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75%

January 1, 2008

Ok, so I didn't blog every day for 12 days. I had nine entries during that time, and that's 75%. Right up there with my attendance rate in high school.

In spite of my lack of enthusiasm for sitting in class and my overwhelming enthusiasm for drinking Mimosas at brunch with my friends at least once a week, I was an honors student with four advanced placement classes who went on to a top university. As with blogging now, I just had other, generally better or more interesting, things to do.

Even at 17 it would make me cringe when someone would say something like "if you are doing this well not applying yourself, think of what you could do if you put forth some effort!" And all I could think was 1)I just got into the school ranked #5 in the U.S. News and World Report annual overall ranking (and #1 in my intended field, History), 2)This was my dream school, and why work harder than I had to when I was already going in the direction I wanted?

Somewhere along the way, I lost sight of that line of thinking. It came to mind the other day when I mentioned that in 2007 I had over 5,000 additional unique visitors to my site than I did in 2006, in spite of being a little slack on the blogging and portfolio updating fronts. "Maybe you should resolve to blog more consistently in 2008," was the reply. "Um, no..." was all I could think.

I don't really buy into the New Year's resolution bit. For me, at least, I feel like I am kind of setting yourself up for a bit of self-flagellation when (inevitably) I don't meet that resolution I set forth. It also requires a glaring look at what's "wrong" rather than appreciating what's right. That's why I really appreciated Pam Slim's post yesterday on this very topic at Escape from Cubicle Nation:

...Current practice tells us that we must be dissatisfied with where we are now in order to make improvements.

But what I have found is quite the opposite. You have to be satisfied with yourself as you are now in order to truly appreciate the change in the future.

This is not to say I don't set goals. But I also like to view things day-by-day, and I would rather look at my goals in the context of what is right than beat myself over the head with what I think is wrong. And when I get where I want to go, I'll try to appreciate myself and those around me for what's right, and spend the rest of my time on a new adventure. I think I'll keep blogging when I feel like blogging, and not force myself into some unrealistic schedule and level of effort that I'll only grow to resent.

So yay 75%!

filed under: Authenticity, Pulling It All Together