100 Posts in 100 Days
I’ve made it to day of 4 of my self-initiated challenge to write 100 Posts in 100 Days.
This will be the final post in what has turned out to be my “mini-series” on motivation and volition. If you’ve been reading along, you know that I am taking some time to consider:
What’s going on that is helping me make the transition from wanting to do something (be a writer)
to actually doing something (writing 100 posts)?
As I pause to reflect and name some of the things that are helping me to take volition and start writing, three big sources of inspiration come to mind.
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- Atomic Habits by James Clear
- The Art of Coaching Teams book by Elena Aguilar and online course by Bright Morning
- The Extended Mind by Annie Murphy Paul
In my last two posts, I wrote about Atomic Habits (Post #2) and The Art of Coaching Teams (Post #3). Today, I’ll expand about a more recent source of inspiration: The Extended Mind.
The Extended Mind by Annie Murphy Paul
This is the audiobook I am currently listening to on my walks (see Post #1). After hearing Annie Murphy Paul’s conversation with Adam Grant on The Next Big Idea and then (unexpectedly!) hearing her in person earlier this month, I’m so intrigued by the concept of embodied cognition and all the ways we learn beyond our brain. Murphy Paul asks us to reconsider the common mataphors of “brain as muscle” and “brain as computer”. She proposes that we already “think outside the brain”, but just do so haphazardly. She then elaborates on all the ways we think outside the brain and how we can harness those ways of knowing to our benefit.
These ideas are resonating with me for a couple of reasons. One is that in retrospect, when I think back on some of my former students and their “case studies”,, there are sooo many challenges that make sooo much sense when thought about from these perspectives. If I knew then what I know now.
Also, this book explains, with the science to back it up, the unexpected challenge of me meeting my daily move goals. My 30-60 minutes of active walking each day really needs to be 30-60 minutes + 2 more hours. Why? By the time I come in the door from my walk, my mind is
s p i n n i n g. Whether it’s contemplating what I just listened to, planning the schedule for the day, anticipating conversations I want to have, or rehearsing the posts I want to write, I cannot seem to shut it down. So much so that I feel energy in my core and restlessness in my limbs. There is an urge to take what is in my mind and get-it-out. So, 100 Posts in 100 Days will hopefully become one possible antidote.
So, there they are.
Three sources of inspiration in the form of 3 posts that are showing me how and why to take action and turn my motivation into something real and meaningful.
One more step…