Jimmy's Oasis

100th post and reflections

Jimmy Chen -

Post #100. I thought I'd feel more elated - or at least a sense of relief - but the best way to describe my emotions now is... peacefulness. I feel no different today compared to yesterday. In commemoration of this post though, I do have a few things to say about my 100-day challenge and the future of this blog.

Words

It took me over three months to write approximately 50,000 words. That's a lot of words. Just typing that many words would take me over 10 hours. At the same time, that's not a lot of words for the typical professional writer. I have renewed respect for Brandon Sanderson, who writes approximately 500,000 words of publishable manuscript every year, in between book tours and other obligations as one of the most well-known science fiction/fantasy authors. I also have more understanding of George R. R. Martin's delay in finishing The Winds of Winter, which has taken him over 10 years to write with no end in sight.

Setting aside time each day to write has been a challenge. This month, I chose to prioritize blog posts and watching The International (the most important Dota 2 tournament of the year), and fell out of the habit of running regularly. (Between October 9th and October 23rd, I went for a run zero times.)

Between the application peak season and two personal time commitments, there was just no more time left in my schedule. I’ve found that we truly can focus on just 2-3 major things each day. So choose wisely.

Enjoyment

My favourite posts to write were those longer ones (5-6 minute reads) where I discuss at length some topic that's important to me. Examples include "The increasing weight of the Marvel universe", "Happy city, happy life", and "Your lifestyle or your freedom".

I've found that I stopped writing these types of posts towards the end, as each post became a daily task - something to complete, rather than something I looked forward to doing that day.

Another reason, I think, is that we need time to think and to learn new things before we can be inspired with something worthwhile to say. I now have increased respect for those creators who produce something on a strict schedule (eg. comic strip artists and YouTubers). It’s much harder than it looks.

Future

Initially, I undertook the 100-day challenge as a self-improvement exercise, and to prove to myself that I’m capable of this level of self-discipline. Publishing daily blog posts have helped me to become healthier and more accountable for a range of other personal improvement initiatives.

That said, I’m going to stop writing a post every day, as this journey has shown that it’s not for me.

At this point, I've decided that I will continue to write - albeit more infrequently. I’m glad that this platform exists for me to share my thoughts with the world. In the future, I’ll only post when I truly have something I want to share, though I'm going to be conservative regarding this. Since my default state is one of laziness, I won’t make any promises regarding frequency of updates.

My current thought is to emulate Paul Graham, who has been consistent in maintaining his blog over the past 20 years but erratic in updating it.

Surprisingly, I never once thought of quitting the challenge. I suspect it's because I have subscribers who read most of my posts, and I didn't want to look bad. A sincere thank you to my (handful of) subscribers, for keeping me in line.

Now that I'm free of a personal commitment to writing every day, I'm not sure what I'll do next - though it's not for a lack of ideas. With my newfound time, I look forward to doing some or all of the following:

  • Watch more movies and TV shows (eg. Squid Game on Netflix!)
  • Start a new business
  • Read some books (eg. finish Dune and Rythm of War)
  • Ride my Brompton everywhere (when I finally receive it in Nov/Dec)
  • Go to the gym to add muscle after I've reached my weight loss goal (I'll probably stop at 65kg)
  • Travel when we're finally allowed to (top destinations: Vancouver and Japan)
  • Take my daughter to Disneyland or 前滩公园 regularly
  • Investigate cooking at home again
  • Start either a weekly podcast or a YouTube channel

I guess I'll stop here because I'm beginning to feel that the more things I list, the less likely I'll do them.

This is the end of a chapter, but it's not the end. I'm still commited to a lifetime of personal improvement, and I'm quite certain that I'll continue to update this blog to share stories from my new projects and explorations.

Journey before destination!