If you’re reading this, you’re probably thinking “Why do we need a Fat Dad Project? Also, what the hell is a Fat Dad Project anyway?”

Well, I have a tendency to get into a random interest, become really invested in it (both in terms of time and money) for a few months or so, and then move on to the next thing without ever attaining any real progress. In fact, I’ll actually cycle through a variety of these interests, often having to relearn the basics after each long break. There’s a word for people like me: dilettante..

dilettante – noun – a person who cultivates an area of interest, such as the arts, without real commitment or knowledge.

As a grown-ass man, I realize that this isn’t great. Yes, a lot of these interests are just silly little hobbies like skateboarding or blacksmithing. Others, however, are things that could genuinely improve my life or open new opportunities for my family and I. I have two kids, and I like to imagine that they look at me as at least some sort of example of how to be a functioning adult. I want to be a better example than I am now.

So what’s the solution?

The idea that keeps catching my eye is to start documenting my life (like this video), even if it’s a boring mess that absolutely no one cares about. Even if the content I create from it sucks, and it’s kind of embarrassing. There are a lot of reasons for this self-documentation, ranging from reflection to accountability to progress tracking, all of which look to directly address the concerns I outlined above. But the big one for me is habit building.

Now, do I need to – say – be able to do a kickflip? Nope. But what I want to do is hack my brain a bit and trick myself into using my stupid but fun hobbies as a way to shore up career skills and improve my overall health and well-being. So that’s what I’m going to attempt to do.

Habit Building with the Fat Dad Project

For this project to make any sort of meaningful impact, I need to have some rules to follow to act as guardrails. This is my accountability tool, so to speak. With that in mind, here are the rules I want to start with, although I’m sure this will grow and change as I go:

• I have to post at least once a month, for right now anyway. I know I’m setting the bar low on this, but I need to keep in mind that I have a lot going on, and I don’t want to make this project into another job that I feel like I have to work on instead of wanting to.
• I need to mix up the type of content. This can’t just blast out a bunch of blog posts. I’m pretty comfortable writing, so I have to push myself into more video, photography, interpretive dance, etc.
• Each post has to help me improve at something that will have an impact on my health or career, even if it’s just writing or photography. If I’m not learning something new or improving a skill, it doesn’t count.
• I have to be genuine. This has to look and sound like me, not a cleaned up, work-friendly version of myself. No chasing the algorithm, no hunting for viral success.

It occurs to me that, while rules are a good start, consequences would make things a lot more real (and potentially entertaining). I’m not sure how that works just yet, so I’m going to have to put some thought into it. Remember, this is a big, stupid mess that I’m figuring out as I go. Hopefully some day it will look like something more, but for now, it is what it is.

So stay tuned and see what happens next. Or don’t. I’m not your supervisor.