Reflecting on Breaking a Personal Record
It’s always a worthwhile activity to do some self-reflection. Today I am reflecting on the last 74 days.
74 days ago I made a commitment to start on a new journey of daily blogging. This represents my third attempt at a daily blog. The first time was in 2012. I published 45 days in row. I tried again in 2013-2014 getting to 73 days in a row. During that second attempt I wrote this about getting to 73 days:
I got to 73 blog post in a row then quietly ended my streak on January 12th. It just so happens the post I wrote before I failed was titled What if a habit is not an addiction?
As I was writing it, I was privately having a “Come to Jesus” moment as I realized that after writing 73 blog post in a row that something magical didn’t happen. I didn’t form any type of spectacularly wonderful habit that would propel me to day 365 and possibly to publish my first book.
Today represents 74 days on my latest daily blogging journey. This is now my new personal record and I’m happy to report there is no “Come to Jesus” moment happening. What is happening, however, is a moment of clarity.
I have come to terms with that fact that there is nothing magical about building habits. There is no specific number of days, no secrets, no tricks. Building a habit is about winning the day. If you win every day, you win the week. If you win every week, you win the month. If you win every month, you win the year. But it all starts with focusing on winning the day.
In order to win the day, you first must write down the must do tasks that define winning. For me, the more items I have on my list, the less chance I have in winning. Right now I put 2 tasks on my win list each day. Publishing a blog post is one of them. The other task varies from time to time, but right now it’s waking up before 5 am.
I credit a big part of the discipline I used to break my personal blogging record to my win list. Using this method, I am confident that this time I can get to day 365.