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Fifty days of daily writing

June 12th, 2026 | 3 min read

Person biking past EVGR C corridor May 20, 2026.

If you think without writing down your thoughts, you only think you’re thinking.

— Leslie Lamport, programmer

I tried writing something every day for 50 days. I was not successful, only writing an entry for 21 of the 52 days1. But in the process of this self-experiment, I learned a lot anyway2.

Below is a list of each entry’s title alongside its word count, what medium I wrote it on (paper/phone/Obsidian), and what topics it covers. When I started this experiment, I knew I would end up sharing their titles, but not necessarily their content.3 Knowing that I would end up sharing the results of this experiment had the effect of pressuring me to write more than usual, even when I felt ideas weren’t ripe.4 Before then, I typically wrote on a weekly basis.

If any of these titles seem interesting to you, the slightest nudge in the form of a friendly message will be enough for me to share it via a blog post.

  1. 20260417: Reflections on Quals feedback
    (470 words, paper, #reflections #work)
  2. (20260418)
  3. (20260419)
  4. 20260420: Control of your time & experimentation
    (240 words, paper, #reflections #work #pkm5)
  5. (20260421)
  6. (20260422)
  7. (20260423)
  8. (20260424)
  9. (20260425)
  10. (20260426)
  11. 20260427: Some of the most beautiful things in life don’t grab your attention
    (0 words, phone, #reflections)6
  12. (20260428)
  13. (20260429)
  14. (20260430)
  15. 20260501: Engineering collective behavior
    (416 words, phone, #work, #project)
    1. 20260501: We contemplate the origin of life in the same way that machines will contemplate their human origin
      (89 words, phone, #reflections)
    2. 20260501: An idea for on-campus printing press
      (568 words, Obsidian, #project)
  16. 20260502 XX and XX wedding
    (116 words, phone, #reflections)
  17. 20260503 Behavior swimmers in flow
    (354 words, phone, #work #project)
  18. 20260504 Maintaining a slide deck is as important as maintaining a lab notebook
    (418 words, phone, #work #pkm)
  19. (20260505)
  20. 20260506: Passing Quals
    (831 words, Obsidian, #reflections #work)
  21. (20260507)
  22. 20260508: Shifting sands and amnesia of relying on AI
    (437 words, Obsidian, #reflections #pkm)
  23. 20260509: Tension between wanting to slow down versus doing everything
    (416 words, Obsidian, #reflections #work)
  24. 20260510: Uncertainty as a reason to act or to wait?
    (426 words, phone, #reflections)
    1. 20260510: Importance of feeling seen - a reason I photograph
      (378 words, Obsidian, #reflections)
  25. (20260511)
  26. (20260512)
  27. 20260513: Why are things arranged the way they are - a case for morphogenesis
    (397 words, Obsidian, #work #project)
  28. 20260514: My weakness as a scientist is I get caught up in the technical details
    (370 words, Obsidian, #work #reflections)
  29. (20260515)
  30. (20260516)
  31. (20260517)
  32. 20260518: If the hungry crave food, do the unseen crave attention?
    (140 words, Obsidian, #reflections)
  33. 20260519: Insight on being an agile worker by balancing short and long term
    (433 words, Obsidian, #pkm)
  34. (20260520)
  35. (20260521)
  36. (20260522)
  37. 20260523: Does it matter whether you’re fueled by jealousy or passion
    (376 words, Obsidian, #reflections)
  38. (20260524)
  39. 20260525: Reflections on work
    (130 words, paper, #reflections #work)7
  40. (20260526)
  41. (20260527)
  42. (20260528)
  43. (20260529)
  44. (20260530)
  45. 20260531: XX Visit, XX Visit, and XX Wedding
    (240 words, paper, #reflections)
  46. (20260601)
  47. 20260602: confidential
    (412 words, Obsidian, #project)
  48. (20260603)
  49. (20260604)
  50. 20260605: You and your playful side
    (132 words, Obsidian, #reflections)
  51. (20260606)
  52. 20260607: On grief, jealousy, and the celebration of life
    (327 words, Obsidian, #reflections)

Statistics

  • Total days written: 21/52
  • Total entries: 24
  • Total number of words written: 8,116
  • Counts by topic:
    • #reflections: 17/24
    • #work: 12/24
    • #pkm: 4/24
  • Counts by medium:
    • paper: 4/24
    • phone: 7/24
    • Obsidian: 13/24
  • Longest writing streak: 4 days
  • Most words in a day: 831 words (20260506: Passing Quals)

I’m glad I challenged myself to write every day. It got me to write down thoughts/ideas, no matter how premature, so that I can further develop them in the future. After all, do not refrain from sowing seeds simply because they’re not ready to bear fruit.

  1. I ended up writing from April 17 to June 7, which covers 52 days. ↩

  2. See Ed Boyden’s post on treating your life as an experiment: https://engineeringx.substack.com/p/anti-advice-the-opposite-of-what. ↩

  3. Just acknowledging the introduction of any possible experimental biases. ↩

  4. The mere act of measurement can perturb the very system you’re measuring (aka Observer Effect in physics or Hawthorne effect in social science). ↩

  5. “pkm” stands for Personal Knowledge Management. As you may recall, my use of Obsidian is rooted in my interest in the Zettelkasten method and PARA method. ↩

  6. I thought I would write words for this the following morning, but I didn’t end up doing that. In fact, many days I missed, I would tell myself the night before that I’d do it in the morning. Perhaps there are many more entries I’ve forgotten about. ↩

  7. This entry has doodles though. ↩