15 Dec 2024 #writing
A schedule and an easy-to-follow workflow.
That’s what you need if you want to keep blogging in the long run.
I started blogging back in 2018. I threw up some words in a file and put them online. No schedule or intentions. Only when I adopted a writing schedule, I started to improve my writing skills and notice more pageviews.
To preserve my keystrokes and expand on my comment to this dev.to question about blogging, here’s my writing workflow:
One platform first then cross-post everywhere
Recently, I started to follow the POSSE principle: Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere.
My blog is my main hub. Anything I write online, in some shape or form, ends up on my blog. Recently, I created a new tag misc to organize my posts about other subjects apart from coding or software engineering.
Based on the type of content: tutorial vs opinion piece, I republish a shorter version on dev.to or republish on Medium, linking back to the original post.
Since often some Medium publications only accept original content, I publish there first and then the next day, I publish on my blog. Win-win.
Raw post content in a single place
I’m a plain-tex fan. So, markdown everywhere.
I keep my raw posts on a note-taking app in Markdown. Since I use GitHub with Jekyll to host my blog, publishing a new post is a simple commit and a push. Or when I’m feeling lazier than usual, I paste the post content directly on GitHub.
For images, I host them on GitHub itself. I organize them inside a folder named “assets,” with subfolders named after my posts’ titles.
For my most recent posts, I’ve ditched images and banners and started to write shorter text-only posts. A decent headline and one main idea are good enough to publish.
- To republish on Medium: I use the import feature. It works fine, except for code listings. I copy and paste them and add some emojis to highlight important lines of code.
- To republish on dev.to: I use a template with disclaimers, intros, and CTAs. Then I copy and paste that template and only fill in the post body in the editor itself.
If you want to stay consistent and keep blogging, make it really easy. Reduce all the friction and automate as much as you can.
14 Dec 2024 #misc
Want to master any skill? Simple!
Show up. Consistency is king. Do something every day for one year.
That’s common Internet advice to master a skill and crush your goals.
Want to write? Show up.
Want to get in shape? Consistency is king.
Easier said than done.
Show up is good advice. But it’s only part of the full piece of advice
If you want to stay consistent, commit to the smallest action you can sustain in the long term.
At the start of the year, I joined a monthly reading club with some friends. In the first sessions, everybody showed up with their reading done. We were so enthusiastic that we wanted to read more, have online discussions, and write essays with our reactions. We even wanted to meet up every weekend.
But after a couple of sessions, somebody showed up without the reading done. And then, somebody else stopped showing up. And then somebody else…and somebody else. Eventually, we stopped our reading club.
We bit off more than we could chew. And like any plan, it didn’t resist contact with reality.
To stay consistent, show up, but with small actions
Want to write? Commit to writing less than 200 words a day.
Want to get in shape? Commit to doing 1 push-up a day.
Want to read more? Commit to reading 1 page a day.
And make it easy to finish your small action of the day.
Leave your writing app open.
Go to bed wearing your workout clothes.
Keep a book on your desk.
Small and easy-to-finish actions in the long run. That’s how you keep showing up.
13 Dec 2024 #productivity
That was the result of a study by the University of Texas, cited in the book “The Anxious Generation.”
In the study, they divided an undergraduate classroom into thirds.
One third left their phones in another room. Another third kept them in their pockets or bags. And the last third kept them facing down on their desks.
Guess who performed best at the end of some cognitive tests?
Of course, the third that kept their phones outside did best. And the other two thirds did poorly, with some differences depending on the tests. But they claimed that their phone’s presence didn’t affect their performance.
The mere presence of their phones reduced their cognitive abilities, even when they were silent or off.
If you have read Deep Work, you already know about monk mode. But to focus, you don’t have to go into strict mode and retreat to a cabin without reception in the middle of nowhere. Just ask your phone to give you some space. Leave your phone in another room, out of sight.
Now, while I’m typing this, my phone is in airplane mode, in another room.
So if you want to do focused work, leave your phone out of sight.
12 Dec 2024 #misc
I’m answering this Hacker News question:
Is there anything you’ve bought in the past few years (since 2020) that really changed something in your life?
They didn’t change my life, but they’ve made it somewhat better:
-
A pair of 5-kg dumbbells: Cheaper than a yearly gym subscription. With a couple of YouTube videos, they’re enough to keep moving my body every day.
- Money and personal development books: I bought print copies of these titles:
- The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari
- The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry
- The Richest Man in Babylon
- The Psychology of Money
- Think and Grow Rich
- Unwinding Anxiety
- Purify Your Brain
-
Workstation setup: Since I spend most of my working time in front of a computer, I bought an air conditioner, a standing desk, and an external display.
-
Writing course: I’ve been writing since 2018 when I wrote my first blog post. But most of what I had learned was through trial and error. This year, I paid for a writing course and went all in with my writing.
- Eating out with friends: Some friends are worth every cup of coffee or dinner out.
11 Dec 2024 #misc
I didn’t pay for the most expensive hamburgers I’ve eaten.
An ex-employer did.
When I say “most expensive,” I mean the same greasy $5 or $10-dollar hamburger from a food truck or a corner in a busy street. But they felt expensive because I ate them while working overnight.
In a past job, when my team was lagging behind the self-imposed deadlines of sprints, higher-ups told us: “This sprint is behind schedule. What are you going to do? You’re a self-managed team, so decide that by yourselves. But if I were you, I’d choose to work overtime to keep up.”
“You’re a self-managed team” was their subtle way of telling us to work extra hours, without accepting any responsibility.
We didn’t have any say in what tasks to do and how. We were only a self-managed team when it came to choosing to work overtime.
They didn’t pay us for that extra time. They only bought us hamburgers. And, when someone raised their concerns about the quality of those hamburgers, they told us we should be grateful because other companies buy their employees nothing to eat.
Since I don’t want this to be only a rant…If you’re told you’re part of a self-managed team, read the fine print. Look for signs of real self-managed teams: look at job descriptions and ask follow up questions during interviews. Otherwise, they might expect you to work overtime without compensation.