To Be Determined

In my 2021 report, I outlined my goals for the coming year. As in this year. Not to brag or anything, but I’ve actually done a pretty good job at holding to my resolutions. It’s not super hard to do when the big ones are “travel” and “be more willing to look dumb,” to name a couple.

By far the thing that has been the most difficult for me is posting on this blog. Originally, I wanted to produce a quality post at least every month. So 12 posts. I’ve made 4, and one of them I thought was mediocre. My definition of “quality posts” needs refining – toiling over something to make it perfect or more often, biting off more than I can chew & allowing the scope of a post to balloon, does not work. It is an agitating process and after a few months led me to simply refuse to touch writing in the ample free time that I had this year.

I very much regret this on two fronts.

One, I wasn’t writing during one of the lightest, unburdened periods of my life (albeit brief). I believe writing pairs well with exploration and some of my thoughts during that time are probably washed away for good now.

Two, not doing something is the wrong approach for doing something. Duh. The right way to write is found via negativa, and the wrong way to write is to not. If I want to be a better writer, explorer, creator, I’ve got to tighten up my iteration cycle. I’ve got to be more willing to put out imperfection, to fail. I forget which Watson officially said this, but “If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.”

Alright. I am going to write 8 blog posts before the end of the year. Hopefully 9 to make up for the lousy one, but don’t count on it. With about ~5 weeks on the clock, it’s certainly not going to be easy, and the posts certainly not quality. But I’m calling an audible on the blogging; let’s see how it goes.