For a long time I have been lazy and easily distracted. I am the kind of person who wants to do everything and ends up doing nothing. Is it choice paralysis? Or just wishful thinking? There is a good chance that I'm chasing the feeling of having done something rather than doing it, but that's a reality I want to fight against. Get myself to experience doing, then I will know if that's worth the feeling of having done it.
But this requires a habit I do not have.
I have tried many (fair to say ‘easy’) hobbies, such as digital art, speed-running, coding, game development, music, and many smaller things. But the one I always come back to is writing.
Writing at its core is one of the most accessible hobbies in the world. All you need is yourself and a medium to contain your story. That can be a PC, a phone, pen and paper, even a typewriter. All I need now is to get out of my rut and write.
Easier said than done. Having done nothing has always been easier than doing something, so just starting is a hurdle to overcome. Though even if you get the ball rolling, if you go in without a plan you might end up burning out too fast, or otherwise get turned away from the process.
So I think back to one of the most commonly shared writing advice out there: make writing a habit.
The game plan is simple:
Identify my metric of success
Find the perfect time
Lay out balanced rules
First I had to find what I wanted out of this habit. I needed to know how to measure success. In the past I had tried to write at least X amount of words in a day or week, but there was a fatal flaw with that system. Because there are days when you maybe actually can't write or have writer’s block. And one of the greatest problems I have faced with any habit making is the broken streak. One missed day turns into two, turns into a week, turns into giving up as a whole. So my solution was not a word count goal. Instead I defined success as having taken the time out of my day just for writing. Even if I stare at a blank page for the entire time, I will have done so without distractions.
Then I needed a time goal. Do I just say 10 minutes as a minimum barrier to entry? Or possibly at least an hour? But one was not enough to take seriously for habit building, while the other would be too overwhelming. I arrived at a 30 minute block which I had to devote to writing. Not 30 minutes spread over the day, but as one continuous session.
But most importantly were the rules. I know how hard it is for me to follow strict goals like this, especially with a one day deadline every day. I also know how easy I fall for the broken streak. Therefore I needed rules that let me loosen up a bit. I started by identifying not one, but three habits I wish to build. Apart from writing, it also includes reading and exercise. Both things I usually neglect in my day to day life. Each gets a 30 minute block which I just have to dedicate to the task, no matter if I complete it or not.
Then to loosen the burden of having to do three daily tasks, I decided that success is doing at least one of the three tasks a day, two being really good. Now what about completing all three tasks in a day? I decided that this should be awarded a cheat day within the same week. Sometimes life gets in the way, sometimes it's your own feelings. But a broken streak is no longer a loss. Instead I can either do a good job earlier to save up a relaxation day for later in the week, or work harder to balance out a missed day.
Lastly I added a rule to the writing task, because I still want to be able to write a lot when I feel it, but not exhaust myself by doing too much. So I hard cap my writing slot to 30 minutes, but allow optional extensions by 30 more minutes if I manage an average writing speed of 1000 words per minute. In other words, for every 500 words written I can add another writing time block. If the words are flowing, don't close the valve, but don't fish for words that just aren't there.
Now does this habit building system work?
I don't know yet. I started this system a week ago and slowly added rules as I needed them. Over this past week I had two missed days, and one fully completed day. So today I would also need a perfect day to counter the second missed day. Of course, because I allow any of the three tasks to be a success for the day, writing might take a backseat and take longer to become a habit. But only time will tell and I have to check in maybe in a month to see how well this worked out for me.