“In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.”
― John Muir

path

So, a blog. I’m as surprised as anyone really, but the universe seems to be converging on a point when it comes to this.

Who am I to argue with the universe?

Journaling

A friend bought me a goal-tracking journal. I made sure to leave it in a drawer gathering dust for a year before it felt ready for use, but once I did start using it, I loved it! Two brief sessions morning and night, bookending my day, providing a framework for me to organise and hold myself accountable. It was therapeutic. I began to feel more in control, clearer in what I was doing. I was less prone to procrastination - I knew every morning what I wanted to get out of the day. And of course, I could make sure to eat my frogs first. Yum, frogs.

The Ubiquity of Articles

I find I am reading a lot for personal development lately, an article or two every other day to do with learning, productivity, creativity, mental health, data science, or all of the above.

(Medium has a lot to answer for.)

Writing is a topic that crops up over and over (machine learning at its finest I’m sure, but I’m not complaining) as a tool for betterment - writing to clear your mind and combat anxiety, for creativity, focus, productivity, to bolster your own learning, or to boost your profile. I can’t attest to all of these yet, but I have experienced noticeable benefits as I mentioned above. And the act of writing something out as though explaining it to a peer or a student forces my own understanding to deepen. I do believe you don’t truly understand something until you can wrap words around it and express it.

Data Science

I’ve been upskilling of late - seeking out new coding challenges, converting experience into formal learnings. It’s a solo endeavour so far, me and my lonely laptop.

But, how do you transition into a new field? How do you share the work you’ve done, and get your projects and insights out before the eyes of the world? How do you showcase that not only have you got the technical chops, but you’re a pretty legendary communicator too? The internet has a lot to say about this too, namely: “Blog”. Industry friends are in agreement: “Blog”.

So, blog it is.