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Writing about Writing

When starting to write daily 63 days ago, my intent was to write about incorporating the 3 P's of The One Thing system into education. How can we bring our Priorities and Purpose to be as Productive with students as possible. At some time this morphed into thoughts on leadership as I am an educational leader, and I try to see all things that I do (parenting, teaching, administrating, coaching) through the lens of leadership. I have never been a person to keep a diary or journal. Even keeping my daily planner throughout my years as a student was a massive struggle. Creating something to write about daily, and actually putting my fingers to the keyboard each day has turned out to have some amazing benefits.

One benefit has been the confidence to write. I do not think of myself as a writer, but I do have lots of thoughts on a regular basis. Without writing them down, the thoughts would be fleeting and I would not end up capturing them. Then at some point in the future, that idea would come back and strike me but not when it was something I could really act on. Worse yet, they would distract me from whatever I was doing at that time. Now, by writing the ideas down and my thoughts behind them I'm much more focused and confident in my thoughts when I present them.

Another benefit has been the spawning of new ideas from current ideas. Once I started writing, more thoughts kept coming creating more content to write about. As I try to write one idea per day, I would simply start a new post for another day with my idea. The more ideas I have, the better I am at going back and refining previous ideas as well. My posts have become longer and more thoughtful as my journey has continued.

Finally, in recent conferences I have been a part of we have been asked to jot down some thoughts on a topic. Because I have been writing, and because the topics related to what I have been able to write about, I have impressed those around me with my ability to create such cohesive thoughts seemingly on the fly. As is the case with most success, the work behind the scenes that no one knows about is what separates the great from the good. I am not a great writer yet, but the more I write the more I convince myself that I am capable of writing. And my thoughts keep getting clearer by the day!

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