#Microsoft365Challenge – 365 Blogs in 365 Days about Microsoft 365. The challenge is on. Who’s joining me?

Some of you might know me as the Microsoft-loving, biker chick who did the Around the Office in 365 Days Challenge 2016/2017 (365 blogs in 365 days – #Office365Challenge). Against all (of my) odds I successfully finished this challenge on the 28th of February 2017. I did a wrap-up and gave you some reasons as to Why I wrote a blog, every single day, for 365 days

And now it’s time for a new challenge. I knew I would do this again, and the time is right. People said I’m crazy and they’ll say it again. 365 Blogs in 365 days, why would anyone in their right mind do that?! On average it took me anything between 2 and 4 hours a day, so time was by far the biggest sacrifice.

So let me tell you a bit about why. Below is a photo of me in 2012 – just before jumping off the Stratosphere in Las Vegas. That’s my nervous face, I was super scared. That building is 350 m (1,149 ft) high and believe me, as I stood there ready to jump – I still didn’t want to do it. (Shortly after this I also took up skydiving and ended up owning 5 motorcycles at some time – which makes me think it’s the crazy, short hairstyles that encourages this.)

I thrive when I push myself to the limits. When I don’t, I comfortably underachieve with the best excuses in the world. When Microsoft announced “Microsoft 365” I knew I was going to do it again. No lies – it would have been nice if they called it Microsoft 24/7 because then I could have done a challenge of 7 blogs in 24 hours or something – but nope – there’s the big 365 number, right there, in your face. 🙂

Recently Matthew Hughes (@mattmoo2) took up a challenge of doing a Facebook Live post everyday and @AlistairPugin & @OddModlin are doing a podcast every week on 2 Guys and SharePoint. Their dedication is an inspiration to all. And if you were to ask them if it’s all worth it? They’d say YES. Well done guys.

So without further ado, here’s my 10 reasons for doing this again. Hopefully this will Inspire you to do the same, whether it’s reading a book every month, or taking a photo every day for a year. The trick is to make it public. Challenges in your head, are just that – in your head. You’ll find every possible excuse for not doing it. Maybe I should add losing 50 grams with every blog I write, haha. That way I could achieve losing 18 kilograms, which now seems impossible. And that’s just how you do it, one baby step at a time.

Reason #1: Microsoft Rocks!!!


I do consider myself one of Microsoft’s biggest fans. And yes, some days it’s similar to being married. We go to bed, mad at each other. And that’s just it. We need to work at it, every day. And together…. we’ll take over the world. Microsoft is my empowerment ‘tool of choice’ when it comes to my passion:  Facilitating the evolution of human capability.

The announcement at Inspire about Microsoft 365 has me more excited than ever. I simply can.not.wait. 🙂

Today at Inspire, Satya Nadella unveiled Microsoft 365, which brings together Office 365, Windows 10 and Enterprise Mobility + Security, delivering a complete, intelligent and secure solution to empower employees. It represents a fundamental shift in how we will design, build and go to market to address our customers’ needs for a modern workplace. – 10/07/2017

Reason #2: Do something every day that scares you

Being scared floods your body with adrenaline. Fight of flight kicks in and seeing as I’m built more for fighting than I am for running, my body goes into Superman mode. Free drug, right there, #JustSaying

Reason #3: Learning happens outside your comfort zone

Exposing yourself to things you don’t know, forces you to research more and learn faster.

Reason #4:  When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at changes – Wayne Dyer

As a consultant we tend to learn based on the requirements a client might have. We get so busy that we have no time for extra learning. I’ve always wanted to study and get a degree in something. Probably because I linked my self worth to it. Stupid right? Anyway. When considering studying part time – I just know I don’t have time for it. In doing this challenge I force myself to make time for research and learning every single day. The nice thing is – I’ve proved to myself that I can do it. This way I don’t see it as studying every day – even though it is.

Reason #5:  emPOWERme

emPOWERme is a logo I originally designed as a tattoo then trademarked for my company. Yes. I have the tattoo, and no, it doesn’t have the trademark stamp. With the symbol, it’s a palindrome (can read from any side and it’s the same word). By empowering people we empower ourselves. If only one person reads my blog and it helps them – job done.

 

Reason #6:  Ikigai

I couldn’t be more fortunate, I do what I love, I get paid for it and it helps people. I’m so passionate about this, I named my Ducati Monster Ikigai. Find something that makes you excited to get out of bed every day. And I don’t mean a new sexy, alarm clock. If you don’t know what it is – work hard at discovering your “reason for being”. We all have one.

Reason #7:  Filling the void

I don’t have family (I think my sister just remote-kicked me on the kneecap), and by that I mean that I don’t have a husband or kids at home. So instead of being sad about that and wasting my time watching Netflix – this keeps me out of trouble.

Reason #8:  I’m just a #MicroSoftie at heart. 

I love people as much as I love technology. Ok, more. I’m the “rose-coloured-sunglasses-in-the-Matrix-girl”. For me there is so much more to life than just earning money, eating and dying. My blog is my way of sneaking the colour back into the Matrix.

Reason #9:  There are people that still needs to learn what we have forgotten, and vice versa.

I’ve written approximately 500 blogs. And if each of those blogs only got read by one person, and it helped them – then I’m happy. In the beginning it was difficult writing about stuff that I thought everyone knew. But just as I learn every day from reading other people’s blogs, so we can help others.

Reason #10:  The right time is now, tomorrow is a gift, not a given.

My last reason might be a sad one for some, but not for me. 7 Years ago my fiancé Gert passed away in a motorcycle accident. Today was his birthday (technically yesterday as it’s just gone past 2am here in SA). I decided to dedicate this challenge to him. Not because he died, but because he lived the right way. He wanted to do everything, everyday. Like there was no tomorrow (and yes, that comes with its own types of stress). And when he moved on to the next level in the game, I was left with no regrets. Not a single one. We did what we could, said what needed to be said, even if it hurt. And the next day we tried again – but better.

Don’t wait until tomorrow. 

What would I do different and how will this challenge work?

  • 365 Blog posts around Microsoft 365 in 365 days
  • The previous challenge stated “1 blog every day for 365 days”. So if I skipped a blog, I couldn’t do 2 the next day (yes, yes, those were my rules). This one will be 365 blogs over 365 days. Not doing that to myself again.
  • I’m going to try doing less graphics (screenshots) and more video clips. Wow those screenshots take forever.
  • I would like to focus on mobility, which means I want to write and publish more of the blogs on  my phone.
  • Seeing as I have written 365 blogs about Office 365, I will refresh and re-blog content if it’s still relevant.
  • This challenge will have to absorb my current ‘challenges’ / blogs:  #42WeekHitchhikersGuide,  Mac Friendly Office 365  and  Change Geek Publication  as it will include the same content.
  • Topics covered will not only be apps and services, but also more on digital literacy, user adoption, UI/UX, security and compliance as well as mobility. And more.
  • I will also be doing reviews and references. So sometimes I might just do a short write-up and refer you to a more detailed article.

And……. GO!