Building a habit is f*ing hard

How could you achieve something consistently if every time you had to do it, you’d have to think about it, convince yourself, and go through the whole process manually? Every. Single. Time.

You can’t. And that’s where habits come in. You don’t need to find motivation, you don’t have to convince yourself or think about it. Once you’ve formed a habit, you go and do it.

I tried to form a writing habit for years. I always gave up. I felt like an imposter, and I didn’t know what to write about. So I’d skip a day, then I’d skip two. Then I’d realize I hadn’t published a single sentence in 3 months.

Getting started is easy. The hard thing is keeping up. So we must come up with a strategy to keep up and be consistent.

Do it for 3 weeks

Why 3 weeks? That’s the time it takes to build a habit. You can be as excited as you want, as motivated as you want. You might even start to see some promising results after a week. But unless you do it consistently for at least 3 weeks, that habit won’t stick.

Do it. Every single day. Without exception. Until it comes naturally to you.

Stop doubting. Stop second-guessing. Pick the habit. And don’t give up until you don’t need to think about it.

Build accountability

When there’s someone else there, skipping a day is harder. You don’t just owe it to yourself, you owe it to them. Giving up is not an option anymore.

Surround yourself with people who encourage you. Build up an accountability system. Tell a friend. Update them on your progress. Share it on Twitter. But make sure that at the end of the day, there’s no way you’ll give up.