Writing TILs

I read Josh Branchaud’s blog post about writing TILs for 10 years a few days ago, and it reminded me to write more TILs.

I set up an sms reminder in Membrane that texts me after work Mon-Fri to write one. What’s held me back in the past is taking too long to research/write. I’ve often rabbit holed into an hour or more or reading after pulling the first thread, and that’s not the goal. I think 15 minutes is a realistic target for a TIL from git checkout to merge.

And I really do learn something every work day. I find it motivating to record one small thing at the end of the day. I’ve heard people refer to "stacking days" as a way of saying take a step forward each day and your progress will stack up. I’ve also heard of "no zero days". Writing a TIL reinforces that mentally for me.