How did I get here?
Growing up I always thought that if you were not the best you shouldn’t be talking. I abstained from social media, and from blogging when it became popular. I cringe at the memory of thoughts like “I might not be the best, but at least I am self-aware.” In reality, I was just avoiding one form of pride (narcissism) by embodying another (false modesty).
While I was leaving IDx, which was my first job out college, I remember receiving some advice from Sasha that boiled down to “don’t work on closed source, because it gives you little career traction, but rather work on things that are publicly visible.” Not long after that, I felt the consequences of my wrong worldview, and his words really hit home. Getting interviews is about differentiation and standing out. Running my career in incognito mode was not helping.
Seth Godin has also been really influential during this time. I have read Linchpin, The Dip, Tribes, and now The Practice . Together they have changed my worldview for the better, and his work is evidence to me that there is power in consistent creation. His consistency through the 7000+ entries to his blog is incredible and a big part of why my worldview has changed.
Since reading these, I have put things out in the open. I have
- written about my career on Medium
- created some animations on Codepen
- answered animation questions on StackOverflow
Out of the three, Medium has felt the most like a lottery. I have felt pressure to optimize for cheap interaction by playing into human weaknesses (ie super vague lists or clickbait questions). That’s where Shawn Wang and Monica Lent have come to the rescue. I found Shawn when someone shared the Part Time Creator Manifesto and then from there I found into his book: learninpublic.org. He led me to Monica and the idea that there is a non-gimmicky approach to blogging, and I have been inspired by her 7-day blogging course.
Why a blog?
Writing can have a powerful impact on others. It has on me, and I want to have that same impact for good on other people as I learn and grow. Even just writing this down solidifies my intent and helps me see the picture more clearly. I have been journaling for the past 6 months or so and realized that much of that content could just be repurposed into a blog that could help others.
What about?
I am passionate about creating delightful products, and my medium for doing that is frontend animation. So this blog will be mostly about that, but some of the content will also be general career stuff that I learn along the way. It will be composed of two types of content:
- Long-form
- Similar to what I have on medium, this content will be geared more toward telling a story and helping you learn something or get somewhere
- Short-form
- Reflections, TIL, TLDR, and announcements
Not sure what the cadence of my posting will be, but I am shooting for consistency, and a lifelong run. I will figure it out soon and add RSS so you can stay in the loop. That’s all for now, follow along if you are up for the journey!
~~ Update 5/31/21 ~~
Well. Less than 10 days and here we are. I don't like the word blog because it has a lot of baggage. This is now a thought. For more details check out a digital garden. not a blog.
~~ Update 3/28/23 ~~
I have now redacted this whole "thoughts" thing. Yuck!