#100DaysToOffload
learning in public also means being vulnerable in public. as we entered 2025 i had some zeal and focus on writing, deliberate practice, and putting my thoughts out into the world. and... since then i've only posted on here twice. the fate of most blogs and projects that unwisely default to reliance on motivation.
if at first you don't succeed...
something i've encountered in recent web meanderings is #100daystooffload.* it's simple:
The whole point of #100DaysToOffload is to challenge you to publish 100 posts on your personal blog in a year.
and yes, it's arbitrary, and it feels like a bit of a transplant from more tech/indieweb worlds, and i don't really like the word "offload" ... but! i'll start today and share more.
in writing, the method i must practice is speaking plainly and directly. not carried off in a surge of spiralling tangents and recursive thoughts that arise as i write. largely this should manifest in shorter posts. less doubt-driven apologia and less preamble.
in (academic) reading, i've only recently realised how much i can improve my efficiency. one mentor has recently been encouraging me to make changes by emphasising that my time is valuable. i have never really thought this way. but i do feel it slowly sinking in and reshaping how i evaluate and prioritise my time (though, as yet, unevenly).
in work generally, i'm seeking a balance between the scanning, collaging, diffuse-mode method of working with my energy and urges, and being more ruthlessly single-track and urge-abiding.
are these all fractal aspects of the same avoidance of cognitive effort and discomfort? or not really having learned to be goal-directed? is the greatest and first of all Methods simply meditation?
well. i might be 18 years late to "getting serious about work", but better late than never.
and i might learn slowly but now at least i am going to ask and answer: how will i not simply fall into the same thinking error that this time it's different, i'm really going to do this? for now, one step, the most basic: i've put a daily reminder in my calendar for this month with # days and # posts remaining. and i will trial using my day-start ritual as writing time, on the days i manage to do the ritual.
method quest. feels appropriate to invoke the figure of the lone questing hero—instance of a great archetype—in examining this dance: between learning from examples and not really being that different from others; but at the same time having to localise, iterate, work things out for yourself.
*i can't remember how i came across 100 Days to Offload. and i'm not reminded by the list of folks who've completed the challenge. it might have come via the Ente Joy of Reading blog** but i don't have the audit trail unfortunately.
**Ente is a software business primarily providing privacy-focussed open source photo storage software. i use Ente Auth as a free and open source alternative to Microsoft's own authenticator, a small act of resistance while having to use Microsoft by my academic institution.
