What really motivates us to change our behavior?
The Truth Behind My Daily Publishing Experiment
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In November, I decided to start publishing on my blog daily. After 40-ish days, I started to doubt whether this really serves any purpose. I’m contemplating quitting, or at least shifting my approach.
This is not my first trip down the road of creating a new daily “habit” (publishing, like the others, is not a “habit,” but I’ll leave that alone for now). I also teach others how to do this. So, I know a few things about the sticky parts of the process.
I am well aware that this is the stage where fatigue sets in and doubts creep up. Before I quit the daily practice, I’m revisiting my purpose, my outcomes, and how this is serving me (or not).
What Really Drives Change
I previously shared a list of reasons why I started this daily publishing practice.
Lists are nice. They help us feel like everything is in order.
But lists mask the truth.
When I make lists of things to do, the really important stuff typically doesn’t make the list. What makes the list are the things I think I should do. I don’t forget the really critically important stuff. I forget the stuff that has the illusion of importance.
Nobody changes their behavior — at least not for long — because they made a “list of reasons” why they want to do it (or should do it), or came up with a “list of ways” how to do it. That’s just pure bullshit.
Here’s how we catalyze change: pain.
We reach a threshold where something becomes so painful and we decide, in that moment, that something needs to change. That we need to change that thing. And then we do it. It’s not rational, it’s emotional.
Change comes from an unwillingness to tolerate what you’re tolerating for another minute. It comes out of a rant, not a list.
Why I Write
I need to write. Writing helps me think and process.
Writing helps me turns information into knowledge. Embodied knowledge.
