Tomorrow begins a 100 days of Blogging Challenge and I am very excited about it. First of all its something I am organizing at my company, Kinsta, and second it means I am going to need to focus each day on writing to meet the challenge. This is kinda like having a workout buddy who helps motivate you to get to the gym. Instead there are a bunch of co-workers who will be writing about their lives and interests which will push me to do the same.

Last year we did a similar challenge which you can read my posts here. It was a lot of fun and I got to know my co-workers much better. One of the motivators behind the challenges is that we are a remote company and there is a global pandemic going on. This means that we don’t get to hang out in person and learn silly non-work related things about each other.

While it is not essential that we know these things to do our jobs; it can make doing our jobs easier if we have multiple points of reference for how someone else lives their life. Rather than only looking at each other transactionally in terms of work; we will see the other person as a person with similar and different issues as are own. This may help us be more clear in communicating with each other, and possibly have more patience with each other in stressful work situations.

Here is what I learned about some of my colleagues from last years challenge:

Jon is an avid runner and thinks a lot about getting organized. I used to run and can relate to what he is going through a little bit, though I never ran more than a Marathon distance. My organization skills can use as much help as possible so reading his posts have been very helpful.

I know that Shelby loves technology and WordPress which does relate to our work and can be helpful in a practical manner. However it also expands our relationship beyond just work related discussions and again helps me to see what is important to him.

Casba has a really strong interest in music and writes really well about what he hears. I love music too so its cool to see someone else with a lot of passion and intelligence.

I learned that Grant is really into website technology and home automation. Most of what he is talking about is over my head but thats fine as it lets me know what he is passionate about.

At the end of the day the goal of the challenge is a personal one to get me to write consistently and hopefully better. The group aspect of the challenge gives me motivation to show up everyday and also try to step up my writing skills. Finally being able to connect further with my co-workers makes working with them even more of a pleasure.