For the longest time, I had struggled to keep consistent with my blog. I would upload a few articles here and there but nothing consistent. Even I after I committed to writing an article every week, the habit of writing just didn’t come naturally to me. It was always something I had to force myself to do.
If you can relate, then read on to find out how I developed the habit of writing every day.
The 7 Blog Posts In 7 Days Challenge.
Recently, I completed a 7 blog post in 7 days challenge. I set myself the challenge to practise turning my ideas into articles. I didn’t focus on quality and I didn’t worry about the aesthetic. I just focused on reps.
Focusing solely on reps allowed me to develop the meta-skills of writing every day. These are the smaller components of habit building such as:
- Carving out time to write.
- Getting the tools to write
- Overcoming perfectionism
- Using tips and tricks that work for me.
- Building consistency.
All of these things allowed me to upload a post every day and help me build the habit of writing.
But there was an interesting side effect.
The Writing Itch
The day after the challenge I was happy not to have the pressure of writing a post. It was nice to take some time off. I enjoyed time with my family and relaxed with some of my favourite Netflix shows. ( I am loving ‘The Legend Of Korra’ Right now).
But that night something didn’t feel right.
The next day I decided to focus my attention and energy on a new project. I decided to start a new challenge and try the keto diet. However, as I was planning I noticed the urge to write a blog post about it.
This would have been fine if I hadn’t decided to reduce my post frequency to every 2-weeks. The idea was to write higher quality posts, with better research and more value to the reader. So I dismissed the urge.
But again something was off.
I think you can see where this is going.
After writing a post for 7 days straight I had not only established the habit. I also now had the itch to write. Now It feels weird not to write something towards my blog every day. In fact, that is why I am writing this very post.
The Habit Loop
Readers of the power habit by Charles Duhigg will be familiar with the habit loop: Cue, Craving, Response, Reward. I am not going to explain it fully here, but here is an article on James clears blog if you are interested.
In short, habitual behaviours are triggered by a cue, which leads to a craving. Our response to this then leads to a predicted reward.
So for me, the craving was the itch to write a blog post everyday, thanks to the habit I had been building.
Conclusion
The quickest way to establish the habit of writing every day is by putting in the reps. This will lead to a craving for that habit to be repeated and make it easier to perform in the future.