(11/12/2020) Update: As can be seen from the rest of my blog this plan obviously didn’t work out. While part of me wants nothing more than to erase this post from my history I’m going to leave it here as a reminder. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll actually write those 100 posts.
At the beginning of the year, as a card-carrying member of the religion of New Years Resolutions, I set out some goals for myself, head high and future bright. As part of an effort to work on my writing and overall communication I set a goal to write 12 blog posts, one each month. Only one. That doesn’t include any requirements on length of substance either. And yet, like many of my fellow zealots I’ve found myself falling quite short of that particular goal.
Instead of giving up on that goal I’ve decided to be flexible and modify it. Not just that, I’m going to double down. The original goal was to “write a single blog post every month”, which means, in the literal sense, I’ve already failed. My new goal is going to be:
Write 100 posts before the end of the year
Maybe this seems a little masochistic but this isn’t a totally random number. At the time of writing this there are 199 days left in the year. I’d like to leave my weekends open; there are 5 weekdays out of every 7 day week so roughly 70% of days are weekdays and 70% of 199 is 139. Then, just because I like round numbers and don’t totally hate myself I’m rounding that 139 down to a cool 100.
Once a month just wasn’t enough regularity for a real habit of writing to form. I’d constantly look back at my goal and realize that the month had already passed. And so a more serious goal that require more serious effort should ensure that writing is always hovering in the back of my mind, keeping me honest and reminding me to capture any ideas that come up.
I’m counting this as post number 1 so only 99 more to go!