Yesterday my day got away from me and I was unable to write and publish anything.
I don’t have any backlogged articles in the bank. I made a few miscalculations with time and the next thing I knew it was 11:00 PM and I was eating supper late. I felt pretty bad that I broke my writing streak because my heroes publish daily.
Part of the journey to success is learning to forgive your shortcomings.
The reality is if you miss a day or two in your “daily goals” it’s not a huge deal. I will say you should try not to cheat yourself by skipping days being lazy. It’s also worth recognizing when you are facing a brick wall and cannot achieve everything. Had I tried to force myself to write yesterday it would have come at the cost of something else. Sometimes life will throw you some curveballs.
It’s also a lesson to be prepared for the unexpected when you really want to be “daily” with something creative.
When the feeling is there, make as much as you can
Some days the words pour out and the entire article is written and edited in 30 minutes.
Those are wonderful moments and I hope you creative types reading this experience your own blitz moments. That feeling where all of a sudden your brain locks in and the art flows out of you. My best advice when this happens is to capitalize and get the most out of your moment.
Being creative has many days where the process is slow and clunky.
There are days where it takes 2-3 times as long to accomplish seemingly basic tasks. Maybe you are sleep deprived or your mother calls you unexpectedly. All of a sudden an hour or two disappears and you haven’t actually created anything. The partially written work taunting you. Mediocre work that lacks the heart and flair of what you normally do.
I have not taken any time to “get ahead” with content and the result is nothing got published yesterday.
Take time to prepare for creatively challenged days
For a while I had a list of blog topics I could write about.
It never got longer than 5 topics but whenever something I could write several sections on popped into my head I’d take note. A few days came where I blanked on a topic and soon that list was gone. There was a point in time I had a fully written extra article ready to publish on a day where I couldn’t write. That article saved me in the past but I never replenished the supply.
In the maelstrom of daily tasks it is easy to lose sight of planning.
When dealing with content, forgetting to plan leads to moments where you get caught slipping. Especially when you balance multiple projects. Our memories aren’t perfect and even if 99% of the time we get it right, there will come that day where you miss something. Maybe it’s not the biggest deal but it is avoidable. People who do publish every single day have figured out a system or two we can get ideas from.
In my case I know I need to focus on preparing future topics.
Daily habits require contingency plans
In a perfect world I’ll soon have a solid 150-200 potential articles to write.
While many days are strapped for time we also end up with gifted moments of unexpected nothing. As an example, tomorrow morning I’m getting my tires and oil changed. I will have a solid chunk of time with my laptop. I can either work on this brainstorming task or do something else that gives me back some time later on.
With that time I can take an hour and write something I don’t publish.
To be really daily with it there needs to be more than 1 unused article. I need to get to a point where I have at least a week or two’s worth of content ready to go. While I’d love to write on vacation and be that disciplined I also like things like psilocybin and may lose 12 hours in another locale. While a mushroom induced article sounds like quite a ride, I do think having a few articles I can just publish before the trip kicks in will save me some headaches.
Pros take into account how their habits meet reality and build contingency plans.
Be willing to forgive yourself for failure
When I was younger I would be so hard on myself I’d be Mr. Pouty Face for hours.
I’d be so pissed at something like breaking a writing streak that I’d waste like 6 hours venting at anyone who’d listen. Writing that out it’s clear how once upon a time forming relationships was complicated. No one wants to deal with people who lack perspective. Professionally I’ve learned you can be real late delivering things as long as the work gets done. While it’s cool to say I write every day, if I miss a few days this year, no one really cares.
I can always publish 2 articles tomorrow and make sure a full 366 get published this year.
While you should aim to live up to your word, people make mistakes. Those are good opportunities to learn how to be better. In my case it’s clear I can’t keep pushing off tasks like planning sessions. While I’ve been on a money chase, I can afford to take off 4 hours here and there to focus on planning my online writing.
Until I do, I will write aimlessly and never move up towards paydays.
Forgive yourself but don’t become complacent
It can become really easy to slip into ignoring your goals and forgiving yourself a little too often.
No one’s going to take the time to figure out what you are good at. People will help you get better at what you set out to do. That means if you decide to take off too many days and let your skills get rusty, you are risking being overlooked for meaningful opportunities.
It’s important to not let excuses become the norm.
I did a 5 hour interview yesterday. I wanted to get that interview done and tell my story. Normally I don’t have 5 hour blocks of time where I’m the guest on someone else's channel. Earlier that day something that should have taken 2ish hours took 4 because we dilly dallied. That was a choice to spend time with my girlfriend. I’d like the option to take time off like that in the future and you should also aim for the option to rest.
Just don’t make the mistakes I did, prepare for the moments you cannot, or choose not to, maintain your daily work.
Live Long and Prosper Everyone
P.S. - I technically did publish a little something on Quora yesterday but it doesn’t count to me.
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