At 9 AM on Monday morning, I’m sitting in my office with my millennial mentor, Haley. I throw out the idea, “What do you think about me blogging every day for the next year? Do guys my age actually blog?”
Haley replies with, “You’re never too old to try something new.”
And just like that, this mid-40’s-father-of-three starts the journey not only to write but to record a single event that somehow inspired or changed me that particular day. For example, a story of a person I met, a random act of kindness, work things, or technology stuff—anything really.
I’d love to say that the idea was original but it isn’t. Seth Godin sparked this idea in me after I listened to him via a Tim Ferriss podcast. “Thought, word, deed”, has been a personal mantra of mine for a long time. If you think it, then write it, you’ll do it. But what’s more important than the subconscious hokey-pokey mantra is the realization that in some way, deep down in my soul, middle age is smacking me with the reality that I’m not going to be on planet Earth forever. And this might just be a way to produce an artifact of who I am—albeit for a short period of time while I’m here—something I could maybe look back on as an old man. Maybe it’ll be something my kids can look through after I’m dead and gone, or maybe it’ll be something that sits in this blog portal that no one ever sees. Either way, it’s on! The quality of the product will be determined over time, but one’s journey begins with action—well maybe a “thought”, a “word”, then a “deed.”