2019 was the year that I realized sometimes change is good. I’ve posted a lot less than ever before. Down to an average of a bit more than 1 per week where I was closer to 3+ in the few years prior. But with lower volume, I feel that quality has improved.
This is the first year in a while where I did not get burned out trying to keep up with the pace of posting. Normally, come August or September, I hit a wall and end up going 3, 4 or 5 weeks without posting anything at all. That lack of posting then eats at me like I’ve failed somehow. Even though, I know that this little corner of the web is just for me, I do know there are quiet readers and followers.
Stepping back on posting has provided the amazing lesson that volume does not always lead to success, and sometimes it can negatively contribute to success. When I was trying to put something out several times a week, I would sometimes split a topic up over a few posts based on individual topics around the post. Now, I feel more freedom to pin those thoughts together into longer pieces.
In prior years, I had targeted a maximum length of about four paragraphs per post. This was the maximum I felt that I could hit in about a fifteen-minute writing session. Targeting an hour, or so, a week felt like a good amount of time. But four paragraphs also puts a limit on my ability to weave an idea from beginning to end. There is more left unsaid between the lines. Often those are the good bits. Take this post here. I’m now on the fourth paragraph and only just hitting a stride.
Before this year, I would have found a way to draw a conclusion in that last paragraph and left it there. No exploration of what this all really means, why it is important or tying it back to other things going on. The thought would have been completed and I would satisfy myself that the post was as well. Maybe I would have a thought still tumbling through my head and immediately fire up another new post to add to the queue to post the next day. Stopping would not have been in service to myself, a reader, or my goal of becoming a better writer. It turned out to only be in service of an artificial limit I had placed on myself that I barely remembered doing in the first place.
The point of all this is that change is natural and occurs without us even realizing it. Self-reflection is the art of understanding change within ourselves over time. Sometimes that objective you set for yourself years ago becomes more than just an objective, it becomes a marching order. I completed my actual goal of becoming a better writer and never realized that I need to shift objectives to grow further. This path of self-improvement is not about declaring victory, it’s about recognizing milestones as you pass them so that you can focus on the one that comes next.
My wish for everyone as we head into 2020 is for you to be able to see where you should be going next. What have you done well that you can build on further? What have you done not so well that you want to improve? What great habits have you formed that you can take to the next level? What habits have you formed that you need to break?
The first step is always recognizing the truth of where you are at. Once you recognize that truth, do something about it.