Success in any field comes from the formula.

There’s a formula for everything. How to write a hit song. How to write a bestselling book. How to make a blockbuster movie.

You need to understand the formula. Sometimes the formula is written down and readily available – ‘just follow these steps’. Sometimes you have to figure out the formula yourself. By examining what worked. Finding patterns. And of course there can be more than one formula in a given field.

Once you find the formula you can follow it. Or not.

Following the formula is optional, understanding it is not.

Our life’s journey takes place in a changing world. The landscape shifts around us as we make our path through it.

We strive towards milestones, destinations, but the ground does not moving. Even if we pause in our journey the landscape does not stop changing. Destinations move further from us, nearer to us, or disappear entirely.

The world we journey through changes because we are not the alone in travelling. Technology, economics, politics, and social are some of the factors influencing the changes and shifts on the landscape we travel. Technology can bring a goal nearer by providing us with better tools to achieve it. It can also make our goal obsolete.

Nothing we do can stop change from happening.

We must accept that the landscape shifts. We must continue our journey despite it. Remain flexible. If the position of your destination shifts you must be able to adapt. That may mean understanding that the journey may be longer or even that you must change your destination.

If you say you’ll get something done today, what do you mean?

Do you mean you’ll have it done by close of business?

Do you mean you’ll have it done by midnight?

Do you mean you’ll have it done before you go to bed, which could be 2 am tomorrow morning?

Depending on what you’re getting done the answer could be any of the three options. It only matters that you know which is appropriate and get it done by the deadline.

Being a better writer is a goal I believe anyone could benefit from, myself included. It’s why I started this blog.

Instead of deliberately working to improve my writing I fear I often post to tick a box. Write it quickly and just get it done. Just going through the motions.

Maybe that’s something to do with the format I’ve chosen – to post every day for a year – but I think it would be a problem regardless. If you only have to post once a week, you only rush to get something done that day. It’s possible to work on it on and off all week but that never happens.

It’s not possible to give over every moment of every day to the crafting of the perfect piece of writing for this website. There are too many other things to do. Oddly, each can become a way of avoiding the other.

Taking the easy road is no good if you want to improve, you must instead take the harder, more difficult route to have any chance of improving. Sometimes though it’s hard to tell which route you’ve taken.

This is the one hundredth day I’ve posted on this site. I hope I’m not just going through the motions.

It won’t happen on day one. You must be patient.

Your goal may need a week to complete or it may need decades. You must be patient.

Every day is a step you must take. If you don’t learn to be patient you will stop taking steps, you will give in, you will quit.

If your goal is worthwhile you must be patient.

“Yay, it’s Friday.”

“TGIF”

Monday is shunned. Friday is celebrated. Friday heralds the start of the weekend, Monday bemoans its end.

And I understand. But I don’t like it. I don’t like it because of what it means. It means people don’t like their work. Not that you need to be told that.

If you don’t love your job enough that going in on Monday excites rather than depresses you, you need to change jobs. Find something that doesn’t make you fear the end of the weekend. If your weekends are great shouldn’t the other five days be just as good?

Don’t let the name of any day make you feel any happier than another.

It seems everyone has an opinion. About everything.

You can give your opinion about anything you like – even if you know nothing about it. But you don’t have to. You can’t know it all. And if you know nothing, keeping your mouth shut is often a good option.

Here’s the thing though, you can figure out what your opinion should be. Just educate yourself about the topic. Look at the information. Research it. Don’t just make assumptions. Don’t let others tell you what you should think. Take the time to figure it out and your opinion may not be the same as everyone else’s but it won’t be bullshit either.

Your opinion matters. Don’t waste it.

A celebrity dies and you see loads of brands tweet a tribute. And by “tribute” I mean the company has gone “let’s jump on this and see if we can get any coverage off it”.

Perhaps it was always the case and I’ve only started noticing it. Or perhaps it’s a byproduct of the social media era. Either way it doesn’t make the brand look good. It makes them appear like vultures.

No doubt it’s possible to do right. I just don’t remember ever seeing one done right.

Olive Loughnane competed in the 20km walk at the World Championships in Berlin in August 2009. She was awarded the silver medal. Rob Heffernan missed out on a medal when he placed fourth in the 50km walk at the London Olympic Games in 2012.

Both these Irish athletes trained hard and long to compete at the highest level. Only to be beaten on their day. But not as it turns out beaten fairly. Athletes who competed against them were using drugs to gain an unfair advantage. Heffernan and Loughnane were pushed down the placings and the results they deserved were taken by the cheats.

Thankfully the cheats were found out. Their deception worked only so long. The cheating athletes have now been disqualified.

Loughnane and Heffernan’s results have been upgraded to the places they deserve. Olive Loughnane is now a world champion, while Rob Heffernan is to be awarded an Olympic bronze medal.

Denied the recognition they were due when they competed our congratulations should be extra loud now.

Congratulations Olive Loughnane and Rob Heffernan.