#501 The beauty is in the routine

656 days ago, I started writing 3 pages of stream-of-consciousness journaling a day.

That’s an inner dialogue of 1968 pages poured into piles of journals now safely stuffed away.

30 days ago, some of those thoughts started making their way to my blog.

I promised myself that if I made it to 30 daily posts in a row, I would start sharing them.

Today is the day, so here goes.

I’m sharing daily observations about language, language learning, memory, creativity, habits, discipline, the art of learning, tools for thought.

Lessons I’ve learned.
Insights I’ve earned.

Words I’ve heard.
Memories spurred.

Books I’ve read.
Poems flowing out of my heart and head.

No rules, no fixed topic, no niche, no marketing strategy.
Nothing but whatever’s on my mind.

I’ve learned a lot so far, but the most important insight: there’s power in publishing imperfect work.

Because if I allow myself to create something imperfect every day, I’m certain that someday the sum of all these imperfect creations will be something I’m proud of.

It’s liberating.

Maybe there’s liberating power in reading someone else’s imperfect work too.

I can’t wait to find out together with you.

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Here’s a question Tim Ferris asks startup founders (and himself) when deciding to invest time and money into a new project:

“If, in one (or two, or three) years from now, this whole project has failed miserably… Which assumptions you hold today were proven wrong?”

Tim Ferris

Answering the question first requires defining failure and success.

For my project of publishing a daily insight on this blog success looks like this:

Write & publish.

Edit.

Write & publish.

Edit.

Then write & publish some more.

Good, bad, well-received or not, received or read by anyone at all, it doesn’t matter.

Because first of all, writing is a creative outlet for me.

Second: long as I write & publish consistently, I trust I will get better at writing and publishing.

Finally: I trust that from all that sculpting away, day by day, will come better and better insights.

A pretty low bar for success – which, counterintuitively, often leads to more progress long-term.

Now we have established that:

What are the assumptions that could be wrong if next year, it turns out I failed to write & publish every day?

Here are some I can think of:

• Writing and publishing every day is going to be a long-term fulfilling activity for me
• I am truly fine with writing and publishing without anyone ever reading it
• I am fine spending considerable time on starting a new project that I might never monetize
• Writing & publishing every day really leads to better writing skills and interesting insights (although even if this assumption is false, it wouldn’t necessarily stop me from writing.)

Will these assumptions be proven wrong?

Only time will tell.

Until then… I write & publish… then write & publish some more.

You can choose what success in your life looks like.

And if you make your daily successes achievable enough so you feel successful every day, guess what: you’re a successful person now.

There’s a reason it’s called Tiny Trust Builders, not massive out-of-reach Trust Builders.

So celebrate that one-minute workout you did.
That one sentence you wrote today.
That one new word you learned in a new language.
That one time you didn’t give in to cravings.

Because daily Tiny Trust Builders create massive momentum and massive self-trust.

And I don’t know about you, my friend, but I’d rather feel successful every day than like a failure because those good feelings will carry over in all other aspirations and relationships.