September 14, 2019 - 1 - "Our Daily Thread"

Willpower Doesn't Work

     I'm reading (aka listening to on Audible) "Willpower Doesn't Work" by Benjamin Hardy.  It's yet another attempt of mine to form a more perfect writing habit. I've been working on this goal for some time now; more or less since I could form letters of the alphabet.  

     The main point of Hardy's book is that accomplishing hard things in not about willpower.  It's about setting up environments that make the daily work of your goals nearly automatic.  I'm only a couple of chapters in, so clearly am no expert, but I'm sharing what I've learned so far to explain how it's helped and motivated me already.

   

---

     Hardy says you first have to have a compelling reason why you want to achieve something.  He calls it your "Big 'Why'".  

So here are my reasons for wanting to write:      


    Hardy suggests that creating the proper environment to make it easy to stick with your goals is a better approach then trying to white knuckle/willpower yourself through something.

  
  So, okay, here we go.

---

     1-My biggest reason is that I can't not write.  My reason is intrinsic to the goal itself.  I have finally accepted, and owned up to, the fact that I am, indeed, a writer.  

     I know this because I've written most days of my life.  At some point I just need to assume that I've been given this desire for a reason.  My 'big why' is that I've come to believe it's my responsibility to use the talents and tendencies I came into this world with.  

    2-My second reason is that it just makes me so damn happy.  

Creating an Environment Supportive of Sharing My Writing:    

   

   1-Cues-

          I will set up my writing area and tools every night before I go to bed.  (Since I may or may not be at home, establishing the place to write, and a visual signal to write, is kind of crucial.)

---

  Day 1 - I have written a post.  Just gotta hit 'Publish' and I'm on my way to a new world of...angst?,  joy?, frustration?, accomplishment?, failure?, satisfaction?, fun?...

    All's I know is that I like to always be in the game of trying.  So here I am:  trying.  

     I call that a win already.

---

     I love noodling over some silly, or yes even sometimes serious, subject.  I love taking disparate thoughts and ideas and coming to some new conclusion about things.  I like trying to put these ideas on paper.  

     Nothing makes me happier than feeling I've captured a thought, a fleeting moment, an emotion, or an idea in a way that allows someone else to share it with me.  

     If that entertains, amuses, or uplifts someone I am thrilled through and through.  And when people tell me they've been inspired to try something new, well, that humbles and satisfies me, and fills me with joy.

---

     Hardy says there are both internal and external environments.  (Actually...I think he has more categories than these, but these are the ones I remember, and the ones I realize I need to work on.)

     Set alarms to wake me up, even on days off.  Set up a place to write, along with my supplies, each night so that's the first thing I see in the morning.  (Super important because the place I wake up varies a lot.)  I need to remember to pick a place to write every night so that my laptop, pens, and notebooks remind me first thing to get at my work.  

     

    2- Peer Pressure-    

     Part of Physical Environment for Hardy is the people in your life.  Having support for your goals, having those individuals around you who help by inspiring you, and also providing accountability.  You need your actual group of friends, family, and cheerleaders in your life, but it can also be a virtual community.

---

     So..., here's my public declaration to establish accountability.  I've told a couple of people in my 'real world' what my plans are, and now I'm telling you, Virtual Community:

      I'm establishing today, for anyone who happens to be reading this post, that I will from today forward post something daily.  

     Whoa!  Did I just say that?  

     Yes I did.:  Daily.  

---

Some of my contradictory reactions to this plan:

     Cool / omg!  

     Yay! / Oh no! 

     I'm so brave! / What a dope!

     I can do this! / There's no way I can ever do this!

---

     The 'something' that I post can be as simple or as elaborate as I want...but something. 

     Alrighty-then.  That's 'Environmental Set-Up' for the win!  Check.

Internal Environment

This involves, in my own head, comitting to a Daily Writing and Posting Plan.

     I learned from my exercise program that daily is actually easier than occasionally for me.  My schedule is so varied, and where I am is so varied.  Setting up a plan is tough.  I could be in Texas, Mexico, or any city in the world.  I could start my day at 3 a.m. or 10 p.m.  I have to make a way to provide some sort of continuity.

So here are some ways I'm going to do that:

     My new technique is not to keep trying to tweak my writing to make it easier to share, but to instead make it harder.  This sounds counterintuitive, but I'm figuring out that momentum is vital to success.  Momentum requires consistency.  And, yeah, 'Daily' is some pretty major consistency.

     My schedule is so varied that I can't say I'm going to 'go to the gym after work on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday...or any specific time.  So, daily it. is.  

    It might just work.  Who knows?  

---

"People want me to do this.  They want me to spend a lot of time wastefully so that I can then waste their time."

-Jerry Seinfeld, on writing comedy

---