Day 28 of #FabulousFebrzuary: FINISH

Stop starting, start finishing.

#FabulousFebruary: A finite Project ??

The thought of publishing a daily article came to me last year. For a long time, I had thought of sharing content in social media. With every day's busyness, I got stuck and wasn't making any progress for a long time.

So what do you do when there's no progress? I needed 'exposure therapy': A prototype project that helped me learn.

So I didn't think a lot about it. The main idea was:

• I write and publish daily for one month
• Every day, I use one verb to focus the article on. Before starting the month, I had assigned one word for each day.
• The article should be personal reflection and results from a small research about the meaning of that word.
• I estimated a maximum of one hour (!) per article. If you've done some writing, you probably laugh at my underestimation.

I needed to define the format:

• Platform: I chose LinkedIn because it was the platform I know most. After the experience, I realize that a blog (in a not yet existing site) or a medium article would probably have been a better choice.
• Post or article: Posts are updates, short and digestible. Articles are longer, aim to answer a question, explore an issue, or provide insights to the reader. Alright, then it should definitely be an article. (fun fact: I didn't know at first that I ALSO needed to write a post, to inform about the article. I have been doing kind of a teaser in the post, since I imagine that not everybody can get it the article and read it in depth).
• Name: Since I was writing in February, I gave the name of "FabulousFebruary" to keep me motivated ??.
• Design: I wanted to have a common design throughout the whole month. I made use my lettering skills (what a fun part of the project ??). I used Canva to create the headers, and just changed the name and number daily.

Committed to the Journey ??

Alright, it seemed that the basics were defined and I was ready to write. In order to save time during the weekdays, I planned to write the draft of 7 articles during the weekend (second estimation mistake!).

This year, the work was not so much though, because I just wanted to revisit the text, update a couple of things etc. Some days though, the assigned word for the day didn’t match the mood So I changed the word. And started a new draft.

I realized that I needed way more time than I initially thought. And I had to write in smaller chunks throughout the day, which was even less efficient.

Finishing is hard ??♀?

I had the impression at the beginning, that the first days would be the hardest, and it would get easier along the month. But the exact opposite happened.

• The initial excitement gave me a lot of inspiration and energy. In the middle I started to edit my writing from last year, to the point of writing completely new articles, thus needing considerably more time.
• I started to care (too much) about what I write. It started to be a reflection of my thoughts, and I think I fell in love with my prototype. But I thought that since I am writing, I want to make it relevant for me as well as for others. This meant more effort than what I anticipated.
• The lack of time and the urge to publish everyday became my allies in the fight against perfectionism. Some articles are great, and others are just average.
• I expected to learn a lot during the journey (and I did). However, just writing doesn’t answer me questions about relevance, impact, and clarity of my message. I guess there are many things still to learn. —> Feedback about this aspects are very appreciated, I’d love to hear from you!

But I finished anyways ??

Even though some days I published at 10 pm, I delivered!

And what encouraged me is connections that I have achieved through this challenge! I had the opportunity to catch up with some people I know, and met others on the way! ??

The first year around, a friend asked me if I realize how much content I published over the whole month. Honestly, I just used the time to create. Later on I realized how much effort was in the project. That’s why I decided to recycle the material, and do a second round of #FabulousFebruary!

I am empty of ideas for articles, yet really motivated for new projects. And most importantly, I am proud of myself!

I hope you are still having a #FabulousFebruary!

After this challenge, I would love if you can share whatever thoughts, questions or comments you have about it. Please feel free to also write me privately. And Thanks! ??