Just.Do It
Lately, I’ve thought that I don’t often do a thing that I see many bloggers do very often. That thing is: sharing other people’s content. I don’t just mean the link sprinkled here and there. I mean something like bringing attention to their stuff, driving interest their way.
OK, it’s time to do something about that.
I’ll start off with a blogger that has been super consistent for a very long time, John Saddington. The thing that first caught my attention was that he gets up, writes, and posts something, every single day. That’s super challenging.
Not only that, but his posts are often a peek into the mind of a software developer, human, dad, and lifelong learner. His currently visible project is a daily VLOG (video log). Making a video every single day (he still writes as well), especially if you’re learning along the way, is tough. When I think of giving up on any of my experiments, I remember this. John’s post (and video) today might have been a bit of a kick for that too. Check out the video:
How John sees and executes new projects:
1. Time box
2. Create artificial constraints to simplify your experiment
3. Create accountability
4. Invite others into your experiment and process
At this point, I think I understand the above, but I honestly need to get better at all those points. For example, I started the 100 Days Of Code challenge, but have fallen off on that, so my time box is broken. I can see now that since I didn’t force myself to stick to some artificial constraint (always do work at the same time, for the same amount of time, one hour), it became super hard to get motivated enough to do any work. I’ve got almost no accountability here, and I think only one person knows I even started this.
The last point, inviting others in, is the scariest part. Nobody wants to look like they don’t know how to do a thing that they’re public about, but I realize that that’s how you stay accountable: somebody is watching what you do, so you want to have something done, on a regular basis.
I feel like John is a person worthy of daily attention. I’m even using a piece of software he’s published, Desk, to type up this post. Subscribe to his VLOG, add his blog to your reader. It’s that good.
Originally published at Ryagas.me.
