What is _dailies?

Open me for context!

Just a few days ago I came across a video of Nicole van der Hoeven where she briefly talked about this cool little thing she saw online. She found a GitHub repository where the owner basically has been updating things he’s learned every day, for the past few years. It’s entitled “TIL”, or Today I Learned.

Here’s a description written in the repository by the owner himself, jbranchaud:

A collection of concise write-ups on small things I learn day to day across a variety of languages and technologies. These are things that don’t really warrant a full blog post. These are things I’ve picked up by Learning In Public™ and pairing with smart people at Hashrocket.”

As of writing, the list is continually growing, with “1423 TILs and counting.”

TIL is the inspiration of this part of the public journal. I want to, as much as possible, write about the things I learn. “But why?” You may ask. Well, the reasons are a bit selfish, if you may. For one, I feel like I would gain more mastery over a topic if I write (and write extensively) about it. Second, I want this space to be my personal space, and that means I can write about whatever interests me. And third, I want to share my learnings with the people who might come across my website.

But Dailies is a bit different. I want the highlight of this part of the journal to be my daily writing, not daily learning. The only thing that I want to keep in mind as I enter this part of my public journal is writing any fucking thing that comes to mind. Literally anything. It’s just so that I could develop the habit of writing every. single. day.

I’d like to think of it as some sort of self-imposed accountability partner. Although no one probably cares that I’m writing this, that I plan on embarking on this huge-ass writing thing on a daily basis, I don’t give a shit. I’ll still write. A major part of it, I suppose, is to build character. And if you think of it, it could be partly just for fun. Either way, it does more good than harm, and I’m in it purely for the benefits that I’ll get in the long run.

Plus, I’m already an avid note-taker anyways, so I think that’s also a huge part of my initiative. It’s more so a fun little project, rather than something I take too seriously.

I do not carry the types of characteristics usually seen among button-up, uptight people who yap about things like self-improvement. It just so happened that I like consuming stuff from self-helpy-vibed people, and I enjoy writing!

Please note that I don’t write for anyone here, but myself. I write for myself, which is a huge factor in why you probably wouldn’t understand half of what I would be writing about. Nonetheless, I would like to engage in this project with a Gary Vaynerchuck sort of mindset to document, document, document.

It’s not about you, or any sort of audience. It’s about me: what I enjoy, what I’m good at, how I feel, how I see things. If you don’t resonate with this philosophy, then you probably wouldn’t enjoy reading Dailies.

To be fair, other than that — as in none of the parts of this website are built with a particular audience in mind — one of the shiniest imperatives I had in mind as I formulated this website was this:

I just… want to be genuine.
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So, if you’re not interested in that, and in however way you think dailies would end up to be, warts and all, then it’s probably best for you to check out the other parts of my website that could provide you with value.

I honestly would only recommend Dailies to people who are curious about what I’m up to, how I’m doing, and all those usual, social media-y stuff, as everything I would write there is casual, and pretty much just about anything that comes to mind — no structure, whatsoever.

You can think of it as like a daily newsletter that only goes to my website — not to your inbox. I’m specifically fond of newsletters, as they provide a channel through which noise is elminated. It’s just the reader and the author, like a 1:1 experience. It’s the closest and most intimate a person could be to an author who lives on the opposite side of the screen! Hence, it’s the most perfect medium through which you can stay updated on the things I’m up to, and stuff, especially if you don’t want to maintain an actual, in-person connection with me:

This is why I’ve always liked newsletters: I can check in and out — and this is the most important part — just when I want or need to.
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You see, I had this idea I’d implemented in one of my personal journals (yes, I have multiple journals 😂). It’s called a timeless note:

It is the result of imaginative exploration and Play, whereby the formulation of an idea, concept, or thought is the result of serendipity, rather than manual labor.
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I mention this because it is important to note that the majority, if not all, of my notes in Dailies would be filled with Timeless notes. Now, timeless notes aren’t supposed to be insightful all the time. In fact, it is realistic that, if you ever plan on reading my dailies, you must expect to read almost nonsensical thoughts. Trifle. Blabber. Because again, that’s the nature I want my public journal to exhibit. I don’t want it to be some sort of “highlight reel”, as that’s one of the key concerns I had with social media.

And that’s just the way it is: garbage thought could go through my mind and I would still write it down. Again:

Look, I’m a huge advocate of writing things down — down to the smallest of the smallest of the smallest detail you could ever think, especially when it’s regarding a niche topic. The problem with documentations that pertain to very particular topics is that they often vanish in the face of pop. Pop, in this sense, is defined as in popular culture. In the modern world, almost everyone consumes the same content.
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If I were to relate this part of the journal, however, to anything serious or intelligent, the closest, extant idea that pops in my mind is the concept of working with the garage door up. Except, it’s more casual, relaxed, conversational (as in, I type as if I talk to myself — which is how I write most of the time in this journal!), and I talk about literally anything that I want.

With all of that said, here it goes…

Behold! My attempt at writing about my own little world (and whatever else I want — or don’t want), “Dailies”.

_dailies

_dev

What's this?

A dev log, according to my limited understanding from this video, is a place where developers put context and their corresponding timestamps in one place, for them to use in the future scenarios concerning their development process. It’s much like taking notes while learning something, except, in this definition of a dev log, it’s all about providing a record — or a log — of the concerns (and their solutions) that are encountered along the way.

We can compare a dev log to a mathematician’s notebook, except the solutions of the problems stated in the book are (though it’s not necessary) clear, concise, and specific.

I think it’s even better to call my personal dev log a developer’s notebook, as anything from bugs, unique features, shortcuts, interventions, best practices, and other, unique, contextual, and experience-based lessons can be written in it. This is done so as to aid my holistic improvement as a developer.

In my case, I’m also pairing my dev log with the unique approach to track the different programming languages that I would learn, including (but not limited to): HTML and CSS, through creating a personal documentation of the contexts that I encounter along the way.

Now one might ask, what are contexts in development terms? To which I would answer, I’m not entirely sure. However, those are what I mentioned in the line above, where I talked about the developer’s notebook:

[A]nything from bugs, unique features, shortcuts, interventions, best practices, and other, unique, contextual, and experience-based lessons..."

If you’re still confused, feel feel to check out my note on contexts, so you can get a general feel for my definition for it. As a matter of fact, I highly suggest you understand and digest what it is first, before officially going over the content of my public journal.

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What is _dailies?

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