It's been a month of blogging, let's check-in. The real journey is about to begin

Four weeks ago, on a Sunday afternoon, I grew frustrated with my old website and yearned to start anew. The old website held so much potential to be great. It was blog-focused too with design portfolio setup, but navigating the backend was too difficult. I also knew my ambition was bigger than what it was. I wanted it to be many things at once; not just a blog, but a portfolio, a book catalog that can hopefully gain an audience to be a book club.

I sought change, wanting to pursue that ambition again. I started toying around with creating this website, thinking that it would be the primary way to fulfill one of my resolutions to create consistently. Since then, I've written nine blog posts, sticking to publishing every Monday and Thursday. I consider this a small win!

What's next

The consistent effort helped me overcome the inertia to start. Now it's the time to take on other tasks, such as designing my brand identity, creating social media posts, and starting the book club. It feels like facing the next boss level in a game and the inertia hits again.

Whenever I feel this way, I turn to Austin Kleon's Show Your Work. He wrote to encourage people to share and commit to learning in front of others.

If you want people to know about what you do and the things you care about, you have to share. Human beings are interested in other human beings and what other human beings do. Put things out there consistently, you can form a relationship with your customers... they long to be creative and part of the creative process.

Reconnecting with why

Recently, I dove back into the world of non-fiction, particularly about purpose or reason for being. Perhaps it's an unconscious need for motivation to continue because these books prompt me to reflect on my goals and how they would be meaningful.

In her book, The Well-Lived Life, Dr. Gladys McGarey had comforting words to reinforce my motivation for wanting to create consistently – that is, to enjoy the process of becoming.

With the pressures of modern life it is often hard to see the value in pursuits that don't make money or immediately solve widespread problems. It's hard for many people to understand why they should do things just for the sake of doing them.

While I still harbour motivations for this blog to be of value, consistently doing this has also been rewarding. It has made me commit to staying creative, which I believe is my true raison d'être.

Building lasting healthy habits

This morning, Headspace (the meditation app) prompted me on the key to building lasting healthy habits. During the session, the host encouraged keeping two lists to help stay focused on your deeper motivations:

I found it helpful to remember the objectives that I initially set out to accomplish (the purpose and reason), but more importantly, to be reminded of how this change can result in betterment (the impact and deep desire). The three additional prompts serve as encouragement whenever motivation wanes. For me, the next small step is to create and schedule social media postings and hope to gain more traction.

At least, that's the plan for now. I'm excited to incorporate more into this website, perhaps with a new look and feel, and a new "cultural" section with books, movies, and music lists.

Till the next!