Praxis - This is the Way

I've been going back and forth for a while now, looking for something to focus on. Farming, leatherworking, 3D printing, writing, fitness, the list goes on. Then I decided to get back into WoW when Midnight was announced last month.

After an hour of WoW this morning, and while folding some laundry, I happened to stumble on a few disparate thoughts:

• I like to build and learn new things
• Any hobby or endeavor I start is going to take time and effort to master
• I'm wasting time doing daily and weekly quests in a video game
• I have trouble sticking to something after I start - typically because I get bored or reach a point where I'm like "ok, I can do this - lets find a new challenge"
• I haven't really built any software that I would use myself, on a regular basis

Nothing special or ground breaking on their own, but when combined, I thought: Why not build a platform where I can have daily and weekly quests to build a particular skill. You start as a novice and work your way to master through every project you complete, quest you finish, and contribution you make. Gamify the process, while building a supportive community at the same time.

I'm sure there's a similar platform out there already, but this gives me a project to work on while at the same time providing something I would actually use myself.

And thus, the idea for Praxis was born.

It's all in the Name

So why "Praxis", and what's the significance?

Well, Andy Frisella has a group called Arete Syndicate, and arete is a greek word meaning excellence of any kind. I really like the sound of that, but didn't want to steal it. So I settled on Praxis, which is the process of putting a theory, lesson, or skill into practice. That process can be done repeatedly to reach arete, or excellence.

I felt that was a great fit, considering the platform will be focused on helping individuals build up a particular skill through daily practice.

Next steps

Now that I have an idea and app name - what's next? Ultimately I want to hone a new skill - in this case, the combination of leatherworking, 3D modeling, and 3D printing. While I begin to learn these with a typical "30 day challenge", I'll also start designing and building Praxis along the way.

In addition to my "challenge" posts, you can expect to find some dev logs that detail my progress, thoughts, and processes while building Praxis.

If you're interested in following along, be sure to subscribe to my "Developer Digest" newsletter, which is where I'll be publishing the updates.