How to get to 65 consecutive blog posts - June 26th

Today marks the 65th consecutive post since I started this website!

image of fireworks from http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1420073
Break out the fireworks and confetti!

It has been an amazing journey, and I'm not done yet. I did want to take the opportunity, however, to check up and then to take a break. There are two reasons for this:

1. Tomorrow my wife and I leave for vacation! On June 28th, 2013 we will celebrate our 10 year anniversary! We will be traveling out of the country for a few days to celebrate and I don't want anything to distract me from my time with my beautiful wife.I am so excited about this trip with the woman that I was made to be with. She is my princess, the mother of my beautiful children, and the one who puts up with me day after day. Really, 3653 days of dealing with Brian deserving of a vacation. And that's OK because I get to tag along.

2. A break will help me be more productive when I return. I know from experience that taking breaks will actually help me be more productive with what I am trying to accomplish
check out my early post related to this topic:
http://www.anotherlesson.com/2013/05/breaks-may-3rd.html
Since I started writing the blog 65 days ago, I have somehow come up with something to write related to what I had learned each day. This has been a challenging task and taking a break for a few days to let myself unwind should help be become even more productive when I return to work at it. .

When I return from vacation I am planning to write 3 times a week instead of everyday. This will allow my posts to be more productive because I can do some more research on the days that I am not publishing. I know that I will be learning something new everyday, but I want the things that I share with the world to be well thought out and planned.

So let's get to the meat of the matter: How do you get to 65 consecutive blog posts?
The answer is simple to say, but hard to carry out

  1. Hard Work - I was a little surprised by this, but it really does take hard work to get to 65 consecutive blog posts. The physical effort may not be the worst of it, although there has been a good bit of physical effort also since I mostly work on the posts after work and after the kids are in bed. Staying up late (and trying to stay focused late at night) is difficult to say the least... especially after waking up by 5:30am most days to go work out. There is also the mental hard work of thinking through what I have learned and what I should write about and then actually writing it. Wow, I'm tired just writing that sentence. 
  2. Determination - Once I set the goal of reaching 65 consecutive posts, I became very determined. Last night I was already in bed and had forgotten to write anything. Even though I was extremely tired, I actually woke myself up and managed to write a post before midnight. Determination is definitively a key.
  3. Research - In the last 65 days, I have researched a number of products and concepts. This has been a key part of my growth the last couple of months. When I heard about a new product or concept I went and learned about it. Each time I came across another lesson, I went out and researched more about it so that I could write intelligibly.
  4. A goal and a prize at the end - Having a SMART goal is so important in many aspects of life. SMART is an acronym typically used to describe goals that are Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant and Time-bound. My goal was to reach 65 consecutive posts by June 26th. Having this SMART goal helped me know where I was going... but I think the real key was the treat at the end. I knew that tomorrow I would be leaving for vacation, so the prize at the end kept me focused.  
Thank you so much for reading and supporting me. I have heard so many kind comments and encouragement for what I have written. I look forward to writing many more posts. Leave me a comment below with a suggestion for a future post. What would you like to hear more about?

Lesson Learned: It takes a lot of hard work and investment of time and energy to publish 65 consecutive posts... but the vacation at the end will be way worth it.