January Challenge #1: Getting Back On the Hobby Horse

Reposted on new blog at http://dynamitochondria.blogspot.com/2010/01/january-challenge-1-getting-back-on.html.

After two months without any entries, it's clear I've fallen off the hobby horse. In the past, lapses like this have led me to just give up until a couple years later I would give it another shot. Not this time.

Immediate action: Get back in the saddle. It's all about building a habit set. It's OK to fail, but don't let it end there.

Additional motivation comes from Andy Hunt's Pragmatic Thinking & Learning. On his advice, I've been working to identify and balance my Linear-mode and Rich-mode thinking. Among the techniques he suggests is Morning Pages, a technique involving daily writing, first thing in the morning, at least three pages, long hand, no censoring.

I like the regularity of Morning Pages, the challenge to do it every day, but I'm not a big fan of writing long hand. I discovered years ago that words flow more easily for me through the keyboard than through the pen. I also like its lack of self-censoring. "Whether it's brilliant or banal, just let it out." I'm also not excited about adding another To-Do to my morning routine. Knowing myself, it sounds like planning to fail. I get the reasoning, but I'm skipping that part anyway.

Hunt also suggests that writing for a public audience is a good way to crystalize your thoughts. It makes you think about and formalize your ideas, epiphanies, and beliefs.

So I'm challenging myself to make a blog entry every day of January 2010. Genius or gibberish, write something, anything. I have a few topics in seed, sketch, or note form in my pocket notebook, another technique I'm nurturing on Hunt's advice, and I'll probably natter on about a few other things I've found in his books. I don't promise anything good, but I do promise something.

Stay tuned.