I wondered, why is doing something continuous everyday so difficult?
There is an endless list of excuses we tell ourselves to avoid unfamiliar territory. Are they unfounded excuses? Are the discouraging circumstances truly inescapable?
The inputs we bring into our lives have an impact on what habits are formed. If you are attempting to better yourself and learn something new but a friend remarks that it’s “a stupid idea”, or something similarly discouraging, it can knock you off balance enough to quit.
If people around you are not actively bettering their lives, pursuing their dream, then why should you? What’s the point? They seem to be doing fine, so there seems to be no benefit to pursuing anything more than the mundane life we all have. Our environment, our inputs, create the results that we call life.
Creating habits is no easy task. It is difficult to persist with something that is out of the routine that is already established.
So you’ve missed a day or two and you’re discouraged. Pick it up again. Today is not yesterday. Tomorrow is not today. Putting tasks off until tomorrow is dangerous game. It compiles into an overwhelming roadblock and we lose more days on a beneficial habit.
If you find yourself in this situation, take a moment and get back to it. That moment you’re thinking about it, get up and do it. Exercise that sorcery called will power. Everyone has it; few use it. The more often you do a task the moment you remember/think about it, the transition into a permanent change becomes smoother.
I have this note taped to my wall above my desk where I look at it everyday. “Fix the inputs and the outputs will fix themselves.” It is my daily reminder that I am pursuing my dreams for myself, and that everything around me affects the outcome. So, if things just aren’t jiving, things need to change.
It is truly easier said than done. Change is scary. The outcome is unknown. This unknown element is the factor that prevents us from pursuing our dreams. We can imagine the end goal, but the journey there can be a very turbulent ride. Or it could be smooth. We have no idea. Fear only inhibits. It does not create. And we are creatives afterall.
A life without a little (or a lot) of obstacles makes for a boring story.
Inktober this year has been completed. For the first time. What’s the result?
A confirmation that I have the will power to do something, that’s not essential, to its completion on a scheduled basis. It has reaffirmed that I can dedicate myself on a consistent basis and I have benefited greatly.
Now I have several ideas that can and will grow into larger projects. Those projects would never have the chance to exist without the choice I made to complete Inktober.
Keep on creating, Creatives.