#257 Not pleasant, but predictable

Writing isn’t hard. Writing every day is – until it isn’t anymore.

That’s when writing becomes hard.

Build the habit, then you get a shot at building the skill.

The trick to successful habit-building: make daily practice easy.

We often do the opposite: we make weekly practice hard.

If I tell myself I’m going to post one long blog post every week, I’ll find a million reasons not to write for the first six days until I have no choice but to write.

But if I tell myself I will post daily, the longest I can procrastinate is… 12 hours?

And after a week, I’ve practiced my publishing habit 7 times.

So it goes for meditation, yoga, running, and any skill or habit.

Make the daily practice easy.

The other day, I talked about changing your focus to change how you feel about the events in your day.

But something strange happened when I first had that realization.

It didn’t feel like a relief.

Do I even want that responsibility? To choose how events affect me?

After all, that would take away my right to complain about how poorly life treats me.
I couldn’t ascribe any successes or achievements to “sheer luck” anymore.
And wouldn’t it be silly to say I don’t deserve happiness, luck, or anything good if I knew I could change my focus and be lucky this very moment?

What a burden.

I’m still deciding if I am strong enough to carry it.

But one thing’s for sure: the days I have the presence of mind to direct my focus are the days I feel best.

I wonder if it’d be like that for you, too.

Maybe you could try it out? Even if it’s to indulge me.

See how it feels.

And let me know how it goes. I’m curious about you.