30 Day Challenge #1: Write Every Day

Inspired by Morgan Spurlock and my general sense of creative ennui, I've decided to start issuing myself 30 day challenges. Basically I'm going to have to do, or not do, something for 30 days straight in an attempt to force myself to follow through on my creative/fitness/dietary goals. Mostly the first category, since the third is doomed to failure. The idea is that at the end of the 30 days I will carry some of these actions forward as habits, or choose to reject them completely.

My first goal: Write (on the internet, this blog in particular) every day.

Why?

I miss writing, a lot, and I'm only getting worse at it the more I don't do it. I used to get a lot of joy out of articulating a point of view through the written word, or at least writing a dumb joke that I thought was funny. The more time that passes since I've done it, the worse I get at it and the more intimidating writing becomes. I figure the more writing I do, the better I'll get at it and the less fucks I'll give about what anyone else thinks.

I chose to put it out on the internet like this, rather than just doing it, in order to shame myself into actually following through.

Perceived Challenges:

The biggest one is discipline. In college, contrary to the stereotype, I was highly disciplined: up every day at 6:30 AM, started all my papers 2 weeks in advance, juggled 3 or 4 full time responsibilities and still made time for what I wanted to do. As the things I "have" to do have turned into things I only "want" to do, my discipline has atrophied to the point of nonexistence. There's so many more passive ways to occupy my time- alcohol, netflix, comics. Creating something, even something that requires a relatively low amount of effort, may be more fulfilling in the long run but still takes far less mental energy than pressing play on hulu.

Secondly, topics. I used to feel like I had a strong, well articulated point of view on everything. Experience and alcohol have beaten a lot of the self-importance and higher cognitive function out of me. I'm actually looking forward to the daily scramble for inspiration. I may write some stuff that is legit crap, but it will help me get better, right? ... Right?

Hopeful takeaway:

Focus on process over product. In other words, if I write something about a subject, it doesn't have to be THE DEFINITIVE take on it. Hopefully I'll have some insight and the final product wont't be terrible, but really what I'm hoping is to get something out of having written it and to better understand how I think about things. 

Also, to realize that the most important readership is me. No one reads my blog anyway, so it's not like I'm letting some huge audience down or putting sponsorships that put food on my table in jeopardy. I'm not going to get any better at writing, or any more enjoyment out of it, by getting really worked up and worried about it a lot and then not actually acting on it. The only things I've ever created that people like are things that I didn't care if people liked- I did them because I liked them. That may be a trite "insight," but it's still true.

....

This counts as entry #1.