The last couple of weeks, I let the days slip by without finishing a post. Part of this was an indecision of what I wanted to write on, while another part revolved around a dwindling desire to write. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot more than doing. The last post I put out discussed my plan to shift away from the trials and experiments this blog has been built on and focus on cultivating the ideas tested over the years.
Trial Hiatus
For the time being, I‘ll be putting new trials on an indefinite hiatus. Over the coming weeks, I’ll be figuring out where I want to focus my time and energy. In the time between now and trials resuming, I’ll be writing posts on a variety of topics.
I’ve had a number of rough outlines and ideas for posts about a mishmash of topics from productivity to media analysis and philosophy. I’m not sure what I’ll end up publishing over time, but giving myself this opportunity to explore more areas is definitely exciting.
One of the biggest benefits I foresee is the ability to write publishable posts more than once a week. With the trial structure, I often had little to prepare until I began reflecting on my experience that week. Removing the time constraint, I can prepare as many posts as I have ideas for. I’ll also be able to batch write more posts during times of creative surplus and take any needed time off during creative droughts, assuming I have enough posts in the backlog of course.
In a way, this is almost a trial of different styles of writing, but perhaps that line of thought is the result of running my life in experiments for too long.
Focusing on the Next Level
Over the years, I’ve tested out a variety of practices from habits to hobbies to lifestyles. While some trials resulted in failures or disinterest, I’m more disappointed in those I was excited about or planned to follow up on, but once the trial period was over, the next thing took up that time and attention.
It didn’t take long before the previous thing that was exciting lost its allure. A new trial meant I needed to write several posts on this new thing. I recall hearing something along the lines of “if you can put focused energy into anything for a year or two, you could quickly make it into the top five or ten percent of performers.” I’d like to take the energy I’ve been spreading out from one pet project to another and put it all behind one idea for however long that takes.
I’ve been brainstorming a lot about what kinds of things I want to work on for the foreseeable future, but I am still working that out. I’ve come to some conclusions on the aspects that would make up the ideal project, though I’m sure at the end of things, I’ll still have some tough choices left.
One of the major aspects I’d like in a project to begin is something finite. I want to be able to complete something and share it. Not worrying about picking it up once again. I think that’s why I didn’t enjoy streaming that much.
In a way, this blog sits in a strange gray area in that aspect. In theory, I will keep writing posts, but the trials gave me finite points to work off of. I am interested to see if this new direction, even if temporary, makes writing more or less interesting.
Trying Out Before Buying In 