Showing up every day

Day 8 / 365

Writing a blog every day is way more challenging than it looks. Even on the best days, when you are feeling great and have plenty of time, you would sit at the computer and try to think of what to write about and nothing would come.

But if you are doing that for a whole year, there will undoubtedly be days when you are not at your best. Maybe you are sick, maybe you have a deadline at work that you need to focus on, or maybe you got into a fight and your mind is totally occupied by that. The last thing you want to do in those days is to sit down and write a decent blog and post it on the internet for everyone to read.

In case it’s not clear, today is one of those days. I am in no shape physically or mentally to write this blog, and I put it off the whole day. But it's just 4 more hours left for the day and I think it would be too sad if I gave up on this challenge just 7 days in. So here I am writing.

Back to the title of the blog, the thing that I actually wanted to write about, is the concept of “Showing up every day”. If you are trying to develop a habit, it’s important not to skip a day. Even when it feels tough, just do something that counts.

It might mean going for a 5 min walk instead of a 30-minute one. Or doing 2 push-ups instead of 20. Or in this case, writing a not-so-perfect blog post. As long as you do something, it counts. You won over the desire to just skip and take it easy. That’s a big win.

Skipped days have a tendency to become a habit of their own pretty soon. You will convince yourself that it's just one day, and soon it will become one day every week. And then maybe you would justify skipping the weekends. Before you know it, the daily routine is gone.

So that’s the lesson for today. Just keep showing up every day. Don’t give in to the weak voice inside your head trying to convince you to take a day off.