Leveling Up

This year has been a pretty big growth year for me from a health standpoint. I have lost 15 lbs since the beginning of the year, and I've given up some bad habits. But I want to keep going. I want to know that I'm in the drivers seat when it comes to the trajectory of my life. So I'm doing some soul searching and planning to get myself to the next level.

Believing In My Value

I've been a software engineer for 12 years. I've consistently delivered products, hit revenue targets, put out fires, and "saved the day" time and time again. I've shown myself, and my employers that I consistently solve problems, and that I can take any challenge. But I need to believe it. When I think about projects I want to start, and the challenges involved, I become sheepish and timid. And I believe this entirely comes down to mindset.

It Is That Simple

I keep coming back to the idea that achieving success is just solving one problem after another until you reach the finish line. And while it's that simple, I think that mindset prevents us from persisting and we end up quitting long before we have actually failed. That's what's been bothering me. I don't think I have ever really failed at anything. Most often I've just been to much of a scaredy cat to really try. Which leads me to my next point

Ship More Often

I am amazing at starting things. I am amazing at taking notes. I am amazing at jotting down ideas, plans, etc. But I'm not great at hitting publish. I'm not great at getting public opinion. I'm not great at seeking criticism. I have shipped in the past, but it's been few and far between.

So the framework I am going to work on is this:

Build -> Announce -> Ship -> Learn -> Share -> Repeat

Breakdown.

Build

When I get an idea, let it stew for a day or two, but if I like the idea enough. It's time to build and ship. Break down the idea into its smallest possible form. Build it and ship it.

Announce

This is how I build in public. I am going to write about what I am building on twitter and talk about anything interesting along the way.

Ship

When I finish a product / or idea I need to publicly announce that something has launched and receive feedback. If the product is a Saas, it gets announced on ProductHunt. If it's just written content, it gets posted on Medium (and Hacker News if there is a fit.) Everything gets announced on Twitter.

Learn

Success or failure, I take stock of the outcome and see if I can learn anything from it.

Share

Broadcast the outcome of my latest venture. Share all of my learnings from the latest build/ship/cycle

Repeat

Do something different, and go back through the cycle

Hypothesis

By doing this framework, I believe a few things:

1. I will grown my audience.
2. I will become a better problem solver.
3. I will become more resilient.
4. I will gain confidence in the control I have of my own success.