Last Day of the "Challenge"

When July ended, I decided to post at least one blog every day for 14 days to get back into the habit of blogging and open self-expression. I truly believe that effective self-expression is a good, consistent, and effective way to know yourself better, and is an over all healthy for your own being in general. Not to mention, it's good to do for me, because doing consistent blogs helps get my name out there more, and will overall increase my internet presence. Everyday blogs, videos, and tweets are a great way to do that. (And since I'm still not completely sold and believe in twitter yet, and I haven't had much chances to do videos, I decided to choose blogs to increase my internet presence.)

But during these past 14 days, I have kept my promise, posting at least 1 blog everyday since August 1st, with a total of 15 blogs total. I know I could have done better, but I felt I've done well in holding my end of the bargain. Though my posts weren't numerous, I did feel they weren't short of content and insight, and many who did read them got a good amount out of them. 

Although this challenge is over, would I continue to blog every day? I hope so! I will probably take tomorrow off though, considering I have a full day tomorrow. I'm also spending time with my niece and nephew the whole weekend (and for those with kids, you would know it's hard enough to get things done when their needs to be met). But after that, I hope to continue my consistent blogging parade again to keep my consistency of expression goin.

But like I said, when you make a commitment or a promise (whether it be to yourself, or to someone else), you must do all you can to keep that promise. By doing that challenge, I wanted to show that I truly am one of those who really put my words into action, and not just some hypocrite who just says stuff.

So with that, I just want to thank everyone who's been reading during the past 15 days. I have gotten a good amount of feedback and it's good to know that I have some consistent readers over all. And with that, it will give me even more of a reason to keep blogging. So if you're reading this... THANK YOU! (You know who you are).

Until next time, with even more awesome blogging. But as of now, I have to get back to babysitting.

D4P...PD!!!
-OBE

Don't Eat That! - A Lesson in Commitment

This evening after dinner, I was offered some rum cake from the Caribbean. It looked good and it smelled even better. My mother even told me it tasted delicious, so much so that she ate half of the whole cake. However, I declined.

Why? In the beginning of 2010, I made a commitment to give up all types of kinds of alcohol for the whole year, whether it be beer, or any kind of liquor (which includes rum, an ingredient of this cake). Therefore, I didn't eat the cake simply because it contained rum.

Although, the alcohol in the cake was not nearly enough to affect anyone (.5%-1% alcohol content per serving), I made a commitment to stay away from alcohol, and I decided to stick with it. Although it was tempting, because the cake really looked very good, one must fight temptations to keep promises made to ones self. That's a universal rule in life, and we have to realize that to become stronger people. 

And no matter how insignificant the temptation may be, you still have to fight it and not take it lightly. If you make excuses just because your temptations may seem insignificant now, excuses will just give them a chance to grow, and to eventually destroy you.


Of course, this doesn't only apply to cake and alcohol, but to even bigger promises and commitments in life, like staying on an exercise program, meeting a deadline, or getting married. Sure, those examples are of a bigger scale and it takes a lot more work on your part to keep those promises, but if you work to strengthen your will power in a lot of your actions in everyday life, you can keep your commitments easily, whatever they may be. 

But as it relates to my situation, what I'm trying to say is... try to think that the insignificant 1% alcohol in the cake, to a small distraction that will keep you from doing that project, or that small infidelity that will make you unfaithful. They may be small now, but if you make excuses and give those vices a chance to grow... like I said, they can destroy you.


So in case you're having trouble keeping a promise, whether it be to someone else, or to yourself, just remember my story with the rum cake. You'll be so much stronger for staying to your commitment and keeping your promises, and you will also be a better person for it too.


D4P...PD!!!
-OBE

OBE's Rejuvenated Dose - Time to Start a Habit

Today must have been one of the busiest Sundays doing chores I had in a while. My whole basement was flooding this afternoon due to a broken water filter. There was a panel on a wall that was nailed in front of the shut off valve, so it took me a bit of time to shut off the water. Therefore, I, along with my family, spent the whole day cleaning and sanitizing the basement. Not cool.

After working on the whole basement today (and skipping lunch), I really didn't feel like doing anything else. But, I made a promise in yesterday's blog, and I'll be damned if I break it. I promised that due to this blog approaching it's 1 year anniversary, I would announce something on this blog that will reward my readers, and hopefully gain a few more. So, starting today, I for the next 14 days, I will post at least one blog each day, whether a short quick thought, a huge content-rich and possibly educational post, or somewhere in the middle.

I feel I have to do this because, admittedly, I have been slackin on this blog. That's unacceptable, and that's something I'm not proud of. I have to use this outlet a lot more to express myself in a way, in a more loquacious manner than a 140-420 character status update. So, I promise I'll start doing so a lot more.

But why did I choose these next 14 days? Believe it or not, there's actually a reason for that. It has been said to me several times (mostly from reading, and from seminar listening), that it takes 14 straight days for a habit to formulate. So if I post at least something during these next 14 days, I can get into a habit of posting something everyday (or if not everyday, very frequently) well past those 14 days.

The way I see it, there shouldn't be many excuses for me to not post something. Reporters and media people consider blogs (along with Twitter, Facebook, and other social pages) as part of the "new media" and many post every day. Heck, even one of my business heroes, Ted Leonsis, who owns several professional sports teams, and has tons of other businesses, finds a way to post plenty of entries each day and keep in touch with his readers. So if he can do it, I'm sure I can. Not to mention, I finally got a smart phone (a Droid X), and it has a blogger app I can use.

So there you have it... these next 14 days are hopefully gonna be the start of something great with this blog. I'm sure there will always be something to talk about, so I shouldn't have too many excuses. But for those who are reading this, please hold me accountable if I'm not posting anything. With your help, I can even do more great things with this.

So definitely stay tuned for the next couple of weeks (and perhaps longer). It should be a good ride.

D4P...PD!!!
-OBE