It's Do Or Die!

It's day 44 of documenting 2025.

Yesterday, I realized what engagement was the most important for me.

This blog.

At this point, it has become a do-or-die affair.

The thing is, there was no power yesterday.

It really ticks me off when I have to write about power problems.

Most especially because our house depends solely on it.....no backup generator.

But this is Nigeria.

Where we hope for the next time power will be restored.

As I was saying......

There was no power and my battery level had reached half.

That didn't stop my bedtime routine tho....

I still did the things I had to.

The power bank we have at home was almost exhausted.

Then, I started to think of all the things I had to do the next day, being today.

My certification course, 

The ongoing project I with my mentor friend, 

The revamping of my existing pages (not much progress)....

Even the messages I had to reply.

Of all these things, I asked myself:

"If I had enough battery to do just one thing, what would it be?"

The answer came in a flash.

My blog.

When I started 44 days ago, I already had a goal to document 2025.

I had contemplated using video or audio, but settled with the written format.

I don't know why, but it just felt like something I had to do.

Like an assignment.

It's mainly for consistency.

Doing something over and over again, every single day,

No matter what happens.

I believe I will get to day 365, because my readers are counting on it.

Literally.

I set up analytics for this blog, so I'm able to monitor the engagement and reader traffic.

These past 30 days, I've had over 80+ readers from different countries, including mine.

I usually post my blog posts on my Whatsapp status as well...

And sometimes, people ask me about it.

I've got friends and colleagues who tell me how educative and inspiring my posts are.

And I'll be like, 

"wow 😲....you read my blog?"

The point is, I didn't know I would come this far with my 'writing challenge'.

That's what I call this blog.

But now it's more than that.

I got a message from a colleague/teacher of mine.

He was the first person to introduce me to affiliate marketing then...

I first got to know about it through his class.

That was early last year.

Fast forward to yesterday, he told me he wanted to learn how blogging works.

From me!

Talk about the student becoming the teacher! 😏

So, you see why this blog has become a do-or-die for me.

(Not literally 'do-or-die', but you get what I mean, right?)

I'd be damned if I missed a day of writing because it now more than "keeping the streak alive".

Even if I don't achieve anything worthwhile this year, I must get to day 365.

It seemed like a difficult task when I first thought about doing it.

I've never written for 365 days in a row before.

But then I named it, Documenting 2025.

Tagline? 

"Living each day, one post at a time".

So I take it one post at a time.

Not even thinking about what to write for the next day.

I just focus on this very moment.

Tapping on my phone, to inspire and hopefully teach someone out there.

And I thank you, my reader, for taking time to read what this eccentric writer has to say.

That's all about how yesterday went.

Sequel: The power came back by midnight and I was able to charge my phone.

Happy ending 😁 

Well, it's a new day.

And when the alarm woke me up, all I could think about was typing this post.

Voila! Here it is!

Yo! I just remembered....

It's Valentine's Day tomorrow.

A friend of mine asked, "who's your val?"

I said I don't have one.

I lied 👀

(I hope he's not reading this!)

My Val is someone very special.

He's my biggest supporter and a close friend of mine.

He's probably my biggest 'why'.

But he doesn't know that yet.

You may be thinking, 

"What! Your Val has to be your boyfriend or....."

Nope! That's not Duon's way.

(More about this tomorrow 😉).

Well, that's all about life updates.

I've got a huge bunch of notes to share with you today.

Notes on the books I read.

Yesterday, I listened to the audiobook version of 'Awaken The Giant Within' by Anthony Robbins.

That was while I prepared to cook dinner.

By the way, listening to an audiobook counts as reading.

Besides, I later read through the next section of chapter 5 or so....

That was after lunch, while I was taking a night walk after dinner....

(Don't digress, Duon!)

I also read a book on goal setting.

S.M.A.R.T goals made simple by S.J Scott.

As well as my writing ritual book 📖 

(I can't help calling it that 😄)

It's actually the book I read everyday before I start typing my posts.

It's called 365 Days With Self-discipline by Martin Meadows.

Let me give you a hint here.

365 days of writing.

365 Days With Self-discipline.

You get it now?

If you know, you know 😎

Okay, I'm going to share the parts I highlighted in the three books.

So get ready for a quotes galore!

Are you ready?

Here we go!

📌 365 Days With Self-discipline 

Day 44: On Optimism

"Three easy steps you can take today to become more optimistic include:

1. Express gratitude for what you already have.

2. Reframe negative events into opportunities and lessons.

3. Surround yourself with positive input. "

I already do all these things, so you can call me an optimistic person.

How about you?

📌 S.M.A.R.T Goals Made Simple 

Outcome Goals vs Performance Goals

"While a goal can be inspiring, it can also become detrimental if you fail to achieve it. 

I think this problem is caused by how a goal is written."

"Outcome Goals are the goals people typically make. There is an intention to reach a specific milestone."

"The biggest advantage of an outcome goal is it makes you push yourself. 

The disadvantage is an outcome goal often becomes an “all or nothing” proposition."

"For many, outcome-based goals are de-motivating because it's easy to feel like a failure if you miss a milestone."

"Performance Goals focus on tracking the effort and actions that go into a major accomplishment."

"The advantage of performance-based goals is you focus on positive habit development instead of a number that’s often arbitrary. 

The biggest disadvantage of a performance goal is it doesn’t often work for someone who is getting started with goal setting."

"Another disadvantage is some people need that arbitrary number to get things done. 

They might not reach their milestones, but having a target number gives them enough motivation to stick to their goals."

"My only piece of advice is to avoid the trap of tying your entire self-identity to an outcome you can’t fully control. 

Not reaching a goal doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. It simply means you didn’t reach an expected outcome."

Hmm 🤔 

Outcome or performance?

I think my goal to document 2025 is a performance goal.

There's no numbers involved and it's all based on my action to write daily.

📌 Awaken The Giant Within 

Belief Systems: The Power To Create And To Destroy 

"Sometimes we get so many references of pain and failure that we begin to assemble those into a belief that nothing we do can make things better."

"These beliefs strip us of our personal power and destroy our ability to act. 

In psychology, there is a name for this destructive mindset: learned helplessness."

"Achievers rarely, if ever, see a problem as permanent, while those who fail see even the smallest problems as permanent. 

Once you adopt the belief that there's nothing you can do to change something, simply because nothing you've done up until

now has changed it, you start to take a pernicious poison into your system."

"No matter what happens in your life, you've got to be able to

believe, "This, too, shall pass," and that if you keep persisting, you'll find a way."

"An achiever never sees a problem as being pervasive, that is, that one

problem controls their whole life."

"Conversely, those who are

pessimistic—those who have learned helplessness—have developed a belief that because they screwed up in one area, they are a screw-up!"

"The solution to both permanence and pervasiveness is to see something you can take control of in your life, and begin to take action in that direction. 

As you do this, some of these limiting beliefs will disappear."

"If we don't see a failure as a challenge to modify our approach, but rather as a problem with ourselves, as a personality defect, we will immediately feel overwhelmed."

My take on this?

Keep taking action, even if you haven't seen results yet.

Believe that you're in control of your own actions that could lead you to success.

Never think you're a screw-up....you're unique, like a special cookie.

(I hope you get what I mean 😉)

Well!

This was long!

I promised a galore and I hope I delivered.

This brings us to the end of today's post.

I've got another poem to share....

But that will be tomorrow.

(Hint: It's about virtual love 💕)

Don't miss it!

Thanks for reading, my friend 😊 

As usual, you decided to squeeze out some time to read this.

Duon appreciates 🙏

I'll see you in the next post.

Ciao!