Welcome!
Welcome to my first blog post!
This is an exciting project, but a challenging one. I am a very private person, and this really takes me out of my comfort zone — and that's exactly why I am putting myself out there.
We have to be consistently in discomfort if we want to get above average results.
How the writing started
Everything started with a friend's suggestion to take a Harvard rhetoric course. I was not very keen to do it, but then I thought — Why not?
I've been self-studying for the past years, so taking a course with friends, learning together, reviewing together, sharing insights together, could be a different experience for a change. And it was. I am glad I did it.
I've never thought it would lead me all the way here — creating my very own blog.
For the course, we studied a couple hours every week for 3 months. It was good to discuss our learnings while sharing insights together. After that, we decided to put ourselves to test and start writing articles to improve our skills.
Really, Writing?
I have never been a fan of writing. During school years I've had no true pleasure in writing, probably because in school years we rarely have a chance to write about subjects we actually enjoyed.
Writing can be scary — it still is for me — but I am a firm believer of study, discipline, good habits, and accountability. Nothing beats this recipe, you just have to stick to it long enough to see the results.
"Most things never get done because they never get started. You wait, and wait, and wait. You wait so long that it doesn't even matter anymore.You procrastinate, and procrastination is a killer. It kills plans, it kills projects, it kills dreams, it kills ideas.", Jocko Willink.
After writing a bunch of articles, I started not only enjoying it — yes, you read it correctly, I used the word enjoying — but seeing improvements in other areas. It's amazing how powerful writing is, it helps us to find reasoning gaps and develop a clearer line of thinking. It also boosts our creativity. Those skills can come handy in public speaking, in business and in life in general.
Sharing the writing
A few weeks after, it happened again. Another — Why not? — moment occurred. Why not share the articles with a few other friends? So I did. The responses were not something I would expect initially. Everyone I had sent articles to, actually enjoyed the reading. It was pretty cool.
In the book Key Person of Influence, the author says we all have a story to share that can bring value to people. The problem is that usually we don't even value our own story. Then, we never share it.
"Your own story is your wealth, your mountain of gold. It might be cloudy sometimes, but all it takes is to discuss it with someone else and you will see it more clearly. We always see value from a distance — in other people — but never see value in ourselves. That's cause we are looking from it, not at it.", Daniel Priestley.
At this point an idea came to mind. Eventually, I could share my articles with the world — but how? Here we are finally. The blog emerges.
The blog idea comes to life
I really appreciate the friends I have, cause they push me out of my chill zone — yes, I am a chill master. Thank you all good friends out there!
This all started when a friend recommended me two books — Entrepreneur Revolution and Key Person of Influence.
He also added — read this two books, and when you are done, we'll both launch our blogs and share our articles. My initial reaction was — a blog? For Real?
Then it hit me again. Why not? A few weeks after, here we are, welcome to my first post!
What will I write about
What will I be sharing in this blog? Anything that interests me. If we are interested by something, I believe we can always make it interesting for others, because we can be passionate about it.
After years consuming a ton of books, articles, podcasts, courses, this blog is a chance to expose some of that to the world.
Knowledge is truly valuable when it can be applied — that's exactly what you'll get from this blog — relevant ideas that you can apply to your own life.
I won't be writing about a specific theme, but you might see a slight leaning towards accountability, productivity, habits, technology and more. My focus will be on what I believe to be long lasting insights that can be applied to our day-by-day lives.
What do I expect from this
I am not expecting anything specific, but who knows where it will lead me? I hope you enjoy it, cause I certainly will!
My focus is to put out interesting content, and if at least one person reads this blog and has a cool insight, it would have fulfilled its purpose.
If the blog never takes off, which is fine too, I am sure I will have improved my writing and will have acquired some pretty cool web development skills (yes, I did develop this whole website all by myself — I'll share more on this endeavor at some point).
Stay put for more
So here is where I embark on my newest journey! Stay along for my next posts!
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Also feel free to contact me in the reach me section. I will be happy to read your comments on the articles and debate ideas.
And before I forget, why Dandan's blog and not Daniel's blog? Lots of friends call me Dandan and the title says it all. Why not?
