The Start of a Long Road?
The first post did state that I’ve been thinking about this project for a while, but at some point we have to walk the road. I don’t know when or even where this challenge will stop but I’m here for the process rather than the end goal.
A Small Step for the Blog…
This is only the beginning. As evident as it might be, I’ve only written 7 blogposts so far. A good start but the intent is to make such single digit numbers hardly relevant in the near future. Each blogpost represents a small step, both by their insignificance (they will mostly be eventually forgotten, even by me) and the very limited content they actually carry.
Maybe, this is underestimating the emotional power of these first posts. After all, we may not remember most of the thousands of steps in a hike but we do remember a few significant ones, including the moment we reach the intended destination, the awkward ones when we tripped down on a stone, the ones when we took a break, the ones when we ran away from that wild animal, the one when a fellow traveler shared a funny story… But most relevantly for this post, we tend to remember the first few steps when we got out of the house and set sail on a new adventure for the day.
I could make an eulogy of these first few steps, but the matter remains that they are intentionally small, like all the others which will follow.
… But a Big Step in Self-Improvement
But what have I learned from this challenge so far?
Quite a few things, I’l have to admit. First, this experiment confirms quite a few idioms I already knew but needed confirmation.
On the Power of Consistency
Writing every day turns out to be both easier and more powerful than writing larger essays infrequently. First and foremost, the sheer volume of words generated through this week’s part of the challenge sets a new record on my average word count.
We can wait eternally till the ‘right moment’ comes for writing this big idea that keeps us awake at night for months without materialising into a single written word and eventually becomes either irrelevant or a source of perpetual anguish.
Writing every day, however small the post turns out to be (can’t argue that these first 7 posts were particularly small though), does generate a large collective pièce of writing. Just looking back on this website and seeing 7 posts feels me with satisfaction. This is hardly quality materials but this is more than I could have produce in only one seating; if it could have ever happened in the first place.
It also shows a certain level of activity on this website, which is healthy and motivates to carry on.
On the Question of Motivation
When we are forced into doing a task, there are a number of ways to get motivated. The first most obvious one would be to be inherently motivated by the task; whether it is by its process or its goal. However, past experiences also demonstrated times and times again that this starting-up motivation often weathers away rather quickly.
On this Skill of Writing
There is no denying that writing is a skill. Like mamy others, there is no such thing as innate abilities. Some people may be more inclined to excel at such or such skills due to physical, social, environmental, or whatever other context. But the core idea remains that ‘practice and practice again’ does make true experts. Having access to good teachers, training techniques, insightful knowledge, or general support structures can definitely boost one’s learning journey on a particular skill. However, the same as zero times a large number still makes zero (to the mathematicians out there, I didn’t say times infinite!), putting regular efforts in an activity does produce result and, in this case, improvements will (eventually) be measured.
On the Topic of Support
Practice and generally self-help constitute good starting points but don’t do it alone. Seek support and accept any forms for early support through your self-improvement journey. Standing back up can look like a dark place at first (after all if your face is on the ground you might not see much of the light!) and having others standing by you does make a positive difference.
For me, I want to thank the eternal and selfless support from my wife. Well done on reading this far and still encouraging me!
And what about you? What do you think? What is the next step in your journey?
Thank you for reading. See you tomorrow.