Reflecting on a failed goal in 2022

In 2022 I set myself an ambitious goal, “to write 24 blogs in 2022, two blogs per month”.

A checklist of blogs the author published in 2022

Well I kinda failed and only ended up writing 9 blogs. Those nine blogs were straight 🔥 though! If you haven’t read them yet, check them out below.

The blogs I wrote in 2022

• Save over $1,000 on your groceries with 1 line of code
• Use the newest libraries and automatically update your dependencies
• TypeScript Tip 02: Three Different Ways to Annotate Event Handlers
• Typescript Tip: Using the “in” Keyword to Deal with Multiple Types
• Learn CSS Selectors While Preparing Bento Boxes
• Practical Pair Programming
• CSS Concepts to Know: Specificity
• Using React’s Context API to Simply Components
• Polymorphic Components with React & TypeScript

What went wrong?

I quickly learned that the part I enjoyed most about blogging was the freedom to write whenever I wanted to and about whatever I wanted. I used blogging to educate others, explore a topic in further detail, or reinforce what I had recently learned about. Before setting a goal, if I didn’t want to write about anything I wouldn’t have to.

Asking myself to write a blog twice a month really took the fun away from blogging for me. I felt like I was forcing myself to come up with topics that I wasn’t necessarily interested in. Towards the end, I was just writing blogs for the sake of writing them, rather than writing about things I was extremely curious and passionate about.

What would I do differently?

✅ Frame my goal differently, forget the number, and focus on building a habit instead. Here’s how I would write my goal differently using the, “I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION]” framework

Blogging. I will blog for 30 minutes a day on weekdays before going to be bed in my bedroom on the computer. After I publish a blog, I will reward myself by trying out a new restaurant with a friend. If I don’t have any blog topics to write about I will instead spend the 30 minutes reading online articles about frontend development.

The goal is quite different, but now I have a specific plan where I will blog which would make me more likely to follow through. I’m also rewarding myself for all my hard work, which makes me more excited to establish the habit.

What does 2023 have in store for blogging?

I’m still trying to figure that out… I don’t think I’ll be writing many more Tech blogs anytime soon 🙁. I want to spend less time programming outside of my job as a Software Engineer and more time picking up other hobbies like: cooking, dancing, hiking, paddle boarding, surfing, socializing, and more…

🎉 If you’re reading this, I wish you the best in 2023! You can do anything you set your mind to! 🏆