@santhoshguru asked a few of us (the 200wad mafia he said! haha) these questions:

What does your future look like 5 years from now if you have developed and sustained a writing practice?

I really invite the 200WaD mafia to think and write on how does your life will be, assuming that you have a 5-year streak at 200WaD.

What does it really do to your life? How does this impact you personally and professionally?

That got me thinking. A 5 year streak?! Gosh that’s like 1,826? - that’s how it looks next to my profile name on 200wad if any of us got that far.

1.8.2.6.

Have you ever done anything intentionally for 1826 days straight without a break? Even for brainless daily habits like brushing your teeth and eating lunch, in a 5-year window there might be some days that we missed it, lest say something that requires effort, discipline and ideas like writing everyday on 200wad. But imagine that.

I think by the time I get there, I would have developed a writing voice and style that I can call my own. Even now, at 150-day streak, I’m already learning so much about what I love writing, what I’m better at, what I suck at. Imagine my current streak multiplied by 12……I think by then I would have been able to solidify my writing style and voice. 

Five years is a long time to have new ideas of what to write everyday. I believe in a 5-year streak, I would probably have experimented with enough genres - poetry, prose, fiction, non-fiction, short-form, long-form, stream of consciousness, etc etc - that nothing would be too scary to attempt. Of course, that’s just to attempt, no guarantee of writing quality. But hopefully, after 5 years, quality would be pretty good since I would have had so much practice!

But writing skill aside, I believe the greatest benefit from a 5-year streak would be self understanding. Imagine that - you have a blow-by-blow record of your states of mind, stuff you experienced over 5 years, thoughts, feelings, sensations, everything. Everything on record, available for you to review. All 1826 days of it. That’s a lot of material for self-understanding. I think that’s also a great length of time to explore certain themes in your life. Travel, career, coding, hobbies, marriage. Lessons from life, death, and everything in between. I often write to think, and writing is thinking made clear and tangible. Persistently writing over 5 years would mean lots of opportunities for exploration and clarity.

1826. Mastery. Exploration. Clarity.