I listened to a podcast today with an author interview; he was talking about his method for motivating himself to put in time every day on his writing, and he mentioned process that really struck a chord with me. He called it “Not Breaking the Chain,” which I gathered is something that Jerry Seinfeld developed during his early days.
He bought himself a big wall calendar, the kind where you can look at an entire year all at once, and he resolved that he was going to spend time writing jokes every single day, and when he did so he would mark the calendar on that day with a big red “X.” His goal with that calendar, was to never miss a day so that he would have an unbroken chain of red Xs on that calendar.
That’s exactly what this blog is for me. I’ve had an unbroken chain of sitting down and writing a daily journal now for almost 4 years. The chain can be very, very powerful.
This author talked about this app that he uses called “Goal Streaks” and so I downloaded it onto my phone and just myself some goals. I’m looking forward to seeing how long I can get a series of streaks going. There are five I’m really interested in cultivating/maintaining: 1) daily writing. Set my goal at 500 words minimum, which is about 15/20 minutes of time, 2) daily reading. Set my minimum at 30 minutes, 3) daily exercise. Set this at one set of exercises (like sit-ups, pushups, etc.) minimum, 4) daily deliberate practice for my writing. Didn’t actually set this one yet, but I will now that I think about it. Minimum perhaps at 10 minutes of an exercise?, and finally 5) keeping up this blog, of course.
That’s…a lot of goals, to be honest…but life is fucking busy and short, yo. I’ll probably have to automate one or two of those with some sort of external driver at some point…like a workout partner or a personal trainer some day, and/or some kind of writers’ group that I have to bring and show work to, or someone I have as a mentor or professor requiring exercises of me. But…it’s a start. And this app will remind me each day to do these things, if only just the bare minimum.
And here’s the thing guys: there is so much goddamn power in the “bare minimum.” Really. Finding the consistency to do the bare minimum on something day in and day out is GUARANTEED to allow you to absolutely fucking crush it on some days because your engine is already running and warm, ready to go. You’re not starting cold. This is what I’ve learned recently, especially after having not written on my novel for so long. I lost some of that thread I had when I first wrote it. I had to kind of start over. Which isn’t the end of the world…but man, I wish I’d kept writing every day in between. I bet it would have taken me a fraction of the time.
So…don’t break the chain. Believe in the power of the bare minimum. Just keep writing.
Good night. Trying for 10K tomorrow. Today was an unmitigated failure…but not tomorrow. Tomorrow, we dance. I’m going to power through this tough section of “rewriting” and make new words. Just you watch me.