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Do you have a writing habit?

Writing prose could be as helpful as writing code.

Bullet journaling is my daily habit. I was inspired by the simple format and the promise for reflecting over the days, weeks, and years. “The Bullet Journal Method” by Ryder Carroll is my guide.

Also, I write vue.js, cypress and/or golang code daily working on a web app passion project.

I really enjoy David Kadavy's books and podcasts:
https://kadavy.net/about/

So I am super excited to be starting his free email course, “Build a writing habit with just 100 words a day” (still available!):
https://kadavy.net/100wordwritinghabit/

So far, my 100 word habit is just for generating ideas on how to apply reading material to my life. But, I hope it can evolve into something grander.

My writing habit tech stack:
omnifocus: https://www.omnigroup.com/omnifocus/
bear: https://bear.app/
streaks: https://streaksapp.com/

This post was inspired by a tweet from @FutureFounder.

P.S. Logged 151 words. Done for today!

  1. 4

    Sticking to writing something every day is hard, but I believe it pays off in clarity of thought, whatever it is that you're writing.

    So far, my 100 word habit is just for generating ideas on how to apply reading material to my life. But, I hope it can evolve into something grander.

    It definitely can turn into something bigger. I believe that's what @jasonleow is aiming for with Lifelog

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      @ruudniew thanks for the mention! Yes to what you said - daily writing is a superpower that more people should know about.

      @bhumi yes more than two years, with 1 break when the old writing platform closed before Lifelog was up.

      @ardithann great to hear daily writing is working out for you. Small world, I also love Vue.js and it was the framework of choice for building Lifelog (https://golifelog.com). Curious to hear: when you said you wish it to evolve into something grander, what do you mean? Care to share more? ;)

      1. 1

        @jasonleow, thanks for inquiring on what I meant by, ‘evolve into something grander’. I am humbled by the responses to this post. It is so encouraging to hear how writing has helped improve and transform so many lives.

        As for me, I spend my days coding a finance tracking tool to help me analyze inputs/outputs (mostly outputs!) for our business. My goal is to become a better vue programmer and build something that could help others. Going from coding alone to helping others is an unknown path for me. So, I think today’s “evolve to something grander” would be a path to making that leap. Thank you for challenging me to think deeper!

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          My pleasure. It's great to see folks pushing themselves to be better. Or grander! ;) Looking fwd to seeing what comes out from that leap!

    2. 2

      Yes, "clarity of thought" is exactly what writing is helping me with! I have found so much value in rubber duck debugging over the years. I will now visualize my writing tools as a rubber duck. Thank you for pointing out @jasonleow and Lifelog. Lifelog looks like a really great idea!

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        Good to see @jasonleow's project mentioned. He's been writing daily more more than a year (at least!).

  2. 3

    @ardithann Writing daily is something I am also really trying to develop. Good luck, we've got your back!

    My stack for writing is a little different:
    roam: https://roamresearch.com - for writing, tracking habits, journaling, task mgmt
    most dangerous writing app: https://www.squibler.io/dangerous-writing-prompt-app - to get out of my head and do stream of consciousness writing

    I've been writing and publishing an atomic essay for 21 days now, so it must be a habit by now :)
    Here are all 21 of them: https://twitter.com/shimmmaz/status/1361305012182343681

    1. 1

      @ShimonMazor, I am grateful for the encouragement. I read every word of your 21 essays. :) I too struggle with fear and have a goal to back off of programming and try no code. I love the direction you went by creating web apps that help others during the pandemic. Thank you for all the insights and your remarkable contributions!

  3. 3

    Thx for the mention!
    I am starting to notice a payoff after about 2 months of writing daily.
    There are times where I suddenly crack out 500 - 600 words where this would take me ages beforehand.

    In addition, I think it really helps to decompress the mind before or after work heavy days.

    Keep it up!

    1. 3

      @FutureFounder yes 2months seems to be a sweet spot to get the groove going. And so true about decompressing the mind using writing - I likened it to mental hygiene...writing feels like a shower for the mind/soul.

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        @FutureFounder, @jasonleow, I can definitely tell you both have done a lot of writing! I can’t think of a more healthy habit for ‘mental hygiene’ and ‘decompressing’. Most days, I do my writing in the mornings when I am fresh, but now I want to try it out later in the day!

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          @ardithann I tried both, and pros and cons I believe. Mornings - fresh, alert, great way to anchor the day, but the rest of the day beckons. Nights - quiet, more 'material'/inspiration from the day, but might be tired/sleepy. In the end I went with middle path, writing after lunch. Guess it depends on personality, schedules, etc

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            @jasonleow, good insights! I started writing in the afternoon today, but have set up a streak to continue trying night writing for awhile. Last night was rough … too tired. Thanks again for all the thoughtful ideas.

  4. 2

    I write a lot - probably 4-10k words/week - but I don't necessarily write daily. I found that I like writing fewer, longer posts over lots of short pieces.

    I did try the short-form style a few years ago and one thing it helped me do is get used to hitting publish more often.

    1. 1

      @karlhughes, I read a few of your blog posts and can see your writing habit is definitely working for you! Someday I hope to evolve into your level of motivation and mastery. But, for now I will start with my 100 word habit. I definitely need to work on hitting the ‘publish’ button more often. lol. Also, thank you for the post, 26 Low-Cost Content Marketing Ideas | Draft.dev. What a wealth of helpful ideas!

      1. 2

        Thanks!

        Just keep doing it. Like most habits/skills, it gets easier and you'll get better the more often you do it. Even if you never make money from writing, it's a great way to learn to organize your thoughts and prove what you know.

  5. 2

    I journal every morning and evening.

    Definitely one of the things I hoped I'd started earlier with as there's nothing like sitting down with a cup of coffee and writing out what's in your head.

    Helps so much with clarity and making sense of what's going on in your head imo.

    1. 2

      Nice! Twice a day. I want to try that, too. Thanks for your thoughts!

  6. 2

    P.S. Logged 151 words. Done for today!

    Love it!

    When I was a developer, I used to write code every day, but those days are long gone.

    These days, I aim to write, or rather, produce, some form of written output every single day. It could be a tweet, LinkedIn post, Quora answer, or comment on Indie Hacker.

    And once a fortnight, I write a full article for my blog and medium.

    1. 1

      @eisabai, nice! I am finding I get energy from indie hacker stories and products. So, I think it is a great habit to use social media for some of your daily writing. Happy International Women’s Day and congratulations on your launch today!

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    Fan of habits, and fan of writing (code and words) so this caught my eye. My goal with writing currently is share what I know and learn, writing stuff that can be useful to others. I share my writing every week in The Leaf Node, as a forcing function to ship something every week.

    1. 1

      @bhumi, thank you for sharing! The Leaf Node has some great ideas. In The Most Important Decision for Founders, I resonated with, "The real appeal of doing-your-own-thing then is not that you don't have to answer to anyone, it's that you get to decide who that is." Thanks again :)

      1. 2

        @ardithann thank you! Glad to hear that you found interesting ideas that resonate in The Leaf Node. And that particular idea has been a huge mental shift for me...I spent a lot of time cool product ideas and building apps without thinking about the who it's for and if I'd like serving that group for the long run.

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      Glad to hear you're still going strong with Leaf Node! Btw, are you a Node.js engineer? ;D

      1. 1

        Hey @jasonleow, yes it's been a great way to share what I'm learning about Indiehacking in a way that's useful to others too!

        "Node.js engineer" hah, I wouldn't call myself that but yeah I use it when I need it, why do you ask?

        1. 1

          @bhumi hah no, I thought your newsletter the Leaf Node might be a veiled reference to Node.js, that's why I asked.. ;)

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            haha it is a veiled reference, though not to node, to a more general computer science concept ;)

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    I blog about what I'm building and what I accomplished at https://allisonseboldt.com/.

    Even though I usually post once a month, I've seen huge benefits. My writing skills have improved and the insights from self reflection have been top notch.

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      @allison, thank you for sharing your blog! It looks fantastic. You have had an amazing year as founder of Fantasy Congress. I look forward to following your journey. I like the idea of a deep blog post once a month. I just started my own blog on New Years Eve, my birthday, at https://ardithann.com/. Best wishes!

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        Nice! I'll have to check it out!

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          Thanks for the creation of this topic! I would like to improve my writing skills and I am trying professional support from the best writing services https://bestwritingservice.com/ website where only qualified writers help me to do this. I hope I will be enough experienced to create my own blogs.

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