Today marks exactly 1 year of writing. 365 days, 365 posts. I started this blog on December 7, 2024 and when I look back, I notice so many changes in me in 365 days. The journey taught me not only how to write, but the fundamentals of project management.
I began this journey with a lot to tell and a lack of way to tell. A close friend of mine suggested starting a blog, and it began on Whatsapp, sending it to family and close friends. I relished it, and the fact that I was taking a psychology class and an economics class meant content was in abundance (Thank you, School.). I loved talking, and I’m someone who feels knowledge is meant to be shared. In my opinion, knowledge kept to self is knowledge wasted.
What began on Whatsapp soon grew into a website that even sent out email newsletters with a daily post. The feeling that anyone in the world with a Wifi connection could read my posts was exhilirating. However, there also creeped in an unsettling anxiety over the commitment. I had assured a post a day, and one day or the other, I was going to exhaust my reservoir of ideas. That fear came true when semester ended, and I no longer had the access to a psychology or economics class from which I could form my blog posts. There was this period when even thinking about writing became creatively suffocating. I would spend an hour or two late at night just searching for the content, and then writing took another hour as research was a huge part.
This is where the books I had read guided me. Atomic Habits by James Clear, one of the finest self-help books in existence, had this idea that I now remembered: “You don’t rise to the level of your goals; you fall to the level of your systems”. I realized searching for content everyday is a mountain of a goal, and reaching that level of consistency I was committed to was close to impossible. What I needed was not content, but a framework.
It was then a second book, How to Build a Second Brain, that helped me here. While that book talks about sorting all information into files on digital devices, I realized a simple table where I could literally dump an idea, move it to a writing phase, and mark it as done could resolve the friction. It would give me endless content, as thoughts never stop. It gave me a place to store all my written ideas, because nobody wants to read the same thing twice. One system had taken care of most of my difficulties.
What about research then? Now, this is where AI has made the biggest difference. I now have a simple prompt: I am writing about X. Give me bullet points regarding this concept, especially to do with Y, and state your sources. This, in one fell swoop, had delegated all my research into one app and its credibility could be verified easily by checking the sources. I found joy in writing again.
Once started as a side hobby has turned into a vital integral facet of my life, and I hope to continue writing everyday and savor every single word. Signing off for now.
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