Daily Writing Journal - Day 2
Adam Cohen
Farmer, Trainer, Teacher. Helping farmers to build profitable (Urban) farms in today's world.
Day 2: Well, I suppose this was going to happen sooner or later… I just spent the last 20 minutes writing a post on LinkedIn, and then my fumble fingers clicked something by accident, and my entire post got lost… So, I have now made a quick adaptation to my daily writing process, and I will now be writing all of my posts in an electronic journal so I (hopefully) don’t have this same thing happen again. Now… Let me see if I can remember the things I have spent the last 20 minutes rambling about today. I think I can remember the broad strokes? Maybe I need more coffee…
So, this is Day 2. I have made the decision that I will spend the first 30 days of 2023 working to develop my skill in writing. Now I know how to write. In fact, I think that I write a lot every day — lesson plans, comments to students, emails to parents and co-workers, comments and responses on Social Media, to-do lists… Sometimes it seems like I write all day long.
But, if I am going to be honest (and the point of this IS to be honest - especially to myself), the post I wrote here yesterday was the first “original” thing I have written in probably 8+ years. I mean sure sometimes I have written a rant on Facebook, but that not the same thing. Writing is a skill that has frightened me in various ways for most of my adult life.
The reason for that is that I have spent the last 20 years looking at people around me and wishing and dreaming that I could do the amazing things that I seem them doing. Now I have spent these 20 years learning skills, devouring information on so many topics, and meeting/speaking to all the people I could. And you know where this has brought me to today?
I have a severe case of imposter syndrome.
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There, I said it. I have felt this for a long while now, and while I have whispered it to myself - I have never really said it out loud. I honestly feel that I don’t have a great deal to offer the community around me that is original and actually comes from me. Now I know a lot of things, and I am happy to help others however I can — but internally I struggle because I feel that 98% of the things I share come from a book I read, or a YouTube video that I watched, or an amazing keynote where I heard someone speak.
I constantly look at these amazing people all around me, and how they are able to create and share these amazing insights and products with the world. And then I look at the things that I have done, and I ask myself why would anyone want to listen to me? I have no platform or product or innovation or insight.
Now people have told me that I am selling myself short. That I have all of these things and more, but to be honest, this is a daily struggle for me. Part of the reason that I am making the commitment to do these writings each day is to develop my writing “muscle”, but also I need to develop my own authentic voice that I can feel comfortable using.
So, over the next 28 days, I am going to work on this process. If anyone is out there reading this, I will likely ramble about Education, Sustainability - Urban Agriculture, and Small Business, but there will probably also be bits relating to the struggle of building a tiny house, fishing, and other random hobbies. If you feel like commenting or leaving your thoughts, please do so. I welcome thoughts from outside my personal bubble. If no one is reading this, then at least I am working to develop my own skills and some new “muscles”. After all, the primary purpose of this project is actually to develop a new habit for myself. I think that I can do these 30 days, I will have to see where this goes after that. Well this is the end of Day 2 (redo). More to come tomorrow.
Urban Farmer, Health & Wellness Coach, Speaker, Cooking Show Co Host
2yAnyone making an attempt to make a difference in the world of agriculture, need not ever suffer from imposter syndrome!
Interim Co-Executive Director, National Farm to School Network
2yGood luck on your writing goals Adam Cohen. It was interesting to read your post on "imposter syndrome". Thankfully, I had not heard or know the meaning of this term when I started to forge a new path in my field over 20 years ago. I remember simply saying to our School Board and Administrators that what I would be implementing, along with my Team, was not innovative or even creative. Our goal was to actually implement programs that had already proven to be successful in other school districts. Over the years we were given "credit" for implementing many of those successful programs. If any credit was deserved, it was the fact that we were able to engage a vast community in our work. I give credit to many others for our success, including the National Farm to School Network, who connected me many other organizations around the country. In fact, NFSN to this day still serves this purpose working with collaborative partners from around the nation.