29 posts in 29 days!!    Much to my surprise I have actually managed to complete the challenge of a posting per day throughout February.   At the end of 2015 I set out my intention to write at least 2 posts per month or 24 posts in total across the year, however as a result of #29daysofwriting, I have managed 29 posts in February alone.

What went well…..

Throughout the month there were various points at which I struggled, in particular in identifying what to actually write about.   Every time this has happened I have been met with suggestions and ideas from colleagues from across the educational social media sphere.   Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions!

The whole process of sitting down to write each night has forced me to make some time available to do the writing.   It has also forced me to reflect on my practice, on my ideas and also on the ideas and postings of others.

In writing every day I also made time to read other peoples contributions each day and where possible to comment.    This helped in providing me with new ideas and providing access to new perspectives.

Even Better If…

I think in hindsight it would have been beneficial if I had done some planning at the beginning of the month, outlining some of the topics I intended to write on.    Having not done this planning I found myself struggling for ideas.   I feel it is often the case that when you try to force ideas, you don’t find any, however when you are more relaxed that ideas come more freely.   A little bit of planning would have allowed me to feel a little less pressured and hopefully therefore have realized more ideas.   That said, colleagues quickly filled the voids with ideas where they occurred.

Going forward

It has been an excellent process for me in terms of the writing and thinking I have done over the last month.   In addition the sharing and discussion involved have further added to the experience.    As we move into March I need to continuing posting, albeit at a lesser frequency.    My original new years resolutions included to post twice per month however having posted ever day I think I may look to increase this and go for posting once per week from now on.   Hopefully this is something I can sustain.

I also want to make more time to comment on others postings in particular those postings on StaffRm, which I have found to be a brilliant place to share and collaborate.

And most important…….A new #29daysofwriting mug for drinking my coffee (or in my case Irn-Bru!  Excuse the stereotype!!!!)

We often find ourselves planning things out over the calendar or academic year.   One example of this being the resolutions which I have set myself which therefore represent targets for this calendar year.    I have set myself targets around blogging, reading, twitter and also to a lesser extent making progress on my health and fitness.    Of each of these items, working on my health and fitness is the one which causes me the most difficult as I am just not the exercising type of person.

#29daysofwriting has caused me to pause and reflect a little on my approach.   We are now on day 4 of #29daysofwriting with this being my 4^th posting.    Never in the 4 years of blogging have I ever managed 1 posting on each of 4 consecutive days.   In actual fact I doubt I have ever managed 4 postings within a given month.     Yet, I intend and am focused on achieving 1 posting on each of the 29 days of February, amounting to almost as many posting as I have ever created.   #29daysofwriting has focused me on achieving a bigger goal than originally intended (My new years plan was for 2 postings a month or 24 postings across the year) focused within a short and condensed period of time.

This makes me wonder as to whether I have been focused on planning for a marathon where instead I should be looking more at a series of sprints.    Maybe in terms of fitness the issue is I cannot see myself regularly engaging in jogging or other fitness activities.   I am looking too much at the longer term, at the marathon and as such I find excuses, such as the current temperature, to justify why I am unable to truly get started.    Instead I might have a better chance of success if I create a shorter term more focused plan.   Maybe I do #30daysofjogging obviously when the weather is a little more conducive of outdoor activity.

Motivation plays a key part here as clearly my previous motivation for blogging and for jogging wasn’t sufficient to get me making series in roads and improvements in my practice.    My motivation to tweet on the other hand has been high allowing me to achieve and sustain a high level of involvement.   Although I wanted, which is different from being motivated, to improve blogging and exercise, the low motivation plus focus on the more difficult longer term has meant that I have barely if ever got started.   A high intensity burst may allow me to get over the initial motivation issues.

I wonder whether such high intensity sessions may also be applicable in learning, augmenting our usually longer term focus.