On Publishing Every Day
The discipline of publishing every day (or at least regularly) seems like a great tool to sharpen my thinking. Compared to simply writing in a journal, it prevents me from being sloppy. Yes I write for work most days, but like an athlete or warrior trains continuously for the real thing, I think knowledge workers would do well to train by writing every day — outside of the whirlwind of their daily work output.
In the past I’ve tried this for a week or so. And I write in some format someplace every day, but at some point I plan to publish something here on Medium. Why 66 days you might ask? See here.
Life would be easy if all we had to do was fill our heads with knowledge and then hit play and we went out and did all the right things to be healthy, wealthy, and thus wise.
We are what we regularly and habitually do.
Reading and thinking must be expressed in words.
If you speak regularly, you’re an speaker. But not necessarily a good one.
If you write regularly, you’re a writer. But not necessarily a good one.
If you read regularly, you’re a reader. But not necessarily a good one.
We all think every day, but that does not necessarily mean we think well. Publishing helps me with that.
So, not for the purpose of being a better writer per se, but for the cognitive and critical thinking benefits, I plan to write and publish here on this medium — pun intended, every day for 66 days.
Because I already read a lot, this will also sharpen my reading further and give me an outlet to share what I’m reading.
Because my purpose is to sharpen my thinking, if I write something here that is nonsensical or sloppy or just plain incorrect, PLEASE challenge me on it in the comments below. Not only will I not be offended, I’ll be grateful.
[update: soon after I wrote this, I was challenged by my coach *not* to publish daily, but focus on some other things, so in deference to his wisdom, I put this goal to publish every day for 66 days on pause…. still on pause as of 6/30/18, but starting up again soon.]
[update 2: Hitting unpause, finally on 7/2/23.]
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