the #12in12 framework as well! I will share more about that on Monday!
So keep coming back to check out what #1to31 will include. I more than welcome your thoughts about the kinds of posts that I might write about in 2012 using the #1to31 framework! I also encourage you to connect with @Fitarella to learn more about how 12 in 12 – it might just benefit you as well.
I like your lists 🙂
Do you know #my30dc http://www.my30dc.com ?