My Q1 OKR

Now that my blog readership has completely dwindled to zero, I guess it's a good time to do a reset and wipe the slate clean. Sadly, I haven't been able to write much here, due to work completely leeching away any illusion of my having free time. Working with three time zones - EU, Asia, and US does wonders for your sleep schedule. I've flown 6 times within the last three weeks (Taipei, London, SF) and haven't had any jetlag at all, I guess my body has slowly realized that resistance is futile, and it has given up complaining.

To be honest, I'm not happy with this. I haven't quite figured out what to do yet, since I've never been quite so overwhelmed. Nonetheless, here is one thing I do commit to do to regain my life back. I want to start writing seriously. After reading The Woman at the Washing Zoo (Big props to Huat - one of the most well-read literati I have ever encountered), I was tremendously inspired by how much she cared to write, even when she was on her deathbed. I also enjoyed the expository essay format very much, it showed me a glimpse of what could be done with non-fiction writing. I've always struggled to find a home for my writing "voice" - I don't quite have the wit or charm to do any sort of column writing (though if you ever want a great example, check out Domi's writing), and I lack the elegance and variety to do topical writing, like travel writing, justice. But writing essays to argue something? That, I think I can do.

I'm not a fan of New Year's resolutions; their time horizon is much too long to effectively hold oneself accountable, and most inevitably end up unfulfilled. However, there's something I'd like to borrow from work. At G, we do this exercise where every quarter we set something called OKRs - Objectives and Key Results. Basically, this is the report card that we get graded against every quarter, and it is public for all to see. G gives us long guidelines on how to properly write OKRs, but one basic point is have actionable, measurable key results that justify how the said objective was achieved. So here's an experiment - to truly hold myself accountable, I will start creating personal OKRs this quarter, starting with this one.

Objective: To improve my writing in a disciplined manner, and through writing, regain some balance in my life.
Key Results:

1. Write two essays that I feel are good enough to post publicly
   
2. Dedicate at least two hours/week to improving my writing

Let's see how this goes.