2024 has been quite a year so far. Plenty of ups and downs to go around, but overall finding peace and joy in everything.

On Writing More

It’s been a while since my last update. I’d really like to start writing here more often—mainly for my own benefit, but obviously for the benefit of anyone else who might find it useful. I think the main thing that has prevented me from doing so is fear: I’m afraid of putting something out there that isn’t good. I’m afraid of writing something today and cringing at it in 6 months. I fool myself into thinking that things need to be perfect before I post them. I fool myself into thinking that I have the ability to make things perfect. But no matter how much I’ve obsessed over silly details in past blog posts, I still end up not liking many of them later on.

I think most of this boils down to the very fact that I’m not writing consistently:

• I’m out of practice when I do write something.
• I agonize over making sure what I write is “good” instead of just writing in my own voice. (And how will I even know what sounds good or is good if I’m out of practice?)

The silly thing is that I already know consistent practice at something is how you get better at it. I even wrote about it back in 2019 (see the anecdote from David Bayles’ book, Art & Fear).

On Finding Balance

I have really been throwing myself into work this year. There’s always something demanding that I could turn my attention to, and while that has been especially true in 2024, I have allowed it to consume all of my focus, energy, and mental bandwidth. I have somehow convinced myself that unless I’m pouring everything I have into work, I’m not doing enough. The obvious problem with that is that it leaves little to no energy or mental capacity left over for my wife, my kids, or my own well-being.

The first step is becoming more aware of this fact, so I suppose that’s a start.

Ultimately, my job is just a job. My family and my own well-being will continue to be important long after my job fades into memory. So, for the remainder of the year, my aim is to set good boundaries around work and how much I pour myself into it. Don’t get me wrong: I think it’s perfectly fine to give work 100% within the time and space that I am working. I love what I do, and will continue to go hard at it. But when work starts to creep out and take over everything else, that’s when it becomes a problem.

Side Projects

I’ve recently dusted off an old side project or two, and even started a couple new ones! These are small, silly, and inconsequential things, but I’ve been having a ton of fun. I’ve also been learning a lot, too. It’s a great way to explore things that lay outside of the focus of my day job. I’ve been finding that working on side projects in this stage of life has been richer and more rewarding, due to the compounding of knowledge I’ve gained over my career. I’m not roadblocked by things that would have blocked me 10 years ago. I’m comfortable with a lot of the peripheral aspects of building and delivering software—infrastructure, ops/automation, testing, etc. This means that my side projects in new territory are usually only a small area of unfamiliarity in a realm I’m otherwise familiar with.

What’s Next

I’ve been queuing up a list of cool things I am learning, and I’d like to start writing about them here. I also think that a great way to keep momentum going on my side projects is to start writing about them, too. And finally, whether it’s writing or side projects, my big takeaway is to worry less, and just focus on getting started.