An Experiment in Habits

I recently published my first blog post - Learning To Write.

Simply put, my plan for learning how to write is to force words out onto paper and see what sticks.

Fine, in theory. But how do I put this plan into practice? How do I ensure that in 3 weeks, or 3 months, or 3 years I am still writing? This is an experiment in habit building.

James Clear's book Atomic Habits outlines the following framework on creating good habits: Make it Obvious, Make it Attractive, Make it Easy, Make it Satisfying. Why not - let's try.

1. Make it Obvious

Obvious means no ambiguity. "I will write on Sundays" isn't good enough, because it's too easy to make excuses. We need to be more specific:

"On Sunday evenings, before going to sleep, I will write 300 words."

2. Make it Attractive

Okay, this one is hard. How do we make writing not a chore? By always pairing it with something that we want:

"While writing 300 words, I will treat myself to a special tea that I can only have when writing."

3. Make it Easy

Every tiny extra step - opening up the laptop, finding somewhere to write - increases friction and makes the process harder. We need to split up these steps:

"On Sunday mornings, when I make my bed, I will leave my laptop on my pillow. When I go to bed on Sunday evenings, my laptop will be ready for me to start writing."

4. Make it Satisfying

Small achievements are easy to obsess over. Small achievements like the number of consecutive weeks I have written a blog post (currently at 2).

"I don't miss. I take pride in keeping my Sunday streak of writing intact."

Let's see if this one sticks.

S