I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions, but I do try my best ever year to find ways to improve myself. This year I have two main goals: to learn more and to write more. I feel like there’s just so much out there to learn and I want to push myself to absorb more of it. There’s been lots written about learning in public so I think it’s my turn to give it a try. That’s why I'm going to be committing myself to a challenge: 30 days of writing about what I’m learning. 30 Days, 30 Concepts, about a 100 words each.
The reason I picked an “X days” challenge is because I’ve been amazed by what others have accomplished with this constraints. From things like #100DaysOfCode or how @adacito wrote 100 words for 100 days, it's clear forcing yourself to do something helps you get better. Especially with the added social pressure. Hopefully, one day, I’ll get to writing everyday, but as I work my way up those goals, I want to start a bit smaller. That's why I chose 30 days. I’m determined not to give up halfway through, I truly want to see my goal to its end.
It’s more than just forcing myself to write though. I could probably do that on my own, but I think posting on my site is going to help me with another challenge of mine. I really struggle with knowing when to hit that publish button. Every sentence feels like it can be edited a bit more, every phrase a bit more perfectly crafted. I want to hit every note, make you feel what I want to feel, but knowing when to let go and let your writing off into the wild is hard. With this challenge, I’m forced to publish whatever I have. Of course, it’s going to go through a short, but intense editing process, but the clock will be ticking. That added element of tension is exactly the pressure I need to get things out the door.
So what exactly will I be writing about? Well the beauty of the world we live in is how much content we have. In fact, sometimes it can feel overwhelming how much stuff is out there. I’m going to be covering tidbits from all sorts of topics from computer science and algorithms to math and some history too!
I hope that once I’m done with this challenge it’ll give me even me even more to write about and really help get my creative juices flowing. I plan on writing a follow up post once I finish it. Wish me luck and see you on the other side!