My Love Affair with September 26th

I turn up every day for my blog (well almost) and have done so since September 26th, 2012. Which is weird, because I've always had a "thing" for September 26th. It started in 1974 (I am not even sure why – maybe I was infatuated?) but for whatever reason, I came to feel there was something auspicious about September 26th. Every time I get conscious of it I'd think: "Oh, there's that September 26th thing again. Why do I feel this is such an important date?" I don't even like 2 or 6 that much. 3, 7 and 8 are my favourites. So is 23 and, well, September 26th… Turns out, that's the date I became a real blogger. On that day I didn't know it. I just decided: I have to start expressing what I am learning, I must communicate it to others. So I wrote a blog entitled Marketing in Your Teaching Room. I didn't even notice it was September 26th until much later when I researched to tell people when to start reading… And there it was – September 26th. OMG. Still, I am sure this is all rather silly for some of you, but my point is this: blogging is a way to learn. It is a way to grow. It is a way to communicate, to understand, to develop, to challenge, to connect and to move in a substantive and concrete way towards your dreams. And it creates the supreme evidence that you are at least doing something every day! To give your self the task, every day, to express what you are about, where you want to go, how you plan to go there, why it is important to you, who you imagine is reading you, what advise you give them – all these things, occupying your thinking everyday, and being expressed concretely, will engineer clarity. When you feel stuck, do. I know we are supposed to be the undoing people, but inhibition is never applied to "you." You can't inhibit your "self," that is ridiculous. You do it towards an action, and that action is often an inaction. Someone frozen. Back in 2008 that was me. I was in New York, terribly depressed, hopelessly out of money and feeling my life was swirling down a drain. What to do? I ran. I got up every morning, and I ran. Did I want to? Deeply, I did. Superficially, I had to decide clearly every day: "Yes, I will run this morning." I am sure it saved my sanity. Any of you out there, writhing about and feeling lost? Here's my advice: blog every day. Imagine someone is out there reading it: what do you want to say to them? This is one way to figure out your niche – let it reveal itself to you. What do you want to write about? Discover it through actions, rather than only in your head: get it out. It doesn't even matter if no-one reads it. Not in the beginning. There's a deeper rave I have about all this which I will get into more formally next week, but for now I say to all of you wondering about your niche – start writing every day to the people you can imagine your self connecting to. Find out if you have anything to say? Start your own research and development project. I was inspired to write this blog today by Seth Godin, who just posted his 5,000th blog. He also writes about the joy of blogging, so if you are intrigued by my experience, go and read his too. It's another way to find your niche…