Learning to write: building the habit

(Not my actual hands)

I love trying new practices and habits to make me more effective and productive.

Habit building is a case of consistency. These three building blocks are how I built my daily flossing, meditation and intermittent fasting habits.

1. Attach them to something else

A big success factor for building these habits was to attach them to another well-established habit and/or replace another habit.

Flossing = add to cleaning my teeth

Meditation = add to going to bed, remove replace mindless phone browsing, add wearing an eye mask to physically signal time for meditation and sleep

Intermittent fasting = add to morning and evening routine; remove breakfast, make sure my lunch is prepared ready to end the fast after 16 hours

2. Measurement

I also measure and track all of my important habits using the Strides app. What gets measured gets managed.

3. Start small

The next step was to start small. Just twice a week. Before long these habits were so ingrained in my routine that it was easier to do them than to not.

Building a writing habit

This brings me back to writing. I want to write more. I want to be more compelling, more concise and more creative. I’ve read so much on Medium from writers with useful tips and tricks which I’ve stored away for reference, now it’s time to make it real.

So how can I apply my previous habit building success to writing?

1. Attach it to something I’m already doing — practice this skill intentionally when writing emails, blogs or articles
2. Measure it — add a new criteria in Strides for writing practice
3. Start small — aim for three times per week minimum, anything additional is a bonus
4. Be consistent — make every effort to write *something* each day, even if it’s just 100 words thrown into my iPhone notes

I’ll also be using Medium to share my regular writing practice, partly as a journal and partly to connect with this great community of other aspirating and established writers.