A Strong Start: Week 1 Update
Welcome back, here’s my progress after 1 week.
1 week! It’s been a relatively smooth week for me in terms of my 3 goals. If you need a reminder, here they are below.
- Compose music for 1 hour a day on Logic Pro X. By the end of the year, have 3 portfolio-ready music pieces.
- Land a CS Internship for Summer 2023 by spring break.
- Run a marathon in December 2023.
After publishing last week’s introduction article, the first thing I did was write out a to-do list on my cluttered notes app for the following day. As an example, here was my to-do list on the first day of week 1.
Last semester, I found out that having daily to-do lists was something that helped me keep on track, which is why I’m continuing with this habit throughout this challenge. So, on day 1, my aim was to start slowly, with just a 10-minute run and 30 minutes of composing.
In the past, I’ve had a bad habit of burning out right at the start of a commitment. So, for this challenge, I decided to switch it up and take it slowly at the beginning so as to not crash and burn (something I also talked about in article 1).
Days 2 and 3 went smoothly as well. I ran 12 minutes on day 2, 11 minutes on day 3 (probably because of the huge Wingstop meal I had for lunch), and composed 30 minutes on both days. I think my motivation in these beginning days was quite high because I had just started the challenge and wanted to do everything I could to succeed, so I just went with the flow.
Day 4 (Sunday) also went smoothly, but it was the first day where my motivation to run fell off the peak. I had usually tried to run right after waking up, but since I woke up quite late on this day, I really didn’t feel like running. So, I ended up taking a rest day.
Day 5, 6, and 7 went quite smoothly, but one change that occurred was I started to note down a lot more things from my composing journey. For example, I started to question “Why did I like creating music?” or if I even liked creating music or just listening to it. Below is a note I wrote on Tuesday (Day 6).
I think pondering the question of why I wanted to create music was quite helpful and one I need to continue to ponder. Is it because of my need for self-expression? Is it money-related? Is it truly because I love creating music? I hope in the next year, through my hours of trials and tribulation, I can discover the answers to these questions.
But yea! That’s it for this week’s update. Short and sweet, hopefully. See you next week!
P.S. If you want to contact me, email ryanz3@illinois.edu