#390 Make the daily practice easy

ByLukas

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.

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    #32 Before I learned not to listen

    ByLukas

    Before I learned not to listen
    I would stand
    seemingly still
    but secretly swaying
    swallowed up by a willow tree
    and its play with the wind

    Before I learned not to listen
    I would hold my head against the rind
    reach
    reconnect with an old friend
    the way it has always felt best
    cheek pressed to chest

    Before I learned not to listen
    a breeze in the leaves
    rustling ruminating
    would sound like raindrops in my ears
    making my eyes answer
    with a torrent of tears

    Before I learned not to listen
    a rolling thunder
    thumping like a beating heart
    would rumble from my cheek to my ear
    replacing my fear
    with a memory I used to held dear
    we were never really apart

    Before I learned not to listen
    before the lust for language
    reduced what I could see
    and sense within
    I would allow the whispers of the wordless world
    speak to me like kin

    Before I learned not to listen
    I would accept
    that once upon a time
    I remembered your name
    and once upon a time we both knew
    we were one and all the same

    Lukas Van Vyve

  • #37 The time you’re living anyway

    ByLukas

    Question: Do you know how old I’ll be by the time I learn to play the piano?

    Answer: The same age you will be if you don’t.

    Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way

    Some skills take years of practice before I’m any good at them. But I’m living those years anyway. And while society and systemic pressure might push me down a certain path, I still have a say in how I spend every day.

    Whether I publish a blog post today or not, I’ll go to bed tonight and the sun will still come up tomorrow.

    Whether I write every day in the coming 10 years or not, in 10 years I’ll still turn 40.

    The only difference: will I feel that my actions were aligned with who I want to be? Or will I feel regret instead?

    Some aspirations are worth the time you’re living anyway.

  • |

    #109 Now is the time to put my heart on the line

    ByLukas

    Now is the time to put my heart on the line.

    Because whatever I do at this very moment is a direct vote for who I want to be.

    But before I let the gravity of the moment paralyze me, I realize – this is not my first vote, and it won’t be my last.

    Another present moment will soon arrive, and with the passing of time, another opportunity to put my heart on the line.

    Too much pressure on one moment leads to perfectionism and paralysis.

    Too much focus on “this one moment doesn’t matter” leads to defeatism and lethargy.

    Be intentional about the present moment because it’s the only vote you can directly influence.

    Then be aware of the aggregate of your actions because your identity emerges from the majority of your votes.

    Who do you choose to be?

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