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I'm totally thankful for the experiences I've had over the last 90 days in Washington D.C. as a Presidential Innovation Fellow, and even more thankful I'm able to keep doing much of the work I was doing during my fellowship. In reality, I'm actually doing more work now, than I was in DC.
While there were several challenges during my time as a PIF, the one that I regret the most, and is taking the longest to recover from, is losing my storytelling voice. This is my ability to capture everyday thoughts in real-time via my Evernote, sit down and form these thoughts into stories, and then share these stories publicly as the API Evangelist.
During my time in DC, I was steadily losing my voice. It wasn't some sort of government conspiracy. It is something that seems to happen to me in many institutional or corporate settings, amidst the busy schedule, back to back meetings and through a more hectic project schedule--eventually my voice begins to fade.
In July I wrote 61 blog posts, August 41 and September 21. A very scary trend for me. My blog is more than just just stories for my audience and page views generated. My blog(s) are about me working through ideas and preparing them for public consumption.
Without storytelling via my blog(s) I don't fully process ideas, think them through, flush them out and think about the API space with a critical eye. Without this lifecycle I don't evolve in my career, and maintain my perspective on the space.
In October I've written 28 posts and so far in November I've already written 27 posts, so I'm on the mend. In the future, I'm using my voice as a canary in the coal mine. If a project I'm working on is beginning to diminish my voice, I need to stop and take a look at things, and make sure I'm not heading in a negative direction.
