This is the last post in my set of 28, marking the end of my month-long writing challenge. I learned a lot in this past month and I’m excited to break it down for you.

In my first post I wrote about how I’m going to set myself up for success, and included general goals to pay attention to. First, let’s dive into how that went.

Biggest Pitfalls

As I predicted in the beginning, my biggest pitfall in this challenge was time.

My schedule is overpacked, I already don’t take any days off because I don’t have time for it. It’s a problem. So adding a daily writing challenge was a lot for me.

I’m proud of myself for finishing, and making time every day to make one meaningful point. When I look back at my writing I can tell that the days I worked did impact my outcome–

But I got through it, produced the best quality I could, and didn’t miss a day.

Goal Reflection

I outlined general, instead of specific, goals at the beginning of the challenge. I knew that I didn’t have a specific direction to take this, and wanted to lean into being more experimental. From my first post:

Below are three goals related to my strength as a writer,

• Write better articles in less time, build “writing endurance”
• Take steps towards finding my authentic writing voice
• Find direction towards what I like to write about

I successfully had many enlightening moments regarding this.

When beginning this challenge I mainly felt concerned about my ability to find things to write about. I was making lists, organizing information, and planning ahead to make sure I didn’t run into a blank page I couldn’t fill.

At the end of this process, I am now completely confident in my ability to write consistently. The possibility of not finding something to write about is not a thing I think about anymore. If anything, I have so much more to say that I have no other choice than to continue writing and creating consistently.

How I Changed & Lessons Learned

I believe that the full positive impact of this challenge will continue to reveal itself over time–but here is where I’ve noticed the most change in myself:

• Always scanning for creative opportunities
• Less critical of ideas, no “bad ideas” thrown out
• My brain holds and retains information differently
• More comfortable with the process of looking at a blank page. Confident that it will work out through iteration.
• Saw an increase in my writing skills
• Saying more in less time + creating work quicker
• Continued to strengthen discipline
• Got more comfortable with producing

Looking Ahead

When looking ahead, it’s not an option for me to stop writing. I will be continuing to write daily, but want to now have the grace with myself to take an extra day on a project if needed.

Writing daily, publishing less.

In order to focus on creating better quality work–and continuing to build upon the creativity I have worked hard to unearth in the last 28 days.