Starting my blog

So here it is, my first post, the first of many. Taking action feels good.

Why should anyone care about this site?

I'll be documenting my journey to a PhD, things I learn along the way, optimisations I've made to my workflow and highlighting gadgets and tools I use that have made working a lot more enjoyable. Maybe some of this will be useful to you too.

Mindset

I find it fascinating how much of an impact mindset has on a person's actions, and by extension, their results too. I spend a lot of my time thinking, reading and learning about this, and I'll be sharing my reflections and lessons learned here.

What was keeping you stuck before?

Decisions like which tool to use to build my website, what to name my website, and whether to try and stay anonymous or not. I decided to just take action, went with Ghost.io, skipped the clever names that were all already taken anyway and stopped trying to go anonymous. Then I registered markhubee.com and here we are.

Why not use an alias?

This was a difficult decision. I have written online anonymously using an alias before, but I feel like this creates an automatic lack of connection with the reader as it means not being able to post anything that could reveal my real identity. This includes sharing photos without me in it that I have posted elsewhere online using my real name. It also includes hiding contextual information about where I live and what I do, all out of a desire to be free to write "what I really think". What actually happened is that I felt quite restricted in what I could write about.

So you're using your real name now?

Yes, it was time to try the opposite of what wasn't working before. Either way there's a need to be aware of what you are putting out into the world. When you're trying to remain anonymous, you're mainly concerned with avoiding being discovered, which feels quite negative and not really aligned with the idea behind writing things you want people to read. Now that I'm posting using my real name, I understand that anyone will easily be able to find my site if they Google me. This requires a different nuance in terms of what is appropriate to post or not, and hopefully results in more authentic writing.

When can we expect new posts to appear?

I'll be writing one post a week. Perhaps slightly more often as I get my backlog of ideas written up over the next few months. Consider subscribing if you want to receive new posts directly in your inbox :).