The Daily

How do you eat a whale? One bite at a time.

This is the motto going into 2016. There are no shortcuts. It’s never easy. There are no breaks, nobody cuts you any slack. No one cares until you give them a reason to.

The best way to go about doing things is with consistency. That entails doing the same thing every single day without fail. That consistency is what turns 100 words a day into a 36,500 word novel in a year. That is what turns 1 hour of painting daily into a Picasso.

That is why I am going to do one very specific thing Daily that will allow me to consistently progress towards my overall Goal.

Now the trick with the Daily is to find a good Goal. Yes, capital “G” goal. You can only choose one thing. Do that for more than 60 days straight, and then you can add another. Maybe.

But the result of your Goal is not what matters. The process of working on your Goal does. It should be something you absolutely love doing. It may suck at times, but at the end of the day, you should love the act, not the end result.

Your Goal should become ingrained into the fabric of your being, so much so that you will not go to bed each day until that Goal has been completed. Your Goal will define you for as long as it exists. It should represent who you are and what you want to become.

To choose a Goal is a very difficult prospect. Forming habits are incredibly difficult and whatever Goal that you pick should be very judiciously chosen. Pick a Goal that informs the person you will become, not something static.

I have chosen my Goal to become an expert and thought-leader in the field of synthetic astrobiology.

The Daily is the process by which you reach your Goal.

The Daily is a specific action performed at a specific time in a specific way. The more specific you are, the more likely you will do it daily. It must be easy at first. You must be made accountable in some way.

One of the most deceptively simple ways to succeed at your Goal is to transition from a consumer to a producer. A consumer is an individual. Lonely. Stagnant. Selfish. A producer is a connector. Popular. Growing. Sharing.

So what to produce?

Creative outputs are based in communication. All work communicates something to a given audience. My chosen form of communication is writing.

My Daily will be to write a post before noon every day about synthetic astrobiology. This gives me an audience, accountability, and a forum to post ideas. These posts must exceed 100 words.

In addition, I will work to share these posts by connecting to those who are already in the synthetic astrobiology community.

It is my knowledge that through this Daily action, I will be working towards my Goal. There is no end to this. It is something that I hope will become ingrained in my life. ER.