Day 16: Thinking About Writing

Today’s post is going to be free form and unplanned. I’m 16 days into a 100 day blogging challenge and I’m out of ideas. So today’s blog post is going to consist of a brainstorming session.

My hope is that several hundred or a couple thousand words from now I’ll have a better sense of what it is that I’m going to write about over the next 84 days.

What’s This Blog About?

Let’s start from the beginning. What is it that this blog is about anyway?

I’ve written on that exact topic twice. Let’s look at the historical account, shall we?

First, from my Day 0 post:

I’m trying to make consistent progress in making healthy choices in all facets of my life.

That’s what I’ll be blogging about. The basic format will be something like this: “I’m trying X in order to be more healthy in way Y and I’ve found Z to be particularly useful/challenging.”

For example, just this week I’ve adjusted my work schedule to take a true one-hour lunch break and I’m using that lunch break to:

  1. Get in a quick 20-30 bodyweight exercise workout
  2. Eat a healthy lunch with my family.

This blog will chronicle my efforts to make those sorts of healthy choices on a daily basis.

An excerpt from my post Day 0 of 100: Pre-Planning

There are several bits and pieces of ideas to take away from that paragraph:

  • “I’m trying X”: I can write about initiatives.
  • “…to be more healthy in way Y”: I can write about outcomes hoped for, expected, or observed.
  • “…I’ve found Z to be particularly useful/challenging.”: I can write about the process as well as the challenges and successes along the way.
  • I also mention several specific initiatives: exercise in general, bodyweight exercise in specific, family, and healthy eating.
  • Finally, I could do what I said there at the end and “chronicle my efforts to make…healthy choices.” I’ve done some of that, but this serves as a reminder that a workout log type post is a completely valid fulfillment of what I set out to do in the first place.

Ok, so far so good. A lot of material there. Let’s move on.

In my Day 4 post I explored the word “fit” and produced a variety of ideas around that word. Two sections in particular stand out. Here is the first:

I want to be fit in all facets of life:

  • I want to be a fit (competent, adapted) father and husband.
  • I want to be physically fit (in good physical condition, in good health).
  • I want to be mentally fit (competent, adaptable).
  • I want to be fit (competent, suited, adapted) in my professional role.

So when I speak of being fit, I mean that I want to be in good standing in all areas of my life. I don’t want any part of my life to be in shambles.

An excerpt from Day 4: What is Fit?

This little paragraph contains a lot of overlap with the prior section, but there are a few unique ideas, or angles, to consider:

  • Family is further defined by the roles of father and husband.
  • Physical fitness is expanded to include good health.
  • Mental fitness is now mentioned.
  • I also bring professional fitness or competence into the picture here.
  • Finally, the very last sentence brings into view the fact that I could write about the counterpoint as well: “shambles.

The last section from my Day 4 post to consider is the following:

That leaves a lot of room for me to explore: physical fitness, habit formation, skill development, time spent in pursuit of specific aspects of fitness such as time spent with my family or developing a hobby.

An excerpt from Day 4: What is Fit?

This last section brings habit formation into the mix as well the intentional development of hobbies.

So let’s pull all those pieces together.

Based on the content reviewed above, and the generous application of editorial prerogative, I’m going to think through things using the following framework:

  • Objectives: big pictures ideas. The big, primary things I really want out of life.
  • Strategies: the steps taken to try and reach my objectives.

Sidenote: Yes, this does sound suspiciously like OKRs. I’m applying a professional idea to think through a personal project. So sue me.

Objectives

As I look back over the ground covered thus far, I see a few big picture objectives:

  • I want to be physically fit.
  • I want to be in good health.
  • I want to be mentally healthy.
  • I want to be good at my job.

Next let’s look at each objective and think about the strategies I’ve put in place (or might put in place in the future) to try and reach each one.

Physical Fitness

What do I mean when I say I want to be physically fit or that I want to be in shape? That’s a good question. Let’s call that blog post idea number 1.

There are several strategies I’ve deployed or might deploy in pursuit of this goal:

  • Exercise in general. What are the forms of exercise I engage in? What are some non-obvious things I do to complement my general fitness?
  • Bodyweight exercise. Why do I choose to do bodyweight exercise over free weights? Why do I choose to do the specific types of workouts that I choose to do.
  • Running. Why do I run? How far and how often do I run? What are my long-term running goals, if I have any?
  • Walking. How do I build walking into my life?
  • Benchmarking projects. What the fastest mile I can run? 5k? What about the most pushups I can do in a minute? How about continuous pull-ups or dips? Now what if I work hard for two weeks and test again? Have I moved the needle? What strategies work best?

Good Health

What does it mean to be in good health? What are my health goals? Good question. No spoilers here. This is brainstorm time. Not disclosure time.

How about strategies? What strategies have I deployed or might I deploy in pursuit of better health?

  • Healthy eating choices. What are my eating habits? What are my dietary vices, struggles, and strengths?
  • Health goals and challenges. What are my health challenges? How am I measuring those challenges? What am I doing about them?

Mental Wellbeing

I think a lot about my own mental wellbeing, but I don’t think I’ve taken the time to think about or talk about what I mean when I talk about my own personal mental wellbeing (and why I’m leaning away from saying mental health right now).

I do have a few strategies I deploy (or might deploy) in this area that I can explore:

  • Mindfulness. What do I do? Why do I do it? What do I get out of it? What are my struggles with it? When did I start?
  • Relationships. Healthy relationships are critical to mental wellbeing and no relationships are more important for me than family. What am I doing to try and be a better husband and father? What sort of relationships do I strive to create and maintain with my wife and kids? Stepping outside of those relationships, what other relationships are really important to me and what am I doing to lean into those relationships? How can I stay connected with others?
  • Hobbies. What sort of hobbies am I pursuing and why? What do they do for me?

Professional Excellence

Why is it important to me to be good at my work? What is that about? What am I doing to try and get better?

There are some strategies I’ve deployed (or could deploy) in this areas as well:

  • Ongoing education. What have I done in the past and how did it help me? What do I plan to do in the future?
  • Past experience. I’ve been pretty successful everywhere I’ve worked. Why is that? Are there things I’ve done, intentionally or unintentionally, to progress in my career?
  • Driving results. How do I get shit done? What are some practices I’ve developed to drive my own productivity and effectiveness? What are my professional struggles and how am I working on them (or not)?
  • The role of work. Where does work stack rank in the overall structure of my life? How much and how hard do I work?

Topical Grab Bag

Lastly, there were a few topics that didn’t fit into the objective/strategy structure, so I’ll drop them in here:

  • Habit formation. I’ve already written about this. More than once. Not sure how many more rounds that topic has in it. We’ll see.
  • Goal setting. How have I used it in the past and what have been the results?
  • Financial fitness. How do I think about my finances? How do they influence my overall quality of life? What are my financial goals and priorities? What are the principles I try to live by, financially speaking?

The Final Tally

In the end, here are the 37 topics I’ve come up with via this exercise. These should keep me busy for a while:

  1. What does it mean to say that I want to be physically fit or in shape?
  2. What does my overall exercise routine look like?
  3. Are there non-obvious ways that I seek to stay active (spoiler: standing desk).
  4. Why do I choose bodyweight exercise over other options?
  5. Why do I do the specific workouts I do?
  6. Do I have any workout goals?
  7. What are the improvements I’ve seen thanks to working out?
  8. Why do I run?
  9. What is my running strategy and practice like?
  10. What are my long-term running goals?
  11. How do I build walking into my life?
  12. How often and far do I walk?
  13. What are the benefits of walking I’ve observed?
  14. Benchmarking projects.
  15. What does it mean to be in good health?
  16. What are my health goals and challenges?
  17. What are my health issues? How am I measuring them and what am I doing about them?
  18. What are my eating habits, vices, struggles, and strengths?
  19. What are my dietary (not diet) goals? How do I approach food and diet?
  20. Mindfulness. What do I do? Why do I do it? What do I get out of it? What are my struggles with it? When did I start?
  21. What am I doing to try and be a better husband and father?
  22. What sort of relationships do I strive to create and maintain with my wife and kids?
  23. What other relationships are really important to me and what am I doing to lean into those relationships?
  24. How can I stay connected with others?
  25. Digital vs IRL relationships: Are all relationships created equal?
  26. Ongoing education: What have I done in the past and how did it help me? What do I plan to do in the future?
  27. I’ve been pretty successful everywhere I’ve worked. Why is that? Are there things I’ve done, intentionally or unintentionally, to progress in my career?
  28. How do I get shit done?
  29. What are some practices I’ve developed to drive my own productivity and effectiveness?
  30. What are my professional struggles and how am I working on them (or not)?
  31. Where does work stack rank in the overall structure of my life?
  32. How much and how hard do I work?
  33. What role do habits play? What habits am I trying to build into my life? What have been the results?
  34. How have I used goal setting in the past and what have been the results?
  35. How do I think about my finances? How do they influence my overall quality of life?
  36. What are my financial goals and priorities?
  37. What are the principles I try to live by, financially speaking?

Featured image by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

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