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3 Truths About Habits · The Daily Writer

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey my friend, welcome to the Daily Writer, where we help writers become authors of their own lives.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yesterday I introduced a new series on building a writing habit that lasts.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: But before we dive into the seven keys, I want to share three important truths about habits, and these will give you a solid perspective as you work on becoming a more consistent writer.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: These are very simple and quick.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, a habit helps you get the work done.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's nothing magical about a habit.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a mechanism that makes the work easier.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: But you have to commit to the habit before you see results, though.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's a lot like digging a well.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: You have to put in the work before the water starts to flow.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're waiting to feel motivated before you start writing consistently, you actually have the process backward.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: The habit creates the conditions that help you make progress.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, a habit becomes more valuable over time.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: At first, a new routine is probably gonna feel a little bit awkward, and that's totally normal.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: You'll have to remind yourself to do it, and you might wonder if it's actually helping.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Stick with it though, because it'll be more and more valuable over time the more that you practice it.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: And when you do that, something really interesting happens.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Writing is not something that you do, it actually becomes part of who you are, and your identity starts to change.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: You become not just a person who does writing, you become a writer.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, number three, a habit takes time to establish.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Over the years, I've seen various research about the number of days it takes to form a new habit.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: But I would encourage you not to worry about that too much, though.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Don't worry about the science and the research and all that stuff, because there's no universal timeline for how long it actually takes to build a new habit.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Some routines feel natural pretty quickly and others take a lot longer.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: The idea here is not to reach some magical number of days because we're all different.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Rather, the idea here is to create a routine that's going to stay with you over the long haul.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: And the key here is that if you miss a day or two, just pick it back up with zero guilt.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: No big deal.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Well, with all that said, tomorrow we'll dive into the first key, which is deciding on a specific goal for your writing.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, thanks so much for listening.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Keep writing, keep showing up, and I'll see you tomorrow.