30 Days / 30 Articles
A Self-inflicted Writing Challenge
The goal: 30 articles in 30 days. Over the next thirty days this June I will publish (post) thirty articles. This article (which shall count as article one of the challenge) explains why I have set this challenge for myself. It also acts as an index or table of contents for all subsequent articles written as part of this "30 days / 30 articles" challenge.
As far as I can tell, one key "secret" to success can be reduced into a single word: start. Do it. Then, keep doing it. Keep starting, consistently—persistently, every day. This appears to be a great filter of success. Many of us never get past that first step, let alone on a consistent basis and thus never succeed to the degree we'd like.
For me, starting is quite often sabotaged by some aim for perfectionism and the associated fear of failure—resulting in severe procrastination. I set the bar at some self-defined level of perfect that is often unobtainable which leads to fear that I'll fail—so why even bother starting at all. Neat. Starting can at times be quite difficult, but, and this is the crux of it, once I've started, the hours tick by at a blistering pace of which most is spent in Flow. Starting, though? Often rather difficult.
As an introvert, I can be quite reserved and become anxious when I feel I'm losing control of my personal narrative. As a result I over analyze how my work might be perceived and consequently hesitate to share my thoughts. When it comes to writing, I tend to overthink and over-edit my drafts. My inner dialog is full of annoying anxious tricks to keep me from starting like:
"What will people think of the rubbish spilling out of my head?"
"It's not very original."
"It's not particularly interesting."
"Wow what a bore this guy is."
"Why did he even bother writing this drivel?"
"His arguments are logically flawed."
"Nobody cares about your 30 day challenge."
"What a dumb article to post!"
"Should I really post this? What if I fail the challenge?"
"This guy sounds like an angsty teenager!"
"How many more of these example thoughts is he going to write!?"
... and on, and on, and on. These thoughts are, of course, the perfect pretense for my monkey brain to say, "See? Look at what people might think! Isn't it great that I've set the bar so high for perfection that we won't make a fool of ourselves!?"
At an analytical, introspective level, I'm of course perfectly aware that these anxious thoughts are nonsense. It doesn't matter what random other people think about the stuff I produce, I tell myself. I'm some random dude posting my random stuff. Those who like it, well, great! Those who don't are welcome to filter themselves. But, like many things, this is easier said (erm.. written), than done.
To force me to stop over-thinking my drafts, to help train myself against my perfectionism, and to build a habit of breaking through my action paralysis, I've presented myself with a challenge: Over the next thirty days this June I will publish (post) thirty articles. 30 articles in 30 days. The only rule: that in 30 days from now I've published 30 articles.
With this article I'm starting a new habit to better control my perfectionism. By writing something each day I'll keep starting, consistently—persistently, every day. I look forward to seeing me succeed.
The Articles
June 1, 2021 - 30 Articles in 30 Days Self-inflicted Challenge (this article)
June 3, 2021 - Starting: How I Stop Myself From Procrastinating
June 4, 2021 - A Neat Airplane Museum just outside Zürich
June 7, 2021 - How To Set Your REST API's Default Rate & Burst Throttling Limits
June 9, 2021 - 3 Engaging Non-Fiction Books for your Summer 2021 Reading List
June 10, 2021 - How To Animate a Winners' Podium
June 11, 2021 - 3 Curious Short Non-Fiction Books for the Weekend
June 15, 2021 - Midway Progress Update: 30 days / 30 articles challenge
June 22, 2021 - The Curta: A Mechanical Calculating Machine
June 24, 2021 - Developing AWS Lambda Functions Locally
June 25, 2021 - Is Switzerland the Japan of Europe?
June 30, 2021 - 3 Excellent Books on the History of Computing Everyone Should Read
June 30, 2021 - I Failed My 30 Days 30 Articles Challenge