Good intentions don’t work. Mechanisms do... Jeff Bezos
I was sitting in a workshop two weeks ago where I challenged my clients to a challenge to show up on social media for 100 days. It was a Friday, the challenge was set to start Monday. Some decided to start straight away. Admirable, but foolish. Their motivation died over the weekend and they had to start at 0 by Monday.
Intentions are admirable. They'll get you started. But systems will sustain you.
I've been creating & publishing on the internet daily for over 130 days. That doesn't happen by accident. If I didn't have a robust system of rituals, routines and processes I would have stopped doing this long ago.
When the motivation dies, the systems you build will hold you up.
Here are some of the things I do to keep the momentum going day after day:
- Get up and write every morning. The first hour of my day I reserve for writing. Not editing, just writing. I always have a few ideas on the go that I can work on.
- Edit in the afternoon with a glass of wine. At the end of the day around 5pm, I grab a glass of wine, pick an essay idea and start to edit it until I've got something to publish. I've found having a gap between writing and editing has helped me publish better work.
- Stay curious. When I'm running low on ideas I turn to consuming. Even a small input from a book or podcast or even a conversation with another creator always sparks new ideas for me to create from.
Don't try to be superhuman. Create your rituals, routines and systems to sustain your daily creator habits.
