Writing Our Way to New Constants in Life
I talk about 2021, a writing challenge, and a couch? I'm not sure...
Hey all,
It’s crazy to think that we’re already closing out the first month of the year. Four weeks, four newsletters. Pretty good for a guy who struggles with consistency.
2021 has not brought the peace and calm everybody seemed to think that it would. In fact it seems like 2021 is just (and is going to continue to be) 2020’s annoying little brother. But all this craziness has gotten me thinking - people are coming to the realization that the consistency in life they’ve grown accustomed to is probably not going to be returning anytime soon. This consistency could have been a go-to coffee shop they stop at on their way to work in the morning, a group of co-workers they no longer see, or a social group that would consume their evenings. Whatever it was, this consistency was externally fueled for most people and while the world is slowly crawling out from under the rock they’ve been sleeping under for the last 10 months, there are still so many unknowns out there that are making people think that they’re better off finding something new to lean on in life.
The interesting thing that I’ve noticed is that a lot of people are shifting where they seek this consistency. Straying away from an external environment (friends, social settings, places, things to do), and dipping their toes into the pool of an internally motivated environment. Exploring their own thoughts, getting to know themselves better, seeking to find what they are capable of doing and creating, etc.
Obviously this has its own downfalls and one should seek a healthy balance between internal and external, but I think it’s encouraging to see people explore new spaces and open new doors that were completely closed and dusted over this time last year.
Here’s my experience thus far exploring new spaces and trying to find that new consistency.
Find a way to get yourself off the couch… And then go do that.
About a month ago (December 23rd to be exact) I mad a commitment to myself.
I was going to write 750 words a day, everyday, and not publish a single one.
In the past, I’ve talked a little bit about my struggle to find consistency and my voice as a writer. I’ve come to the realization that I was simply just trying to write about things I didn’t know anything about…including my own thoughts.
Every time I sat down to write (or even to think really) I was trying to regurgitate some useless fact or hot take that I had read in a self help book, slap a pretty bow on it, and hit the publish button. I wasn’t progressing my thinking, I wasn’t making something that I was proud of, and I wasn’t creating anything that anybody else in the world wanted to read.
I was basically pushing myself to produce hot garbage because I was addicted to the small hit of dopamine that came when I would press the publish button.
Problem was, I started to catch onto my own shit and realize that everything I was writing was useless garbage. All of a sudden I wasn’t even publishing anymore and I was barely even considering myself a writer.
Until I saw a tweet (or a tweet of a quote or vise versa…who the heck knows anymore):
“If you want to be a writer, write everyday”
OF COURSE! It was literally that easy.
I set a goal of a minimum word count per day and got started. I didn’t really strategize about what I was doing or what I was GOING to do when the initial excitement/fulfillment wore off. I just started taking action and that alone was one one of the best initiatives I could have taken.
I found a lot of success this month in writing, understanding myself, understanding others, pursuing ambition, pursuing ideas, and breaking out of my comfort zone.
One of the most surprising successes was my production. Even though I set a goal that didn’t involve publishing AT ALL, I managed to publish more writing this month than ever before.
4 Newsletters
17 Twitter threads
1 Long-Form Essay on my blog
See, my new habit did a multitude of new things for me.
It made writing a non-negotiable part of my day.
It forced me to dive deeper into some of my fleeting thoughts.
It made me dig up fleeting thoughts that I had forgotten about through out my day because I had nothing else to write about.
It forced me to get the ball rolling creatively.
It brought a newfound feeling of consistency into my life.
But most importantly, it got me off the couch.
A month a go I was in a creative rut. I didn’t know what I wanted, I had no clue where to even start looking, and I had no expectation for what personal success or accomplishment looked like. I was stuck on the couch, thinking about how I wanted to be creative and take action but clueless as to where I should start.
How do I measure my success if I’m not writing New York times best sellers and making money immediately off my creative pursuits?
These kind of negative thoughts and doubts are what keep people on the couch. They get bogged down by the lack of a clear path to instant success (or in some cases, the lack of a path completely) and choose to never pursue their creative interests. But really, the only thing holding them back is themselves.
Fear of failure is a really broad term. I typically think of failure as telling the whole world that I’m going to do something crazy and outlandish like become an astronaut or a NFL linebacker…then realize both of those things are absurd and completely out of my realm of potential careers at this point in my life and quit (resulting in major public shame and embarrassment). But fear of failure can be a lot smaller than that too. It can be a fear of committing an hour out of your time to paint a picture of a coffee mug. Then, not only does that painting of the coffee mug never amount to anything, but you never actually become an established artist or anything close to it and that hour you spent painting was a total waste of your precious time here on earth.
Fear of failure can be anything…and it can lock you into that couch like it’s nobody’s business.
The key to getting off the couch and punching that “fear of failure” right in it’s arrogant little mouth?
Pick something you want to do. Find an achievable minimum threshold for success (750 words a day, everyday), and just do it - make it a non-negotiable.
It’s done wonders for me so far and I can’t wait to see where else it takes me.
Here’s a little gag sketch I did this week for the Twitters.
Along with the link to the thread of all the threads that I’ve written on Twitter over the past month.
I hope you all have a wonderful week. Cheers!
-Ben