The Power Of /Now: Daily Writing Challenge

The Power of /Now

Recently I listened to a podcast (probably the Tim Ferriss show) and Derek Sivers was the guest. He explained the idea of having a /Now page on a personal website. It’s basically a page that tells you what a person is focused on at this point in their life.

I thought it was a cool idea at the time, but I never took action. Then I saw my blogging friend Accidental Fire has a /Now page. So I decided to go for it and create one myself.

In general, I think writing is a great meditative practice.  It allows us to focus our attention and concentration only on the page (or screen) in front of us.

However, writing also involves a lot of thinking about the past or contemplating about the future.

But isn’t meditation all about living in the present moment?

 

Why /Now?

One way to write about the present moment is to record your daily thoughts.

But let’s face it. Nobody wants to read a “Dear diary” type of blog. If all of my blog posts were daily ramblings, that would get boring really fast. Not everybody is as good as this guy.

However, perhaps a /Now page would be perfect for a running daily entry. That way, if you really wanted to know what my day was like or what I was thinking, you can just check out my /Now page whenever you want.

I don’t care if nobody reads it. It’ll mostly be for me.

But I can see how some people might be interested in my daily habits, routines, and thoughts. After all, my wife and I live quite an unconventional lifestyle!

 

New Daily Writing Challenge

In a previous post I wrote about how I am striving to develop a good habit every month.

This month, I am challenging myself to write something on this site every day. I’m going to achieve this by updating my /Now page daily.

I’m not sure exactly what I will write. It could be about anything.

I might write about what I’m grateful for. Or I could write about something amazing that happened that day. It could even be a random thought I just wanted to get out.

Updates could be long, but mostly likely they will be short and sweet. My intention is not to spend a ton of time doing this.

I’ll probably just write about interesting things that happened throughout the day. No SEO optimization. If grammar sucks, oh well. And I’m not going to spend too much time proofreading or tailoring it to a specific audience. It’ll just be me; unfiltered, unhinged, but of course kind and respectful as usual.

 

Final Thoughts

Establishing a daily writing routine should be beneficial to me.

First of all, it will help me live in the present moment. So many wonderful things happen every single day. I’ll be more likely to appreciate and remember these moments if I write about them.

Writing every day will hopefully help me become a better writer. Being a great writer and communicator is a valuable asset. It’s something I continuously try to work on.

I am definitely committing myself to writing every day in August. Beyond that we shall see.