calendar challenge

Well, I knew it would happen at some point and my impulses to jump on a new idea would shake up my Dozen Months of Discovery.

It’s actually a great lesson to follow your feelings and passion and don’t be stuck in a certain path just because that’s what was initially scripted.

Originally, when I planned out my twelve months I had April slated as a month where I was going to learn the Ukelele. Solid choice and it was going to allow me to be that “beginner learner” again like I experienced in March learning Spanish. However, as I spoke with a friend and editor of a book I had been thinking about writing, it was determined that maybe the best thing to do was to put a time window into play and just get it done because it can be very easy to procrastinate especially when writing a book.

So, I took a short look into the future and said “Adios, Ukelele, and hello Book writing!”.

Little did I know the path it would take me down.

As I rounded out March and already had some ideas and notes down for the book I intended to write, one focused on the Just Get Started mission, I stopped myself and really thought about the path I was going down.

This is where self-awareness comes in.

My mission is to help the next generations of our world through earlier self-discovery about themselves and the world around them. This book idea was geared toward that but I had a change of heart.

So, I pivoted and started writing a fictional book taking the elements of the non-fiction book I was going to write and turn it into a story about a boy learning entrepreneurship at an earlier age. I had the idea finally and started writing. I scripted out notes, had the plot laid out, and began on my way. But there was just one problem…I couldn’t stop thinking about rhyming.

See, I am already in the process of publishing my first children’s book called “Luke’s First Round Of Golf” and finishing up on the illustrations as I type this. I couldn’t help but think; maybe this is my “thing.” Maybe someday I’ll write a longer story but I love the rhyming aspect of children’s books, I always have. I love rhyming, in general, having been a fan of the greats of Hip Hop all my life. It’s in my DNA.

So, after a second pivot one week into April I began freestyling on this book.

What did I learn through this process

1. Go with your gut, sometimes it is always leading you in the right direction
2. If you are not truly invested in something, you won’t get your best work. Don’t settle for something you deem so important
3. Be patient – some days you don’t have your best stuff. Even Michael Jordan had off shooting nights. 
4. Hold yourself accountable to finish – There are a lot of ways to weasel out of things and put it off until later but later sometimes never comes. Get back on the horse and ride and finish what you started. Parkinson’s Law works well here “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”

To listen to the audio version of this with some extra tangents and insights you can go here -> Writing A Book In 30 Days Podcast Episode or listen on any major podcasting platform you choose.