website/_posts/2018-08-19-self-reminder.md

---
layout: post
title:  "Self-Reminder"
date: 2018-08-19 08:46:45 +0800
author: foo-dogsquared
categories: self
tags: [self, expressive]
---

I was supposed to put this one on the end part of the upcoming Weekly Learnings entry but instead of burying this bit on a weekly post. I 
thought it is better to put this one up on a bigger sign to have more lasting impact on myself and I can write more about this stuff since 
I don't have to worry about stuffing the weekly post anymore.

I'll just write this as a self-reminder. 

I've recently read [the last post (as of August 18, 2018) on Vaidehi Joshi's website](https://vaidehijoshi.github.io/blog/2015/12/29/a-year-of-tuesdays/) 
something about writing technical articles and I suddenly felt and realized that all I'm doing just now is writing stuff for the sake of the 
potential audience (if there's any), not for myself. Even though having an audience is quite cool, I must remember what and why is this blog 
was created: for myself and myself only (at least for now especially that I'm just a beginner in a lot of skills). 

The name of this blog is *A Hack's Code* because aside that I have to replace the first name to avoid some potential conflicts, I am 
indeed a *hack*, a beginner, an aspiring learner learning to do learning stuff. About the *Code* part, well, it was initially conceived for my 
programming journey but now it expanded into more things not just for my (messy) notes that has been put online for everyone to see. From 
now on, it will be my personal hub, my personal journal (not a diary, those are different) for my adventure of learning, researching, and 
discovering.

I'll keep that in mind and truly let go of that very tight restriction I've put on for myself. When I missed a deadline for my weekly post, or
a *Simplified!* post, or a *Complexified!* post (who knows when will I write that kind of post), or any post, really, I'll just shrug off and 
think this is all because of something: I've been busy, I'm researching a lot of stuff for an entry, I've been going on a lot of places 
lately, and a lot of circumstances are just out of my control. Besides, I'm not looking for a potential audience at the first place, anyway. 

At the end of time whenever I finally finished my article, I'll look upon the journey and not much of the end product. If I've 
learned something while I'm creating the post, it is worth it, *a lot*. Else, I'll reread the whole thing and think about the parts I've had 
difficulty with and possibly rewrite the part.

I found my approach on writing these technical kind of post to be quite similar to Joshi's: a stream of consciousness approach wherein 
I'm writing this post as if I'm teaching the stuff to you, face-to-face. My approach lies on the fundamental principle on 
[Feynman technique](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141024121647-107244930-how-to-learn-anything-faster-with-the-feynman-technique/), a 
learning method wherein you explain the concept as if you're talking to a non-technical person. 

As I'm writing more of these, I began to think whether I did this successfully and instead develop my own style of writing wherein I try *not* 
to oversimplify it as much as possible while still being approachable and somewhat technical to be understood. I've did that in order to stay 
within a level of technicality, force myself to research more about that stuff, and improve my writing and communication skills along the way. 
Besides, there's a lot of articles wherein it introduces you from the ground up that I'm pretty sure have done a better job than what I could 
do.

Sounds very hard to do, and it does, to be honest. IDK how to write such a post but hey, I was able to recieve some feedback on ways how 
to improve that simplifying-while-not-oversimplifying approach. With those feedback, it'll make my process of writing easier. If you have read 
some of my recent posts, taking that approach is how my *Simplified!* series have started.

I should be able to condense the message I'm trying to get into your mind: **Don't lose sight of your goal**. 

Yes, goals can change but don't lose sight of you're supposed to do and not get swayed by a lot of things. I'm writing it as if I'm talking 
about reaching your long-term goals but I should say that it can also apply to the short-term goals. 

Usually, short-term goals are easier to accomplish since they are specific and revolve around your current situation and not so much for 
the future but that doesn't mean that you're not prone into swaying away from your goal and it does not much contribute for your future. It is 
quite the opposite, I think short-term goals are the leading contributing factor into building your future which is the reason you should 
focus and give more attention on your short-term goals — how else are you going closer to your end game if you did not go through the stepping 
stones?

How about on the subject of this stuff which is something about blogging? What if your goal is to build your audience and your personal 
brand? That's good, as long as you're not slacking from it. 😜

It can be applied to any goal, anyway. As long as you're not off-focusing from now and then. That said, I do want to say to remember to take 
some breaks. You'll need that to cool off and freshen your mind and gain a new perspective, if you're trying to solve a problem or something.

"So what is this post is about"?

I basically got consumed by blogging stuff for the sake of posting but that'll be reduced majorly with this self-reminding post.

It's a self-reminder, it's in the title but it is also a self-reflection. A self-reflection about how I've been treating this blog so far and 
now my resolve is going back to into its ashes, the original goal and vision for my blog. It's just a somewhat-technical blog from a beginner 
who's trying to write about tech-related stuff: computer science, engineering, and more things to come. That my blog is just an outlet of my 
learnings and a way for myself to learn effectively. There is a lot of ways on how you can learn, after all. I found making blog entries 
effective so far. I'm also trying to speak out my opinions on some things mentioned here not just through sharing some motivational posts. I 
think it's just more expressive if I type it out myself and I feel much better now. 

Does it affect my blog? Absolutely. 

Does it affect my thinking? For sure.

Does it affect me as a person? Definitely; probably; I guess so; IDK.

**As long as I practically apply those things that I've said, it will take effect on me.**

Now that I think it about, it is quite foolish to think about getting an audience while you're still a beginner, anyway. So a very big 
mistake on my part and I hope this will come across to someone who had faced a similar situation and tell their experiences about it.

Anyways, thank you for reading this expressive mess. 😁