I just hit 650 articles this morning. About one article every other day for five years*. WOW.
Here's the hard truth — there are two types of people in the world:
- One who quickly writes a blog post every day. Easily. It flows out of them like a skittles rainbow.
- One who tries to write every day. It's hard. You start to question yourself — did I write this already? Definitely not a rainbow happening here.
I'm #2. But to have a growing and robust practice, I made a commitment to myself, my clients, and my readers that I would write every other day.
I get up every morning at 4:30 AM, sit down at my laptop, and write (okay — I shower first). And I say this mantra to myself:
- Get it done.
- Don't put it off.
- Make it happen.
And at first, my 'worry' brain takes over and begins to toss out obstacles:
- You have NO ideas. You have an empty brain.
- No one is reading your stuff. Why write it and waste your time?
- You're wasting time on this. Don't you have to check email?
- You are a failure. Think of all the times you screwed up . . .
- Your old friend Procrastination stops by for a visit (the guest who would never leave). Do it later — you'll be better at it.
But then, I wipe all those BS thoughts out of my brain (because they aren't true) and TAKE ACTION. I sit down, open my laptop, and start writing. And guess what? Withing 20-30 minutes, I have a article to edit!
Yes, it's that easy.
As Eckhart Tolle calls it, The Power of Now. "Be present as the watcher of your mind -- of your thoughts and emotions as well as your reactions in various situations."
My interpretation — Don't let the 'busyness' of your worries take over, don't let fear creep in, and above all, don't procrastinate.
As Nike says, "Just Do It." So I write. And write. And write. And guess what?
It sucked at first. But after six months, it's a lot easier. So I keep at it.
Now to YOU:
What one thing are you procrastinating on right now? What are you putting off?
Take the first step and start getting it done. You'll find it's not that hard, or time consuming.
That's just your ego speaking.
*Here's my math:
- 104 Saturdays/Sundays and two weeks vacation give me an approximate balance of 250 working days each year.
- Total working days in 5 years: 1250.
- 1250 days divided by 650 articles equals 1.92 days. So rounding up we get every other day.