I haven’t done a very good job, historically, of setting expectations for my writing on this blog. I never made internal commitments to write along certain themes or publish with a certain frequency, nor did I have a good understanding of what I was trying to write for. Since I didn’t do these things even in my own mind, I did an even worse job of communicating those things outwardly to readers like yourself. I’d like to change that.

If you’re subscribed to my mailing list, you’ve probably noticed a sudden increase in the frequency of my posts—I’ve published a blog post every day for the last week, in fact. I realise that may represent an unwelcome surprise for your inbox, and I’m sorry I didn’t set better expectations earlier. I’d like to briefly share why I’ve suddenly been posting more regularly, and what to expect going forward.

Resistance

Of all the books from the altMBA welcome pack, Steven Pressfield’s “The War of Art” has had the most profound impact for me. In it, he talks about The Resistance™—that invisible, insidious, internal force that gets in the way of us producing and creating—and all its myriad forms and tactics. The Resistance can be beaten, but only by facing it down systematically, repeatedly, and patiently. Show up. Shut up. Sit down. Work, even if it’s crap (to start with). Pressfield calls this “turning pro”—that’s the way to conquer Resistance.

“Turning Pro”

After being challenged to set a goal as part of the first altMBA exercise, I decided that I would choose a goal focused on beating my resistance.

The goal I’ve set myself, is to publish a blog post every day for six months.

Having done this for a week already, I’m not sure of a better way to drive my Resistance into the ground than to stare it down every morning, and write something. To start with, it’s definitely going to be a struggle—and quality may not be the best I can hope for. As my Resistance gets weaker and weaker though, I’m confident my voice will start to find its groove.

Contingencies

Sometimes things happen that are simply beyond our control, so I’m accepting that there may be a day or two where I fail—but I’d be a fool to allow that get in the way of the larger purpose here. If something stops me from publishing one day, my course of action will be to get back on the horse the day after, and looking back at the end of the six months at how I did.

I’m also aware that there’s a lot of unknown unknowns for me going into a goal like this, so I’m also granting myself permission to modify or discard this goal along the way, provided I communicate that change publicly.

Expect more

What should you expect from this blog going forward then?

• Topics. My writing is mainly going to be focused on improving various areas of oneself. I’m writing about the things I feel I need to wrap my head around myself, and the ways I’m attempting to work through challenges of one kind or another. I’ll try and keep things general, but often I’ll use analogies and references from the things in my life: product design, software development, leadership and management, writing, philosophy, self-learning, health and fitness, and generally things that any student of life should relate to.
• Length. I’ll try to keep things short and punchy. Being concise is hard though, so sometimes things might have an extra few paragraphs. I’m doing this every day remember, so I have a clear incentive to keep things short (unlike this post).
• Quality. Expect the quality to get better with time. I’m new at this, and I’m not perfect. I’m going to err on the side of shipping something valuable and iterating rather than trying to reach perfection in a single post. Hopefully, my ability to articulate things with elegance gets better. Only time will tell.

Accountability

If you can tolerate reading a short email every day, I’d love your help to stay accountable on this journey. You can sign up for my blog posts via email using the form below.

Mailing list subscribers: If you’d rather not get an email from me every day, I completely understand. If you need to unsubscribe, there will be a link at the bottom of any email you get via my blog.