Reflections on making 100 omelettes
Two and a half years ago, I saw a Sasha tweet about omelettes, and i decided it would be a fun instance of visa's Do 100 Thing.
I had no idea how long it would take to complete, but it didn't matter, because i do enjoy making and eating omelettes, and I was willing to let the journey last as long as it needed to.
A couple of weeks ago I made my 100th omelette. Technically, I've made quite a few more that I've forgotten to post for various reasons. What have I learned?
This is possibly the longest single "project" I've ever done. (Most academic projects and such like have been at most a year)
I'm generally not very consistent at returning to projects that I've started. I think this is fine in many cases, though sometimes I feel like producing some output would have made the time i spent on it more worthwhile (cf the many textbooks ive read a quarter of).
I think this one reached the end state I envisioned because a lot of factors were in place.
Most importantly, I like cooking and I need to eat and omelettes are convenient to make.
The other half was posting on twitter. Without that record and people replying excitedly to my tweets, I probably would have lost count a long time ago.
Because I had no finish date, I also never tried to make more omelettes than I actually wanted to eat. That sustainability was essential.
It seems like there are two patterns that work well for me:
1) Finish a project by a certain *because I'm very excited about the thing I'm going to use it to do on that date* (eg get fit for a frisbee tournament)
2) No finish date - but keep a record of incremental progress, as publically as possible.
What doesn't work is classic Do X by the end of the year style resolutions.
What have I learned about omelettes though? I've been surprised at the extent to which I am a prisoner to the qualities of the pan and the stove.
I haven’t actually experimented as hard as would be necessary to really improve my omelettes, because most of the time I just want something quick to eat - and choosing convenience has been the key to sustainability.
I wrote out some concrete tips 50 omelettes ago, which I mostly still agree with
https://imp-writes.blogspot.com/2021/08/reflections-on-making-50-omelettes.html
The other funny part is the variance - sometimes things come out really well, and I notice, and so my taste far exceeds my skill.
What next?
I'm going to keep making omelettes, and possibly posting them, and more foodposting in general, but I’m in the market for a new Do 100 Thing.
Visa's "talk to 100,000 people" resonates - I care a lot about avoiding selection bias and meeting awesome people
So maybe 100 Conversations?
have any suggestions?
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