Posted by In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear talks about this idea of showing up for your habits.
He talks about doing just one pushup, reading one page, writing one sentence etc.
“A habit must be first established before it can be improved.” He says.
Lana Blakely says the same in this video at 9:23 mark
I tried this idea on reading. I started with reading 2 pages of Adversaries and Allies in mid June. And now that action of just reading 2 pages per day has firmly been established as a habit.
Just showing up and doing your thing is more than 80% work done. Even if you do it badly, even if you half-ass it, it is still going to work. Because anything that gets practiced consistently improves eventually.
I show up everyday for my reading habit. Even on days when I don’t read. I post on my WhatsApp and Facebook Stories that I read 0 pages. This helps me stay accountable to myself and others.
I think it also relates to the idea that I talked about in the post “Having an instinct to ship”
When you show up everyday and even write a mediocre article it is still an article. You are still “Practicing” your craft.
It still counts. You still get to cross the day on the calendar. The streak is still alive.
Some days you will write great articles Some days mediocre. What matters is writing.
What matters is just showing up!