On the power of habits and consistency, and small things leading to big things
Me with everything I need for my writing habit: The Daily Stoic, Kindle, and laptop + the “chains of habit”
I was contemplating how best to express the idea I had about habit, so I turned to google and came across the quote pictured below. I thought I could credit Warren Buffett with it, but it turns out this phrase should actually be credited to others: Samuel Johnson, Maria Edgeworth, and it has also been ascribed to Bertrand Russell...it goes on.
It also turns out that Buffett was using it to refer to bad business habits that are acquired over time and aren't realised to be problematic until it's too late.
This is not exactly the interpretation I'm using here, rather, that small good habits done consistently can lead to really big achievements. And that habits, once they become habits are generally strong and hard to break.
Turns out you shouldn't just trust the first thing Google spits out at you...
I’m going to let you in on a little secret: I’ve been working on a long-form creative piece since around August last year. Before that, although I’ve always been interested in writing (and even majored in Creative Writing and English Literature in my Bachelor of Arts), I never really wrote all that much (at least nothing non-scientific).
Why did I suddenly start writing?
Well, it's a bit complicated to explain because it has to do with the nature of the piece (a very personal story that I'm not quite sure how I will share publicly), but, let's just put it this way: something pretty major happened August last year and it prompted me to really start looking at myself and facing my "demons". The most natural way I found to do that was through writing.
I didn't want to write a journal, because, while it is just for me now, I hope that I can find some way to get it out into the world eventually (it just might require some tweaking and perhaps a little anonymity...).
The quote from Morgan Harper Nichols has really stuck with me:
“Tell the story of the mountain you climbed, your words could become a page in someone else's survival guide.”
Like on this blog, I want to use my experiences (the good, the bad, and the ugly) to help other people. Anyway, so that is how I came to the aim of writing a novel-length "creative" piece (memoir?).
How have I been doing it?
The Daily Stoic is the way I start my day, in Pjs and dressing gown!
I get up at 6am every morning.
I read a page of ‘The Daily Stoic’, which, I must say, has been a lovely way to start each day.
I then read some non-fiction (currently: ‘The 50th Law’).
Then I write.
What are my requirements for each day’s writing?
I set the bar really, really low - I tell myself I just have to write 300 words (and it could even just be notes), and it doesn’t even have to be any good, because I’m just focussing on getting the story out of me and getting the words down. Sometimes it’s only 5 minutes, but I do it everyday. That's the important part.
How is it going?
And now I have 72,000 words. There’s still a long way to go with those words and half of them will end up being cut or significantly altered but, most importantly, the act of writing has become such an ingrained habit in me that on the rare days I don’t follow this routine, I feel like a part of me is missing. I can’t imagine not doing it. This habit has also had some pretty amazing ripple effects on other aspects of my life.
What are the ripple effects?
This little writing habit that I began was really the thing that started this blog. I found that once I started this more creative work, I realised I had a bunch of other ideas that I wanted to write about that didn't really have a home in that piece.
It has provided a structure (however small) to a very unstructured time (my career limbo, maternity leave, lockdowns.
It has made it easier to implement structure in other areas of my life: it has been easier to maintain my other habits, especially after starting the day off with so much momentum..
This habit has made me realise that I can go after and accomplish the dreams that I have.
So, in summary, two things:
Small things done consistently turn into big things.
And, the power of habit is stronger than you can ever imagine.
How can you implement a new micro habit in your life - my advice
Know your "why"
I know, you've heard it all before, but just a reminder again: you have to have a reason for doing what you're doing. And it needs to be a good one. Or else your motivation will go out the window and you won't stick with it for enough time for the habit to stack up.
Have some sort of an idea of what you want the end result to look like - what are you working towards?
I know that I want these words to add up to be a novel-length story. So what did I do when I first started writing? I googled how long an average novel is. I wanted to have an end-goal in mind. This will probably change over the course of doing it, but I think it's good to have the "end in mind" as you start.
Start (and continue) small
Amy Landino (self-help guru and author) says that the best advice she's ever heard is to "start small". Really small. Don't get yourself so overrun with ideas that you end up overwhelmed and burnt-out. This is the slow and steady game; we're trying to be tortoises here, not hares (side-note: if you don't know what I'm talking about, check out the children's story I'm referring to.
But, don't just start small. I would also add to continue small, unless something drastically changes in your life that means that you suddenly have tonnes more time and energy.
Design a way to monitor your progress - what do you need to have done in order to "tick" the habit off your list for the day?
For me, it's 300 words. And they don't have to be "good" words. The way you decide to monitor your progress will be largely dependent on what you're doing, but don't skip this step! Or else you could fall prey to doing too much and burning out. You need to set limits and you need to force yourself to keep it small and achievable.
If you're miserable or feel like you're not getting anywhere then re-evaluate and change tack
If it's really not working out for you, then you need to listen to that. Maybe this means changing your approach slightly - for instance, some days I just don't have it in me to write well, so on those days I tell myself that I can just write dot points, or just focus in on one tiny little scene or description, or just do some editing. I think it is more important to maintain the habit, rather than it looking exactly the same every single day.
But, if this is a problem more times than it's not, maybe you need to completely re-evaluate what you're doing - maybe it's not the right time. In that case I would say that it's probably good to exchange the habit with another one so that you're still getting that feeling of small things leading to big things. Then it'll be much easier later on to swap out for something else or, to perhaps add on a new mini-habit.
Note: this article came from a recent Instagram post. If you want to see more little like this, then you should definitely follow me over on Instagram.
What small things have turned into big things for you? Alternatively, what’s one small thing you think you can turn into a big thing by giving it a chance consistently? Let me know in the comments below.
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