100 Days of "Success"

My friend Calvin Johannsen issued this challenge a few days ago.  I'm taking him up on it.  I missed the first few days, but no time like the present.  I am challenging myself to publish every day for 100 days, or at least write content with the intent to publish.  I'm giving myself that "out" only for the times that I may be working on a longer piece that takes 2 or 3 days.


I journal fairly regularly.  I constantly come up with ideas of things to write about.  However, most of the time I'm the only one who reads what I write, and often I don't even read it after I write it.  A large part of that is that I am reluctant to publish anything that isn't polished.  So I'll write down an outline or rough draft of something, but then I get busy with something else and don't ever finish and publish it.  I will use this 100 days to break that habit.


Here is my first unpolished piece.  I wrote this a few days ago in a book I have called A Father's Legacy, a book I've had for several years and have been writing in sporadically.  Each page poses a question that I'm supposed to answer, the idea being that when I'm dead and gone then my kids or grandkids or other interested  parties will be privy to my vast wisdom.  I see no reason to wait.  It is also an appropriate topic to start this challenge since a lot of what I wrote about are things I've discussed with Calvin.  Here it is, unpolished but published.


How do you describe "success"?
Living your life on your own terms, doing what you want to do rather than what you have to do.  Or what others tell you to do.  Freedom.  I'm not there yet, but I'm gaining.  When people aren't "free", most often it's because of shackles that they have put on themselves.  For many, it's "stuff".  They put themselves in debt buying cars and houses and education that they could get for much less or don't need at all.   They trade their freedom for those things.  The successful person is one who can make sufficient money doing things he enjoys in order to have time to enjoy friends, family, adventure.  Success is owning one's own time, the most valuable thing in the world.