Hi there...it's been a while. How you doing? I could provide a song and dance about how busy I've been, but the truth of the matter is, I had good advice for myself, but didn't have an actionable plan to keep my blogging consistent. However, I did have tremendous success at making excuses about why I would "do it tomorrow".
Looking back, I was making it out to be a much "bigger thing" than it needs to be. I started looking at other blogs out there and telling myself, "You should have more pictures...you should be funny...you should inspire the world...you should have witty, remarkable, insightful things to say all the time!" Yeah, no pressure...
So, I'm going back to square one of behavior change theory and applying it to myself. When trying to create a new habit, think of it like a rocket launch. There is an initial phase where A LOT of energy (approximately a gazillion pounds of thrust in my pseudo-scientific opinion) is needed to get out of orbit. This needs to be constant energy. However, once the rocket has gained sufficient momentum and left the atmosphere, it is able to orbit with very little energy expenditure. Mostly to adjust course from time to time. (I'm going to totally ignore the re-entry part of things...)
With my blog-rocket (that sounds slimy and gross for some reason...like a snot-rocket) I haven't yet made it out of the atmosphere. I need to maintain consistent pressure. So...I will attempt to write for 15 minutes each day. No more, no less. I can find 15 minutes. I won't necessarily post every day. I may come back the next day and finish or proofread an entry before posting it, but I will make the commitment to create the habit. During the launch phase it's much more important to focus on consistency and frequency than lengthy duration. In behavior change theory, this phase will usually last about 3 months to truly integrate a new habit.
After 3 months, (once you are in orbit) you can alter the pattern more easily. Maybe I'll write twice a week for an hour each...whatever...the point is, during that phase I can more easily mess around with the pattern without as much risk of losing all momentum.
So yeah, for now, me and my blog-rocket are leaving the launch pad...15 minutes at a time.
(p.s. the Tough Mudder training is going really well...more on that another time...)
