This post represents my 500th consecutive day of writing a blog post. This all started back on January 1, 2015 in response to a 31-day write and run challenge from Matt Frazier followed by a Seth Godin blogging challenge.
Back then my goal was to get to the end of January, but then once that happened, I realized I enjoyed the daily discipline of writing something, anything. Admittedly, some days were, and still are, tougher than others to think of something to write about.
Then I set my goal on 100 consecutive days of posting, and once I hit that goal I figured I would just keep doing it.
I am sure at this point many of my Facebook friends have blocked my updates because I post something, EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
But that’s OK, because as much as I enjoy sharing my thoughts with the world (actually 17 people), I’m doing this for me.
So in honor of my 500th post and the general nature of my blog, I thought I would just have this post be a mishmash of various updates and thoughts I have had recently.
I had a chance to read two great books this week, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth and Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble by Dan Lyons.
Duckworth is on the faculty at University of Pennsylvania, is a MacArthur fellow, and has given a very popular TED talk about Grit, and has now written an informative, inspirational, and entertaining book on the topic.
Lyons is a former Newsweek reporter who joined the Internet start-up company, Hubspot at the age of 52. He notes that when he joined he was twice the age of the average Hubspot employee. The story gives a humorous inside look at what goes on at these start-up firms. Lyons is now one of the writers for the hit TV series Silicon Valley. I found the book laugh out loud funny.
The past two days have been graduation weekend at Villanova. It brought back memories of one of my personally favorite blog posts I had written about last year’s graduation, The 7 Lessons I Learned at Graduation.
This year’s event was just as great; our speaker was George Raveling, a 1960 graduate of Villanova who played basketball while he was here, and then went on to a highly successful career as a college basketball coach and is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame. What I find most intriguing about Raveling is that on August 28, 1963, as Dr. Martin Luther King waved goodbye to an audience of over 200,000 “March on Washington” participants, he handed Raveling the original typewritten “I Have a Dream” speech. Raveling, who was on the podium with Dr. King at that moment, still has custody of the original copy! After coaching, Raveling took on the job of Director of Grass Roots Basketball for Nike. He was promoted to Director Global Basketball in 2000. At the age of 70, when most people are deeply immersed in retirement, George accepted a promotion to a job created specifically for him. It’s not some cushy desk job with no travel. Rather, Raveling was named the Director of International Basketball for Nike, a position he still holds today at the age of 78.
It seemed appropriate to have a basketball guy give the commencement speech the year Villanova won the Men’s Basketball Championship.
This weekend there are also a couple of events in recognition of Williams Syndrome Awareness Month. We just got back from a Phillies baseball game which ended with a Phillies victory on a game ending double play at home plate. and tomorrow there is a walk/fundraiser. My son Patrick got honored at last year’s event.
So a big thank you to all who have helped me keep this going with your comments and feedback; it is greatly appreciated.
Next up as my consecutive days blogging goal is Cal Ripken’s record of playing in 2,632 consecutive baseball games.
That’s just about 5 years away. Will blogs still exist at that point? Will I have exhausted every possible idea for a blog post?
I’m looking forward to finding out.
Borden's Blather 