Starting new habits

Today marks the end of the first full week of my new daily (weekday) writing habit. I started in the middle of last week, so this is something like my 8th short form blog post on this personal blog. So far, I would say that the process of engraining this as a habit is going pretty smoothly. However, it wasn't as simple as just blocking out the time to write every weekday. Here's how I've gone about it and why I think it's worked so far, at least in terms of producing consistency.

About two months ago, I started adding a daily exercise habit to my schedule. This is now the way I start my day, no excuses, no negotiation. Some days it is just a short, brief walk on the treadmill if I'm short on time. While other days it is a mix of weights and cardio. During the less intense parts of the workout, I listen to podcasts that get my mind going - Cal Newport's Deep Questions being one of my current favorites. This time has become one of my favorite parts of the day because not only because is it doing something good for my body, but it is building my discipline so I can stick to other habits easier, while also getting my mind warmed up for more strenuous work later in the day.

I find that a lot of ideas come to me as I'm drifting in and out of the podcasts during my workouts. I've started to take quick notes of the ideas that come to me in the Notion app on my phone. Then when I finish my workout, the first thing I do when I sit down at my desk is I review my ideas in Notion and expand ones that I feel I should add more context to. Then finally I pick one of these ideas that speaks to me on that given day and write a few paragraphs for this personal blog.

I say all of this, because I feel like with this system I have created something that is a sustainable daily writing habit that doesn't feel like a chore, but instead it is something that I enjoy. It is an extension of the exercise time that I block out and look forward to, which initially grew out of discipline and making the process more enjoyable by listening to podcasts at the same time.

I think the point of all of this is that discipline plays a big part in starting habits, but so do systems. (like the idea capture system I've put in place in Notion) And finally you need to make things work for you in a way that you enjoy them as much as possible, otherwise all the discipline in the world will not be enough to keep you consistent.