A Wren Says

Coming off a successful one year streak of posting, I got curious. What exactly was it that made me successful in building this habit, whereas I fell off in other attempts? Really, first I affirmed that I am in fact not lazy and can get things done under the right conditions. And then I started to reflect on what specific conditions made this a successful undertaking.

• It was specific and yet vague enough at the same time
  • Every day, I knew that I had to put up a post. That action was clear and defined. But the content of the posts could vary. That took the pressure off of what it had to look like.
• There were built in deadlines
  • Every single day, I had until 11:59:59 PM to get my post uploaded. It was like the inner procrastinator focus was stimulated daily and eager to get to work.
• I had to take it one day at a time, literally
  • To be successful, I needed to complete the task for each day. I couldn’t get caught up in how overwhelming it might be to finish an entire year nonstop. All I had to do was post today.
• I planned ahead
  • I knew that there would be some obstacles that would get in my way of being successful. Namely, travel and long work days. Because of that, I planned ahead to write more on days where I had more time.
• I set the bar really low
  • All I had to do was post. It didn’t have to meet a word count. It didn’t even have to be good. It just had to be done. And done was so much more valuable to me than perfect.
• I made this my priority
  • Not a priority, the priority. All other things would have to be set aside if this task wasn’t finished. I was committed to getting it done and was laser focused until it was.

Looking at this list, I can see the elements that have been missing in my other attempts at building habits. I’m going to take what I’ve learned here and rethink my approach to other goals.