Today I woke up having no idea what to write about. And that’s ok.
Because my commitment to myself is…
To make time to write.
That’s all.
Not what to write.
Or how well to write.
But just 15 minutes of writing.
No pressure.
And the idea is that if I write everyday (or every weekday- that is the minimum commitment), then, I will maintain my consistency.
And well, some days will be good and some days bad. But then the pressure to write a masterpiece every single day will be off. Right?
So to be specific, the commitment that I am making to myself is:
- Write at least 5 times every week
- Write for at least 15 minutes
I will be very happy if those two conditions get fulfilled.
No more is needed…
The trick is that most times (say 90-95%) when I start to fiddle with my keyboard to try to make words that make any sense together, ideas do start to flow in some vague shape or form.
Then, some narrative does take life in front of me.
And I believe that happens because we all have thoughts and ideas in our heads all the time.
Isn’t that why meditation is so darn hard?!
But those thoughts and ideas just need a little bit of coaxing to spill out in some sensible form. And for me, there is no better coaxing than starting to scribble or type.
And so, here I am! And these words right here, well, they have some sense of a narrative, right? I think so. I am happy for you to read them. I do not expect in my wildest dream that they are publication ready for any level of real magazine or website.
But for my simple blog…they will do just fine. And all because I have made time in my day to type away for 15 minutes.
So then it follows (in my logical thinking, that is), that making the commitment, and hence the time in one’s day, is the important bit.
Once I know that I have no where to hide, but do this singular thing in my day at this time, I am priming myself to get the work done, by hook or by crook. And by work, I mean just fulfilling the two conditions I listed above. And mostly, it’s the making of time and commitment in one’s day: that is the hardest part, no?
I have meant to make this sort of regular writing a part of my days for a couple of years. I tried so hard to make it happen on a regular basis in the evenings. But getting up from being with my family to do one more thing before bed, when all my willpower and energy had already been spent during the day, it seemed like I was pushing a boulder uphill on most days!
My limbs would refuse to pick up my laptop and move to a different room. Sitting on the couch watching TV, or talking to my family- the most pleasurable thing, not to mention easiest…my brain had a hard time overcoming my instinct to stay put. And failed on most days.
So if I had to make this a regular thing…
I had to put my conditions around what counted as having the job done in any given week.
But most importantly,
give myself a space, in my time, and make it easy to show up.
Other thing that truly helped was switching from writing on my desktop (who wants to go to the basement first thing in the morning or last thing at night?!), to writing on my laptop. Now I can do it anywhere that is convenient. Not sure why it took me any time to make this switch. It really helps that Apple makes the ecosystem across so many devices work to smoothly that it doesn’t really matter where one works. Technology to rescue!
And, just like that. I have actually been typing non-stop for 20 minutes. I have actually made some sense in these words.
I will be back tomorrow, typing away, at the same time, at the same place 🙂