Meta Blog #1 via @dudonwai
Posted on June 15, 2016 at 7:00 PM
Yes, this blog is going to be about blogging. I’ve never liked the idea of meta-blogging, as it feels uncreative. But I need to do this for me. And yes, it’s #1 because there may be a #2. I promise I won’t meta-blog often, but it’s as much for me, as it is for the reader as well.
I need to do this because blogging is hard. Numerous times, I’ve written half a blog and abandoned it before editing it even once. I keep doubting myself and my ideas, and it keeps me from publishing any content. So, I’m finally determined to put my thoughts down here on Medium, and publish it shamelessly, so that I can grow a little more for the next blog, and the next.
So what ideas have I tried to blog about?
Well, I had the idea for a while to follow up my article on being a good procrastinator. Ironically, I delayed it for several months, jotting notes down on my phone but never bringing it together into an article. Arguably though, it was still good procrastination because I was focused on a full-time job, two side projects, traveling and building stronger relationships with people close to me.
But those few months of excitement led me to the idea of documenting what had happened to my life since graduation. I most definitely plan to share about those experiences, and finally this blog post will keep me accountable for sharing that with you at some point.
Thinking about my experiences after undergrad, I thought more about what life experiences I had that made me who I was. So, I had the idea to share sort of an autobiography, within the context of how an ordinary upbringing could still lead me to pursue extraordinary things. In short, to dig deep and find out why for the first 23 years of my life, I was so set on a stable 9–5 job, and within months completely turn that around and have a desire to work for myself — not really for money, but for growth and the opportunity to have positive impact on others around me.
Lastly, over the last 12 months I have been constantly learning, and I felt that I should curate the resources I’ve used and present them to people who want to join me on my journey. I will probably do it, among my many other ideas (btw, until I do write about it, feel free to message me any time and we can chat directly). And not only have I learned various skills, I’ve learned about learning, creativity and expertise. Those are all meta-learning concepts which I wish I learned earlier, because it’s more critical to learn about learning, than the specific skills you learn to achieve your goals.
Okay, maybe one more. I would also like to talk about self-awareness. Without self-awareness, you can’t discover your passions, your strengths or weaknesses. Without passion, you lack the intrinsic drive to get up in the morning and keep doing what you’re doing, even when you’re tired or going through a tough time. Knowing your strengths lets you double-down and be the best you can be, while knowing your weakness means to not lie to yourself that you need help or support from someone else.
So there, I said it
I said what I’ve wanted to say for the last four months, and now I have to do it. Making this public will help me keep myself accountable, and I hope that you can keep me accountable too. And I did say it would benefit the reader, didn’t I? Well, perhaps you’re on a similar journey, facing the same struggle I face. So my hope is for the upcoming series of posts to broaden your perspectives through my experiences, answering the questions you may have also had, or asking the questions you may not have thought of.
Anyway, thanks for reading this to the end. Somehow my unfiltered thoughts kept you engaged to this point. If anything in this post struck you, please comment/like/message me! I’d like to get a conversation going :)