#194 - Seven Days of Effort IV (no. 1)

Last year I realized I wasn't writing enough and set myself up to write in what I came to dub Seven Days of Effort streaks. Bursts of art, regardless of how I was feeling (the day I started the first one I had an incredibly bad cold and could barely think straight) and any general lack of inspiration was no longer an acceptable excuse.

Everyday, I was writing and publishing.

There were no other guidelines. It could be short, long, about the same subject over and over, I just had to write everyday for seven days.

And each time I said I would do it, I did it.

Because despite my critical lack of self-discipline (we're WORKING ON IT) I also have a tremendous amount of resolution re: deadlines.

(Walking contradiction or do I simply contain multitudes? Or both?!)

So! Seven days of effort part iv here we goooo!

We trudge on because sometimes you just have to keep moving forward and trust that you'll hit the destination. Or at least a gas station with better snacks.

The rules are simple: I gotta publish everyday. Not email! Just publish.

Regardless of length, desire to do it, or obstacles, a blog will go up! If for no one else, then for me!

Proof of output, of commitment to myself, to my understanding of what the results are from simply showing up and trying over and over again.

I feel like I didn't understand the like ~meta lessons of organized sports for a really long time because all I got out of them was competition. But showing up and working on something in order to incrementally improve but overtime chip away at a massive undertaking is a good habit to get into.

I have been feeling down! on! myself! lately!

And when we're feeling self-defeatist in this house, we decide to arbitrarily prove something to ourselves in order to prove we can overcome challenges!

Or I just like invent fun little games for myself because I'm attempting to corral my efforts into something tangible.

So much of life is just overcoming the next excuse and getting the thing done.

For the next seven days, that's what's happening babeeeey!

Do I feel ready for it? No! Not at all! Things feel extra hard right now and my concentration is shot!

But that's why it's more important than ever to like sit with myself and my thoughts and write something down every day. And it'll be an adventure to find out what comes out!

Sometimes I think about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos and their teeny-tiny containers of blood that she stared at on every magazine cover. In one of the many interviews she did, she's asked to do a Yoda impression and just straight up doesn't do one but just says a quote of his in her fun fake-deep voice.

And while it sums up all the worst part of Millennial Work Culture (which also includes calling various positions "ninjas" and describing valuable companies as "unicorns" we're so corny but still had all the workplace exploitation aaahhh!) (the free nitro cold brew was solid though) it's also just an untrue bullshit statement from Yoda. Trying is often the doing.

Also, Elizabeth Holmes convinced a bunch of millionaires to give her money through sheer confidence so while she may have girlbossed herself straight behind bars I do think that effort was apparent in that company.

Ah, Theranos. What a funny whoopsie by Walgreens. And like, former US Secretaries of State. (You're telling me Henry Kissinger made bad decisions? Surely not, no!)

ANYWAY!

If you've got something you've been putting off or a habit you've been waiting to go hard on, join me! Seven days of effort. About anything!

Set the bar low! No overwhelming life hauls! Just a week straight of effort put consciously towards something.

See how ya feel by the end of it! Look through whatever you've made/done with a loving eye! Relish in self-discipline!

And hey, I'm already 1/7th of the way there! Closer than I've ever been before!