Discipline Required

The intent of this blog is to a) be a place for me to post “columns” to practice my writing, and b) a place to post photographs as I work at being a better photographer. The ultimate goal for the page is to showcase for my work as I transition from having a “normal” job to being a freelance writer and photographer.

So far, I would give myself a solid C- grade on both goals. When you look at blogs espousing advice on “how to be a successful blogger,” the one theme you see throughout is consistency. Whether its writing or photography, you have to do the thing to get better. And if you want to build a following for a blog, consistent content is key. If consistency is defined as an article a month, kind of, I am killing it!

Unfortunately, that is not the definition of consistency, which is why pretty much no one sees this site. Part of this is because I have not devoted myself to full-time blogging or photography. After all, I still have a regular job. Part is because it still feels weird for me to write something thinking that other people are interested.

Confidence

I admire the good YouTube vloggers who are comfortable on camera and put themselves out there. I would be uncomfortable doing that. Not because I don’t want to be on camera, but because it would feel arrogant to think people want to hear what I have to say.

Writing is very different from being on camera, but the thought process is similar. You have to believe what you have to say, how you present an argument, or report on an event matters. That takes a level of confidence that I am still working on; it also takes work to achieve.

Challenge

That leads me to the point of this article, the discipline to consistently produce content. Writing every day is a challenge. Not merely writing, of course, I write dozens of emails every day. They are not worth publishing, they are marginally interesting even to the people to which they pertain. Saying I am going to go from posting something here every month to every day is a ridiculous statement that will only fail. Baby steps people.

In place of doing something that will not work, I will go a slightly different route. Writing and photography both require consistency. I think posting a photo every day is a better challenge for me at this point than posting an article every day. So that is the challenge I accept.

Starting today, I will post a new photo every day on my Instagram account for 30 days. I know they won’t all be great or even interesting. But they will be there because it will force me to start looking at the things I see every day in a new way. We all have interesting things, people, and events around us. We see them so often that they become background scenery and seem ordinary to us.

This challenge will force me to see the “ordinary” in a new way and instill some discipline in my creativity. I will post some updates on the challenge here. But you can see for yourself by following my Instagram account on the right side of the home page (@mydrivingpassion).