You got to start somewhere.
I’m starting to post my writings - or more accurately my thoughts.
My first blog post was in 2017 on my first edition of my personal website. Looking back I cringe a little at the writing style and conveyance, but it’s heartening to see the intention behind it.
That’s about 7 years. Now, 7 years can pass in a blink of an eye – especially faster if one doesn’t take a moment to pause.
I’ve paused a few times and could pause a lot more.
Thankfully, I’ve developed the habit of writing and reflections during my time in military service.
I’ve paused, reflected and kept from,
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Friends and mentors: the advice given to me and key points from great conversations
- It’s a good habit to just jot down a few points after a long and important conversation with people you value
- Especially from people who know you well and mean well for you.
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Hackathons: 25k+ words of feedback, self-reflections, and stories.
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Video Journalling: dozens of hours of footage wherever and whenever.
- It was pretty much emotion processing and self-therapy.
- I learnt that writing takes more effort and practice than simply speaking.
- It’s the medium that civilisation developed to share knowledge – but it’s not natural to us.
- I loved my high school English classes in Australia. Not initially, but after a while - you realise they teach you how to think. And just as importantly, or even more so, how to convey.
- However, when you simply want some self-therapy or to voice yourself – the practice of writing led me to spend a lot of time refining and tweaking, when journalling and reflections are more an expression of the moment.
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Written Journalling: to a smaller degree, but sometimes you need structure and to see multiple thoughts on a page to refine properly.
I’ve achieved some things and learnt some others.
For example, I’ve won over 20 hackathons, got academic awards, done multiple internships and hit work milestones – yet never posted more than once on LinkedIn.
Why?
A few factors – one simpler one was that it was never a priority.
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Why bother? When there’s things to do and people to meet?
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A deeper reason could be because I received feedback growing up that I could come of as arrogant sometimes. So I made deliberate efforts to manage how I communicate and frame my thinking into a more healthy confidence when deserved, while staying humble.
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Perhaps that in combination with the “tall poppy syndrome” and culture of Australia to lean towards humility – discouraged me because I feared reprisal.
What's scary are the mental prisons a person can make for themselves.
I made some for myself for sure. When intrinsically, I know that few would care about stuff I post – so what’s the fear? You’ll always find disagreement on the internet anyway.
More importantly, I believe that mistakes earlier are worth more than mistakes later.
- I also built the effort wall higher and higher – telling myself it’ll take hours to draft and perfect my writing to a standard I’m happy to share.
When it really doesn’t have to be.
Perfect inaction is much costlier than imperfect action.
Friends and some people I met have expressed interest to read my learnings from hackathons and random adventures over the past few years.
So, finally after demolishing some mental prisons and seeing the potential to grow – let’s just start.
I’ll be sharing thoughts and learnings – some from my personal vault of the past and some from the present.
I hope some people find it useful, and I’d love to hear your thoughts that spark from it.