Goal for This Week (Oct 7-11)
Create weekly Show & Tell blog for my Thiel Fellowship project. (accomplished)
Goal for Next Week (Oct 14-18)
Prototype “crowdfunding with baked-in accountability” website.
My roommate's dog is running in circles, chasing its own tail.
I use my canine telepathy and think, “I know how you feel, puppy.”
It's been two months since the end of my last big project, a (successful) crowdfunding campaign to release game art & music to the public domain. But what have I done in those two months? Oh, lots of things. But what have I done that matters in those two months? The net result of all my planning, pitching, and prototyping was pretty much… nothing.
I've been running in circles, chasing my own tail.
At least the puppy looks like he's having fun.
Welcome to the Show & Tell blog.
“Create weekly Show & Tell blog for my Thiel Fellowship project.”
That's this blog!
I redesigned my entire website this week, featuring the weekly update blog you're reading right now.
Imagine New Year's resolutions on a weekly scale. That's how this do. Every Saturday, I will give an honest and open reflection on how well I accomplished that week's goals, as well as set out new goals for the next week.
This blog was prompted by my friend and mentor, Elizabeth Stark. We were talking about how I felt stuck on my Fellowship project, a crowdfunding site for open-source. In response, she brought up accountability. Accountability is something that comes naturally with open-source, but is something that crowdfunding sites sorely lack. This brilliant observation of her's is the basis for my goal next week, which is to prototype "crowdfunding with accountability".
I wish I could see into Elizabeth Stark's thought process.
Alas, my telepathy only works with canines.
Accountability, she adds, can help get me un-stuck. If I publicly commit to my goals, and share my progress with the world, I'll get my drive and motivation back. Hence, this Show & Tell blog! I feel better already.
I want to make sure I'm not running in circles.
Chasing my own tail, instead of my dreams.
Because I'm committed to making everything I do open…
- This blog is self-hosted and built with the open-source Wintersmith, as opposed to a proprietary platform like Medium or Tumblr.
- This blog's contents are all dedicated to the public domain.
- This blog itself is up on Github.
My reasons for doing this are selfish && selfless. Openly committing to my goals could help me be more productive. But I also want to publish my process so that maybe, just maybe, something I say will help others like me out there.
I want to let the world read my mind.
Transparency is the closest we'll ever get to telepathy.
