Challenges, love them, or no thanks?
Challenges do your find yourself motivated by them or intimidated by them?
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It’s been 2 years next week that I challenged myself to start a blog! If you remember that was about the same time we had bought our house here in Virginia and had in fact just retired. That first blog was titled “Courage to Start”
So yes there was a lot going on. I could have easily put off the blog idea but I decided to why not give it a try!
Wikipedia defines a challenge as a difficult task, especially one that the person making the attempt finds more enjoyable because of that difficulty.
According to the Problem solver; · Challenges enable you to do things that may be uncomfortable, challenging, or difficult; this may be learning new skills, adopting new habits, and experiencing new things. Challenges do not need to be significant life-changing goals; they can be relatively small tasks, and the important thing is that there is a higher success rate when goals are set as a challenge.
Whether you accept a challenge to work out more, walk further or eat healthier you are making a conscious effort and setting a goal for yourself. Maybe you challenge yourself to spend less time on social media and decide to read more you are setting a goal and giving yourself a chance to achieve it. There’s something about a challenge that can get your “juices flowing”!
According to Frank Knoll; The brain needs to be regularly challenged in order to attain its uttermost performance.
So you may be wondering why all the talk about challenges? When going through the process of learning to write a blog I came across a young couple who taught many types of blogging courses.
They had a great way to teach and the platform they used their “students” had lifetime access to the course! Don’t ask me how many times I watched them!! Well in July they offered a Challenge to their readers!
It was a little different from their past courses as this would be “live” as they took on the challenge as well. The course is basically uploaded to a platform as a video which can be followed by each “student”.
Our instuctor (John,along with his wife Suzi) walked us through videos and explained the unfamiliar steps as they were going through it the same time. Tuesdays were YouTube live chats for questions from the group!
What was this challenge you might be asking yourself?
“”Writing a book and publishing it in 30 day!””
Yes! Write a book. Now before you think to yourself that’s crazy you might be surprised that this challenge just might be something you have been looking for. You certainly don’t need to be an English major but just have a story to share!
We all have stories in us based on experiences we have lived through. The variety of new authors in this challenge was so interesting! There were a couple different people writing on homeschooling from experience, some about pets and others about writing about personal development!
Well it took some thought & I remembered a tip they shared on the very first lesson; write about something that comes easy to you!
As many of you know I was lucky enough to be at home while raising our kids and I was always looking for ways to make a little extra $$. I did quite a bit of baking with Farmers Market and the famous ‘pie fundraisers” at V.C.
Some may not know that this baking started out with selling Holiday Cookie Trays around Christmas! I found a small recipe book at the book store (yes that was before Amazon) which was all about Christmas Cookies!
I had collected a few of my favorites over the years and with the new ones I found I organized what would be on the cookie trays! I advertised in the local paper (long before FaceBook or Instagram posts)!
I have to say it was a success!
I realized early on that people just couldn’t do everything they wanted during the busy Holdiay season so I offered them something they could enjoy and help with their Holiday get togethers!
The baking of holiday cookie trays gave me an idea. Why not share the steps I took to be able to bake the trays? It could be an easy to follow guidebook and include my experience as well as research I have found online. Plus so many people are looking for ways to earn a little extra holdiay cash & the best part they could do it out of their own kitchen!
I joined the challenge and worked every day on it! It was hard with all the formatting and the tech side of things but I am glad to report I finished it. Did I mention we even learned how to publish this book on the biggest platform out there? Yes Amazon!
So I am pretty proud to announce:
“Cookies from your Kitchen”
Here is the Amazon Link:
Thank you, Rose, for sharing this blog! And I am so pleased to see what you have accomplished out of your knowledge & desire! Yes!!! You took up the challenge & along w/ all that needed to be learned, you did it!! What a fabulous feeling!! I know due to all the challenges I have met & took on over my lifetime & have succeeded at still living life & taking care of business (life)!
Hugs to you & your family! Isn’t it amazing just how quickly time flies by! Seems the older we become the faster the days go!
Thanks so much, Inez for the nice comment! It is a good feeling and yes these days seem to go fast!!
How wonderful! Looking forward to ordering your book! Always enjoy reading you.
Thanks, Mary, IT was quite the challenge, and even though it’s not a huge book I was anxious to share just in case someone out there is looking for something like this!