#400 3 lessons from 400 consecutive days of writing (and a request)

ByLukas

Today marks day 400 of the Daily Insight newsletter – which calls for a longer post and a question for you.

Let’s start with three lessons I learned from publishing daily.

Lesson 1: Writing when not you’re not inspired IS the point

I wasn’t inspired every day in the past 400 days – but many days I was.

And I wouldn’t have had the inspiring days without the uninspired days.

Maybe writing when you’re not inspired is the whole point.

Because showing up for the bad moments makes it possible to be there for the good moments, too.

Lesson 2: You don’t have to be ready to get started – you get started to become ready

In the past, I just couldn’t get myself to write, not even if I really wanted to.

Now, I just write.

Doing something new always goes against your current beliefs and always comes with resistance – otherwise, you would already be doing it.

But seeing how tiny daily actions can normalize a behavior that in the past seemed unattainable was incredibly empowering.

You don’t have to be ready to get started. You get started to become ready.

Lesson 3: It doesn’t matter what you do as long as it’s meaningful to you

For the longest time, I felt like I always gave up on things that were important to me. I just couldn’t persevere.

So, I chose to start writing daily. But I could’ve also decided to run every day. Or knit.

In the end, the activity itself doesn’t matter. You can choose any desire you feel resistance towards…

And start using it as a symbol of your defiance against your limiting beliefs.

In its essence, such “Tiny Trust Builder” actions, as I came to call them, are symbolic.

Pick one. Attach meaning to it. Use it to prove to yourself that your aspirations are not just pipe dreams. And see how your life changes.

What’s next?

Maybe it didn’t have to take 400 days to prove to myself that I could write every day – or maybe it did.

Either way, I did it. And now the question arises: what’s next?

To answer that question, I need your help.

Why are you subscribed to this newsletter? What do you get out of it?

Could I do anything to make the newsletter more interesting to you?

Let me know by replying to this email so we can shape the next 400 newsletters together.

Thanks for being along for the journey!

  • Lukas

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    #106 Pick your freedom battles

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    Most people don’t really want the freedom to do anything they want, in other words, a life without constraints.

    They want the freedom to set their own constraints.

    To decide, “I want to spend my time writing,” instead of saying, “I am supposed to become a lawyer because that’s what we do in this family.”

    To decide, “I don’t drink alcohol,” instead of saying, “My social circle forces me to have a glass when I’m out.”

    To decide, “I want to live in that house, drive that car, and go on that exotic holiday, and I’m going to make it happen,” instead of saying, “I’m constrained by my talent, potential, current job, or where I grew up.”

    To decide, “I have time to learn a new language because it’s important to me,” instead of saying, “I’m too busy, I can’t (or don’t deserve to) do anything nice for myself.”

    Good or bad, beneficial or misguided, constraints are always there.

    Because life constantly forces you to make decisions, and every decision leads to a new constraint.

    Since it’s challenging to be aware of your decisions and their long-term constraining effects, which constraints do you consider important enough to set consciously (and spend considerable time and effort doing so)?

    Where do you allow others to dictate the constraints you live within?

    Who do you allow to dictate the constraints you live within?

    Pick your freedom battles.

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    #187 Causality on its head

    ByLukas

    You don’t have to feel certain to start taking action.

    You take action to start feeling certain.

    You don’t need to be calm to do yoga.

    You do yoga to become calm.

    You don’t need to have a quiet mind to meditate.

    You meditate to cultivate a quiet mind.

    You don’t have to speak Spanish fluently to have a conversation in Spanish.

    You have a conversation in Spanish to learn to speak Spanish fluently.

    You don’t need to know how to love to start loving someone.

    You start loving someone to learn how to love.

    And while this chain of causality sounds logical, sometimes the logical things are the hardest to remember.

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    #81 Am I willing?

    ByLukas

    I can say I want to publish a new book.

    Double my income.

    Get in shape.

    Learn another language.

    But hidden beneath the surface of lofty goals are daily actions.

    Publishing a book… What does that really mean?

    Who is that person who has published the book? (Not just written… actually published?)

    What do they say to themselves?

    What do they think?

    What do they feel?

    What do they do every day? And what can I start doing every day to become more of that person who has written that book?

    Most importantly, am I willing to take those actions every day to reach whatever goal I’m after?

    Am I willing to change?

    If not, is that goal even important to me?

    Who do I choose to be?

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    #242 The accomplishments that slipped away

    ByLukas

    Over the years, I’ve become quite skilled at letting present worries overshadow past triumphs.

    But what would it be like to let past triumphs overshadow present worries?

    And what would it be like to have present triumphs overshadow past worries?

    Maybe you know better than me, my friend. Or maybe it’s something you’d like to practice too.

    Here’s a journal prompt to get us started:

    What’s a forgotten accomplishment from your past that once filled you with pride but has since slipped away from your thoughts?

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