goals

What Blogging for 100 Straight Days Taught Me

Today is a day that I thought would never, ever get here. Today is day 100. This is blog number 100 out of 100, finally completing the goal that I set for myself on Oct. 18 last year to complete 100 blogs in 100 days, and now, as I look back on it and where it started, I feel like I'm over looking the Grand Canyon. What. A. Workout. 

It's funny how Cliff Notes has evolved over these past few months. It has guest posts, posts about faith, posts about life and helpful hint posts, but most of all, it has posts about relatable life lessons. Therefor, I find it ironic, yet somewhat fitting, that like most things in life and most things written on Cliff Notes, blogging over these past few months has taught me a life lesson. It's not a life lesson that's super profound or mind-blowing, and it's not a life lesson that I can't say that I haven't thought of before. It's a simple, practical life lesson that I think we can all relate to.

The life lesson is this: If you set a goal and want to do something, sometimes you just have to do it, even when you have no idea what you're doing, and it's the last thing you want to do. Just do it. It may look like a never-ending journey with no end in site, but it isn't. All goals have an end, and all goals better you in the end.

Over these last 100 days, a lot has happened. There have been nights I've stayed up longer than I've wanted to just to get a blog out, nights that I've been out with friends and not gotten back till 1 a.m. and had to stay up to write and, mostly, nights that I literally have had ZERO idea of what I wanted to write about; I think that's the funniest part and where I've learned this life lesson the most: Blogging for 100 days doesn't mean that I've had 100 ideas of something to write about. On the contrary, I've probably had about 20 ideas I've wanted to write about, and the other 80 ideas have come from just sitting at my lap top the night of and reflecting on the day. Most of the time, blogging has been a means to look back at a day lived, reflect on it, realize a lesson learned and share that lesson with others who I know have probably encountered the same thing before. It has become an exercise to practice honesty and vulnerability, and it has become something that has made me realize that you don't always have to know what you're doing or how you're going to do it in order to do something. Sometimes you just have to step up to the plate, take a swing and hope to hit the ball.

When I started this 100 days of blogging, I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but now, I don't think I'm going to stop. I may not write EVERY SINGLE DAY, but It'll be close to that. So, thank you to everyone who has kept up with Cliff Notes over these past few months, who has not gotten annoyed with it clogging up your newsfeed and especially those who have sent any sort of encouragement my way to keep writing, no matter what. It's come on the days I've needed it most and on the days I've felt like quitting. Here's to the next 100 days.

-Cliff

Cliff's Note: Whatever goals you set, do what you need to to accomplish them. Do it when you want to, when you don't want to and when the world doesn't want you to. You set the goal for a reason.  

Why Your Dreams Are Worth 30 Minutes a Day

Has anyone ever told you that you can't do something? Not in a way that says, "Don't touch that," but in a way that says, "That's impossible." Maybe they said you weren't smart enough, weren't rich enough or weren't good enough. Maybe they said it's not logical, it's too big of a risk or the odds are too great. Whatever anyone has said, forget about it, at least for this instance. Forget what they said and remember what your heart said when you had the idea. Remember your dream.

Now that you've thought of that dream, ponder on it for a moment, and try to remember why you thought it was possible. Don't concentrate on the reasons why it might be impossible, but concentrate on the reasons why you believe it is possible.

You see, dreams don't just come out of nowhere. They form over time, and they form out of experience. Maybe it was a sport you grew up playing or a business idea you had that could change the world. A dream is founded in something, and that something is usually passion. We all have a passion for something, and it's because of that passion that we all have hopes, dreams and wishes.

As a recent college graduate, it seems like most of these dreams take shape around college-age individuals. It's a time people begin to be more exposed to the world and more aware of the opportunities out there to change it, so "dream jobs" develop. Many times, it's after college that those dream jobs seem to slowly turn into just dreams. Steady 8 - 5 jobs are found, and routines develop. Families are made and life goes on, but then what about that "dream job?" Does it just die and go away, or does it turn into a haunting nightmare because it was never pursued? I don't want to find out.

Dreams need to be pursued, and they need to be enjoyed. They need to be met with goals and practical ways of achieving them, and as difficult as that sounds, maybe it's not that difficult. If your dream is really your dream, it will be backed with passion, and that passion will be fueled by joy. If you have a dream and want to do it, there will be joy pursuing it.

Here's my challenge to you: Spend 15 - 30 minutes a day doing something in pursuit of your dreams. It doesn't have to be anything that costs money or radically alters your schedule; it just has to be something that puts you on track to see dreams come true. Maybe it's something as simple as sending emails to organizations or companies you want to work for, or maybe it's as tedious as learning an entirely new skill. Whatever it is, try it. Dreams don't have to stay dreams. They can come true, and that in itself is why pursing them is worth it.

After all, if you've spent your whole life dreaming something, isn't it worth 30 minutes pursuing?

-Cliff

Cliff's Note: Don't let your dream become a nightmare because you never took the time to pursue it.