Today is the 122nd day in a row that I have published a blog post. That is the longest streak of blogging I have ever done and I intend to continue it for the forseeable future.
But today it almost came to an end. I finished up my work tasks, brushed my teeth, and got into bed. After laying in bed for 30 seconds, I remembered that I needed to set an alarm. I opened my phone and was struck with the realization that I had not yet written a blog post today.
Without even thinking about it, I instinctually was up out of my bed and walking to my computer to write this post.
That is the power of momentum.
5 days in, you would probably go to sleep. 30 days in, you would have to fight like hell to get out of bed to write a blog post. 120 days in you are so used to it and have so much to lose that you sprind out of bed and get to your computer without even thinking about resistance.
When you commit to doing something, and do it consistently, it reinforces itself over time. As that streak builds you have more and more motivation to continue and you have a sense of loss as a consequence for breaking it.
But you can only get to automatic on day 120, if you fight through the resistance on day 5. This goes for writing, getting up early, exercising, or anything else. When you start something new, it is easy to let yourself off the hook. It’s harder because it is new and you don’t have much momentum. But the only way to get to a place where the daily habit is easier and more automatic, is to be ruthless early on. To follow through no matter what.
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