What I have learned from 38 weekly blogs
Image by Yerson Retamal from Pixabay
I wrote my first blog post on the 6th of December 2019 and have posted an article every week since then. I still remember writing that first post. I was on a business road trip with a very busy schedule and I had decided to get it online before the end of the day, no matter what. I wrote it late that night, after bedtime for most people. I knew that every minute I spent writing, was one less minute of sleep and thus I just wanted to get it online as fast as humanly possible. Which I did, by the way. I don’t remember how much time I spent on my first post, but I am pretty sure it is one of the fastest I have written. In hindsight, that might have been the optimal way to start! Just get it done and move on. When you start out with anything, your first attempts will likely be mediocre at best. Maybe that’s how it should be done? Set a timer and go. Actually, I will do that right now. There. Timer set for 30 minutes. This post must be online before the timer runs out. Let’s do it.
When writing this current post, I am in a similar situation. I normally always write my posts first thing after I get up Saturday mornings around 04:30-05:00. But this Saturday was different. It was my birthday yesterday and my wife had arranged a babysitter and booked a dinner at a nice restaurant, which felt somewhat surreal. It was close to two years since we did something similar on our own. And this morning when I woke up, I chose to spend the time with my wife instead of leaving her alone while writing. Sorry readers! =) Sometimes rules must be broken, and this was one of those occasions. We have had a wonderful day, spending a lot of time together. But now I am sitting here, writing quicker than ever before, in an attempt to beat the 30 minute timer.
I think it might be a good idea to introduce a timer in many of the tasks I do, especially at work. If we know that we have two hours at our disposal, we tend to use all of those two hours. I know I need 1,5 hours to write a good blog post, and that is why I set the timer at 30 minutes this time. Just get it online. That is all that counts. I have been experimenting with speed sketching for the past months, and perhaps it is time for me to introduce a similar rule for my blog posts? It is worth a try. One of the most important lessons I have learned from the past 38 weeks of blogging is that I require focused time. Deep work time. No interruptions. However, if you don’t define some constraints on your writing, it is much more difficult to achieve a time slot of deep work. The worst posts I have written are the ones that took me too long, so that my wife and son woke up and had to wait for me. A good father and husband would have worked quicker and always make sure to do whatever he can to finish in time.
I already have one constraint on the format of the blog posts. The must not exceed one A4 page in word (Calibri font size 11). This is a good one, both for me as a writer and for my readers. They know that every time they read a piece of mine, it will take exactly the same time to read it. And I have a very clear condition for when the post is “done”. Another important takeaway is that I never cut and paste and re-arrange the text. It destroys the flow. A proper comparison is writing using a pen and paper. Then you must follow your train of thought, because you can’t rearrange anything in the same way as you can in word. So, it is better to just write, and keep the flow going. Then you can follow me in my thought process.
Anyway, next week I will rather go back to my routine of publishing Saturday mornings, because I have found it works best for me. Should you decide to start blogging yourself, I suggest you do the same. Pick a day and time and STICK TO IT. Mornings are nice, because then you wake up with your mind as a blank slate. In the evening, there are many other thoughts that have entered your mind throughout the day. But the most important thing is to at least make sure you get the post online the same day as you originally intended. And that is the end of this post. Let’s take a look at my timer… 15 minutes remaining of the 30! A new personal record.