This month, I'm doing the Ship 30 for 30 challenge. Here's why.

I've written daily for nearly a decade now, but I've always done so for myself for thinking. Writing for others is an entirely new beast. Publishing, in particular, can become a lengthy hurdle.

With the world gone remote, writing has become increasingly more important, and I've learned that hesitating to share is holding me back.

This course is how I will:

Engrain the habit of publishing by doing it daily.

This is the hardest part. In fact, this very essay was a struggle to publish.

To make anything a habit you need to repeat it regularly. In fact, 30 days is the amount of time it takes to learn or unlearn most habits. So publishing daily is crucial. Like any new skill, however, it is difficult.

With each rep, I will improve slightly.

Rediscover my interests

In all that's going on in the world, it's easy to lose motivation.

The best way I know of to build motivation is to actively engage it with curiosity. My hope is that b by writing and sharing things that I've been learning will reinvigorate my motivation.

Using the constraints to force my thinking

The short format is forcing me to stay concise.

350 words is not a lot. In fact, I haven't been able to reach that lower limit yet. But the fact that I am trying to stay close to it is forcing me to be brief. My hope is that I am gradually reducing the amount of noise in my writing.

Learn to communicate better

Learning to refine my message to the essentials.

When writing for yourself, you don't need to be as precise. When writing for others, they will notice duplication like this one, or be distracted by unnecessary words. So trying to avoid that will be key (in the future).

Sharing your thinking builds your confidence

I know not every essay I write will be great, but the fact that I'm doing it will reinforce the fact that I have something to say.

If you're considering writing every day, try it.

Even on your off days you'll be proud you did it.