Community and Accountability - #nerdlution

By now, unless you're living under a Twitter rock (and you know who you are! ;-)), you've heard of the movement Colby Sharp, Christopher Lehman, Franki Sibberson, Katherine Sokolowski, and other Twitter movers and shakers have started... revolution/resolution = nerdlution in which anyone can commit to some goals over the next 50 days (Dec. 2nd - Jan. 20th).  The group above made writing and exercise their goals, but others have committed to random acts of kindness, connecting with students, commenting on blogs, etc. 



My commitment was to write and walk for 30 minutes each every day.  I'm going to amend that slightly (the great part of #nerdlution is that it's okay to asses, tweak, or amend your goals) to just say exercise since I'm adding some time on the elliptical and want to add some weights, too, and to give myself some wiggle room, I'm going to say 20-30 minutes 6 times a week.  Everyone needs a day of rest, right?  I'm already loving the way exercising more has made me feel (so has my dog).

While doing some #nerdlution writing by doing some research for my book, I came across a quote by Donalyn Miller in  Reading in the Wild about creating a writing community, and I thought it was a perfect application to #nerdlution:  Reading communities have these benefits - Increase how much readers read.  Reading communities demand lots of reading.  Students invest more time in reading so that they can fully participate in book discussions and finish books their peers recommend.  Reading alongside a friend adds reading to the list of enjoyable experiences students share and fuels their willingness to read more. - p.98  Yes!  If you're involved in the Twitter, blog, and Facebook communities of readers and writers, and you read with your colleagues, friends, and students, you're most likely a wild reader.  The spirit of #nerdlution is the same - we're tweeting every day about meeting our goals.  This gives us accountability and the positive peer pressure of community.  Research tells us it's easier to lose weight, stop addictive behaviors, get in shape, succeed in our professions, stay mentally healthy, etc., if we do it alongside others.  There is no way I would've walked/exercised every day this week without the thought of the #nerdlution community in the back of my mind.  I would've used fatigue, bad weather, busy-ness, etc. as excuses.  Because I look forward to checking the #nerdlution feed every day, there is a demand to participate and cheer each other on.  So if you haven't joined, it's not too late!!  Become a wild #nerdlution member!!