One Hundred Posts

This past week, I published my 100th consecutive daily blog post.

I've wanted to write online for years, but my perfectionism stood in the way: I wasn't sure what to write about and wasn't ready to open myself up to the potential criticism that comes from creating publicly.

So I hid.

But I wanted to challenge myself — to expand my surface area with the world and attract likeminded, curious people. Writing is thinking, and I also wanted to clarify my perspective by writing every day. I figured that would force me to set aside my perfectionism and help me build the habit.

Sometimes doing something every day is easier than just doing it occasionally.

So I published my first post and scheduled an event called "reevalatue blog" on my calendar for 100 days in the future. I knew I needed to commit long enough to see if the practice was worthwhile.

But I soon discovered that I didn't need the calendar reminder. The joy of creating and not just being a passive consumer on the internet soon outweighed any lingering trepidation I had.

Over the past few months, I've started to find my voice and have found that as broad as this blog is, it all ties back to a single idea:

By focusing on creating systems, we can sustainably scale our impact on the world.

My posts on system design and systems thinking started to touch more explicitly on this, and I'd like to highlight this line from the latter, because it's the current that runs through the rest of the blog:

The world is a collection of interdependent systems. And when we think holistically about how those systems interact, we’re able to bring about more meaningful change.

Your network of relationships is a system, for example, as is your wellbeing. And when we think deeply about how these interact with our work, we expand what we're capable of.

This idea extends in many different directions, so I wrote a list of the core, underlying principles that summarize the first 100 posts, which you'll find below. Each link takes you to an individual topic page, where you can read more. And if you'd like to view the full list of topics in one place, click here.

Principles

🤝 We can change our culture by leading it in a better direction.

🔎 Our work is better when we systematically understand how the world works through both a humanities and scientific lens.

📖 Changing the stories we tell ourselves and others is a powerful way to initiate the change we seek.

📈 Social progress often occurs at the intersection of art and technology, because technology enables art, and art pushes technology forward.

⚪️ Simple is better than complex because it's more sustainable.

🧠 We are more effective when we shape our perspectives through mental models and challenge our intuition through quantitative reasoning.

🔨 When creating something, work smarter not harder to make it good enough, then iterate to make it great.

❤️ Eliminate distractions to free up space for the more meaningful things in life, like your relationships with others and yourself.

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So I'm doubling down on publishing daily for the forseeable future, and can't wait to see what the next 100 days bring.

As always, thanks for reading.

Special thanks to @EmmaGZRoberts for reviewing this list of principles for me.