I recently explained that I completed a 60-day challenge to share my story via daily posts. Today I’m reflecting on what it’s meant to me.

My three big takeaways:

• Giving back – I still struggle with the notion that my experiences are valuable to others. I think of myself and my experiences as average. But telling the world about them has shown me otherwise. People have expressed how a post was helpful to them. It feels good to know that I’m adding value to others’ lives.
• Thinking – Writing forces me to synthesize scattered thoughts so other people can understand what I’m getting at. This was by far the biggest benefit. My brain is in a different state when I’m reflecting and looking for connections. It’s like I’m exercising my brain. I found myself bringing up my newly coherent thoughts in ordinary conversation.
• Top of mind – People I know but with whom I haven’t been in contact have reached out or commented. I’ve reconnected with some of them.

Lessons learned:

• Conditioning – Creating quality posts day after day is a big, difficult commitment. But it got much easier over time. I’m now conditioned to think of a topic and what I want to say about it and then write, every day.
• Consistency – Daily posts are perfect for me. Fridays and weekends are the hardest, but I still prefer doing them daily to taking days off.
• Timing – There’s no perfect time to start posting because it will be hard regardless.
• Perfection – Don’t aim for a Pulitzer every day. That’s not the point. It’s OK to miss the mark from time to time. Everyone has off days.
• Conciseness – Write simply. Leave the fluff out. I’ve noticed my emails and other writings are more concise now.
• Simplicity – I started with LinkedIn because an audience existed and the functionality was there. I focused on establishing my habit and thinking about my content. I was glad not to have to deal with marketing or technical challenges. LinkedIn isn’t perfect (for example, searching for articles isn’t great), but it’s good enough to start with.

What would I do differently?

• Start earlier – I’ve gotten so much from this that I wish I’d started years ago.
• Write succinctly – My first posts were more in depth but they took too long to write. A post should be short and communicate a single point. It needs to be created in a reasonable amount of time and be quick to read.
• Enhance visibility – There are ways to make posts more visible on and off LinkedIn. I wish I’d experimented more. After all, the goal was to help others. I can’t help them if they don’t see it.
• Add pics – At first, I was just focused on getting the content out. A reader suggested that I add photos to enhance visibility. Toward the end of the challenge I did, and it helped. I wish I’d done it earlier.

I’m appreciative of this challenge and look forward to maintaining this new habit. I hope others continue to see value in my posts.