Below is a rough draft I wrote to start this blog in 2018.
Be Better
Whether pursuing mastery or avoiding embarrassment, you can always be better. I want to help others be better. I also want to create something bigger than myself.
I want to be the streak.
I have spent most of my life hiding in my humility. I was above average in a lot of areas but never exceptional. Never a person who would genuinely inspire others to pursue the best versions of themselves. I get joy from helping others, but I doubt my abilities. I enjoy writing but fear putting my thoughts on paper and proven a fraud. I fear to be your fitness coach and have you find out that my birthdays generally consist of German chocolate cake for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. People don’t read books from people that aren’t experts in their field. I want to be authentic and authoritative.
Thankfully, I have found my superpower.
Streaking
You’re not going to see pictures of me running around naked on sports fields anytime soon, though. I’m talking about doing a planned activity repeatedly over a set time interval. All my current streaks are daily actions, but you could easily have weekly, monthly, or yearly streaks. Anything less than a day is too tedious to track.
Before we continue, I feel the need, primarily for myself, to prove my authority on the subject of streaks.
I have run six or more miles for over 800 consecutive days. [now over 2000]
Every day, no matter how I felt, if I was sore, in pain, had the flu, or ran a marathon the day before, I ran. This keystone activity has allowed me to add on other streaks that I will describe in future posts. I am the streak.
Why streaks?
My all-time favorite show is Seinfeld. Jerry talked about “not breaking the chain when asked about his writing process.” He would maintain a wall calendar where he actively wrote and put a big red X on those days. His goal was to keep his streak and not break the chain of red Xs. His consistent daily actions lead to his exceptional results.
The easiest thing to do is keep doing what you are currently doing. It is easy to be discouraged by not seeing immediate results. The streak is what keeps me focused. All I need to do is complete this one action to maintain the streak. I feel accountable for keeping the streak. I don’t want to let myself down. Now that I have published this in my new community, I don’t want to let you down.
One of my latest streaks is to work on this site, in some fashion or another, every day. So I will open up my computer and work drafts or something related to this site every day.
