Falling into the numbers game
I feel that lately I've been falling into the trap I always fall into when starting any kind of online activity: the numbers game. I do my best not to, but it still happens, like a moth flying towards an open flame I start playing it and, when I realize it, it's already too late and the magic has evaporated, my wings burned to ash.
I think with the blog it started when I upgraded my account. I did so mainly because I really liked the platform and wanted to support it. Once I upgraded I noticed the very fancy analytics tab.
I clicked on it — while aware of my peril, alas I thought I could handle it — out of curiosity to see who was linking to my posts. This then kept me coming back, exploring more of the interface, until eventually I realized I was no longer writing anything.
And here we are. I wish there was a way to maybe disable the analytics tab, or maybe add a warning saying abandon all hope ye who enter here — all hope to create things honestly that is.
On my browser I have a very nifty extension called Lor-Saba/Code-Injector: WebExtension (github.com) which allows me to execute custom Javascript or CSS on any page I visit. I can add a CSS rule for https://bearblog.dev/dashboard/ with the following CSS that will just hide the Analytics link.
a[href="/dashboard/analytics/"] {
display: none;
}
While this does work — I've already added it — it feels a bit like hiding my head in the sand, like an ostrich. Although it's probably not that bad, at least — supposing I manage to find motivation once again — it will allow me not to get side-tracked with switching goals and external pressures.
Edit. Just discovered that Bear allows you to add custom Dashboard CSS directly! So there is no real need to use an external browser plugin. This also has the added benefit that the styles work when viewing your dashboard on devices that don't have the plugin (e.g. your phone). To hide the Analytics tab with custom dashboard CSS go to Dasboard > Settings > Advanced settings and paste the snippet above in the Custom Dashboard CSS box.