Hello Reader,
On this wonderful last September Sunday we are going to be going over something I alluded to in a previous post about Self-Motivation (Read it here: 5 Tips for Improving Self Motivation (For Artists)). If you have not read it yet, please do! Please remember that everything I write is based on my experiences and what worked for me, translated to how I think it could work for you.
The first thing we need to understand is “What is a habit?” A habit is “an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary” (Dictionary.com definition. Link at end of post). Basically, it is anything you do enough times (and long enough) that you start to do it without thinking about it, and even feel a bit weird when you do not do it.
I know what you are thinking, “Wowzah, I sure do wish my writing, or other creative venture, was a habit. That way I could just do it without thinking.” Well, dear reader, it is a happy Sunday indeed, because that is what we will be going over today. How I, and how you can, establish your creative practice into a habit that you go back to.
So here are my five tips for getting yourself into a habit, which I use regularly.
- Set a Schedule
I find that my biggest aide, and the stone on which I built the tower of my writing habits, is a schedule. Monday through Friday I write from 10:30-1:30 with a break for lunch. I do this every day during the week. If for some reason my day job gets in the way of that, I do my writing immediately after. If for any reason the writing has to shift, I make sure to get it done. That is my writing time. It is the time I work. It cannot be canceled.
I would love to have more time than that to dedicate to my craft, if I am being honest. I wish I could carve out more than two and a half to three hours, but with my job and life responsibilities (like that pesky one, eating) that is all I can do. However, I make sure that is the most productive time I can make it.
By holding yourself to a schedule you are helping to build your habit faster. It is harder for things to get in your way. I would recommend scheduling your time as early as possible. Take it from me, when you schedule your writing time in the evenings, something gets in the way, or you are too tired.
A regular time when you are productive toward your goal. That is step one. It can be thirty minutes, it can be five hours, no matter how much it is, just make sure it is the best time you can make it. It is also important to note that I do also write on weekends. The time I write is just a little more flexible. But still, always done.
Now how much are you doing during that scheduled time? Well, that depends on your goals now doesn’t it?
2. Choose Your Endpoint
We have our schedule. Time put aside just for our craft. Now, we need to decide how we are going to spend that time. The first part of that is deciding where you want to end up.
For me, that is usually around 2000 words a day. That number, if you write, you know can be a bit daunting. That is a lot of words. To put it in perspective, we are only up to about 600 words so far here. The important thing about your endpoint is that it is doable. It cannot be something outlandish. If you only have thirty minutes a day to get things done, you probably do not want your goal to be 2000 words. Something you can reach with the maximum optimization of your time. That being said, you also do not want it to be too low. You have to be getting things done, especially once you have reached the end of your habit building journey. If I only wrote 150 words a day after “maximizing” my efficiency I would not get much done. I write fantasy after all.
So pick that big, scary, goal. You will not be doing it for a while anyway, and it can always be adjusted if you found that you picked something too high. Now, let us break it down.
3. Smallest Achievable Goal
The big goal is established. Do not fret Reader, you have a long time before you are expected to hit it. For now, we break it down. After all, you do not eat a steak in one bite do you? You cut it into manageable bites (For those who do not eat meat I offer this: “After all, you do not eat a Watermelon in one sitting do you? I hope not. You cut it, then snack on the pieces as you go. (My dog really enjoys Watermelon. I recommend giving some to your dogs. They just might like it. (If you do not like dogs, this might not be the place for you))).
For the sake of consistency I will operate with examples as I did building my habits. 2000 words a day being my maximum. That is still a big scary number. It should also be said that I do not write 2000 words during every part of my writing process. This is when you are in the drafting, the big sections of writing, part. When I am editing I break it down in a different way. I rebuild my habit again with new numbers and goals depending on what step of the process I am on. When I start a new project, I also tend to switch back to the smaller word counts.
So, I am looking at 2000 words a day being where I end up. Where do I start? You want to start with something very small and very reachable to build momentum. Something super easy to hit. That way every day for the first section of your habit building experience you are hitting your goal and feeling good. My first goal when trying to get up to 2000 is usually around 500 words a day.
To put 500 words into perspective, this post just hit 1000 last paragraph. 500 words is a very easy mark to hit. If I were working on a blog post I could easily ramble for 500 words. Were I working on a draft I could only get through a small section of story in that amount of time. The most important part of these limits is to hold yourself to them, especially at the beginning. When I start a project and finish 500 words I am usually clamoring to keep going. The ideas are bubbling and I want to get them down.
But I do not. I hold to my early word counts. I take a break and do something else. The whole time I am doing that other thing I can feel my brain sprucing up that next section of story I was so excited to write. Improving it as it sits in the slow cooker of my head. Then the next day I tear through the words even faster.
After 500 words I up it to 1000. From there I go to 1500. Then all the way up to 2000. How long does that take?
4. 21 Days
That is how long it takes, roughly, for a habit to be formed. It seems like a long time, but when you are holding yourself by the reigns to those lower numbers it just flies by. I spend twenty one days writing the same amount before I up my count.
At the end of that time period I look back and really examine how I did. If things went well, I go up to my next step. If things went okay, I might go somewhere in between. The pace of your building is up to you. You are the one with the bricks. Tower is not getting built without them. If you need twenty one days in between 500 and 1000 words where you write 750, do it. The pace is up to you. Whatever will not defeat you. Eat that steak (or watermelon) one bite at a time. Do not swallow the whole thing.
5. Keep Track of Your Progress
I would think this one goes without saying, but I have been surprised before. When trying to build your goals up from nothing it is important to keep track of your progress. I have an app for it. Every day I record what I accomplished as far as my goals were concerned (I have a daily goal for writing, but also one for reading). My calendar keeps track of how many consecutive days I achieve my goals.
That part is important. Consecutive. Doing your job every day is important. If you do something twenty one days in a row, that establishes a habit. If you falter, so does the building of that habit. During the “building” stage of your habit I cannot stress enough how important it is to do it every day.
Keeping track of exactly what you do every day is an important part of building up to that success.
- Bonus! When you Fail
I will touch on failure more in a later post, but for now I will slap on a bit to the end of this one to give you an idea of what to do when you mess up.
When you fail at completing your work for a day it can set you back. Breaking the chain of days your goal of completed can honestly feel worse than not doing it. The idea of losing that streak is frustrating. I will just say this: it is worth it to keep going.
You are not a failure for having a bad day, or even quite a few bad days. What puts you above the rest is your ability to recognize you have made a mistake and do better the next time. To dust off and keep trying. Notice, I did not say “If you Fail” I said “When”. It will happen. It happens to everyone. It is really about what you do next that defines your work.
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Thanks for reading.
Source:
Habit Definition: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/habit
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