It’s Deepak Shukla here.
Starting my attempt to publish one piece of content every single day.
It’s Saturday the 22nd of February, the time is 540 AM and I want to finally begin my journey of ‘journaling’.
Made my 430 AM start today 🙂
Of producing content every single day – and aiming to write at least a minimum of 100 words.
I’ve just posted a Facebook status update about it, so I can ensure I make a sustainable public commitment to it:
I tried to make a commitment to this before but failed:
That was 12 days ago.
But things are changing now – I feel ready.
I promised that I would commit to ‘live blogging for 1,000 words per day’ – but that commitment just feels a bit too much.
THIS commitment feels a lot better. Of just writing daily, at any time of the day, without a set commitment to word count or otherwise.
The only commitment is…
Just.
Write.
Daily.
Now – if you go back through my actual website content you’ll notice there’s a load of content clearly written by people other than me for SEO:
I’m kind of embarrassed now.
Not that the content is bad or anything of that ilk.
But if you know me – then you know that’s not really reflective of who I am.
I’ve spent too much time listening to people telling me that I need to produce a particular style of type of content in order to generate a ‘specific brand/SEO/marketing’ result.
What a travesty.
What a crying shame that I’m not really thinking about the impact that has on my brand.
That the stuff above is really nothing like who I am (or rather it’s a specific part of who I am).
Well; at least at the age of 33 years old, I’ve finally figured out that I’m planning on being around for at least another 70 years.
I can’t really say whether Pearl Lemon will be around that long and I certainly can’t see myself still running an SEO agency at the age of 103 haha.
But what won’t change is my name; i.e my brand name.
And for the last 2 to 3 years I thought about the following:
‘Oh I need to create SEO content because that’s my day job’
‘I need to create marketing content because it’s aligned with my day job’
‘I need to create a content funnel to sell people a course’
What a load of sh*t.
One of the things I think that all of us often forget is that actually there are no rules.
There isn’t a set way in which you ‘MUST’ do things in order to be successful.
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And also – to be TRULY successful over time – you must enjoy the journey – whatever it is that you’re doing – to ensure that you stay committed over the long term.
And ultimately that will become far more valuable over the many, many years to come.
e.g in around November 2019, I committed to writing 52,000 words over 52 days in newsletter format –
It’s in a way my personal work of art now that has ended up being probably closer to 100,000 words –
(https://deepakshukla.com/52k – you can sign up to my newsletter here if you’re interested)
And I’m a writer by nature – I mean I’ve got over 100+ rap songs on soundcloud.
So this is me planting a flag basically.
A flag that says ‘I am’.
And I commit to this journey I hope you’ll join me on.
Check out the below btw:
I did try and make a start about 10 days back and AGAIN turn it into an ‘SEO for Google’ type thing.
And that was the type of crap that put me off.
I don’t have the energy nor inclination for that type of thing consistently.
That’s why I hire writers for Pearl Lemon and that’s how it should remain.
Funny isn’t it – how we get bound by the advice we’re given.
And along the way forget about our own desires, impulses and listening to our own internal rhythms.
It’s been a life long lesson to actually understand what it means to ‘authentically’ be yourself.
Instead of falling foul to the:
‘How will you position yourself?’
‘What specifically should you talk about?’
‘What does X author/writer/journo/entrepreneur/marketer do’
And then it starts to become work.
NO
Leave work for work.
And then produce and do the things you love and along the way you can figure out how to make what you love work.
…………
But yes.
It’s an awesome feeling to just be able to put pen to paper – and to begin building a framework that’s going to set me up for doing more of what I love:
Two people have asked to join this little WhatsApp group I’m creating which is exciting.
The group is mostly for my own accountability ultimately.
It doesn’t matter so much how often people post – it’s more about creating a framework for myself – and if I can help people along the way – than amazing!
I’m going to wrap things up now but want to leave you with these insights:
- Make bold statements. And make them publicly. I made a bold statement on Facebook 12 days ago which I didn’t live up to. But it was STILL extremely powerful – because it took me to where I am now with this blog today.
- It’s OK to fail. Just fail forward. That’s what happened with my attempt 12 days ago it was a step in the right direction
- I asked for others to join me and so created my tribe. That’s what the WhatsApp group above will be for. There is power in creating or joining a like-minded group of people
- Just start. There is no secret to this – just beginning and committing will set you apart
- Be consistent. That’s why I’m calling this ‘Day 1’. I’m excited to get to Day 10. Then Day 100.
- There is power in commitment. Acting in accordance with your words, committing to journaling daily – it’s so powerful. It doesn’t act in isolation – watch it bleed into other areas of your life.
I think that’s everything.
I’m really happy I started on this journey.
I’ll catch you tomorrow 😛
