Likes & Launch

Want to build a habit? Commit to doing the work.  Want to get better at something? Show up everyday. This came up at dinner last night with a group of fellow Women in VC.  

That principle of building habits is not a secret. And most habits are not physically demanding, like flossing everyday or drinking water, but it’s so easy to avoid them, forget them or just ignore them. Building habits is more about changing your mental approach to them than anything else, and it’s harder than it looks. To show up everyday to something.

Building a habit gets easier when you have a clear end goal. Training everyday is more important when you’ve already committed to complete a marathon. The bigger goal matters, but it doesn’t always have a firm date. 

Jerry Seinfeld wrote jokes everyday, not in anticipation of one show, but to improve his whole career. It’s not that he had great jokes everyday to write down, it was the volume of jokes that helped him pick the bad jokes.

Ira Glass’s advice from “What nobody tells beginners.”

I’m not running a marathon or looking for a career in stand up comedy, but I am focused on being more articulate with my ideas. 

After a friend’s recommendation of The Artist’s Way, I decided to create a habit of morning pages to pursue that goal. The practice of writing every morning (okay sometimes in the afternoon) has built my habit for writing. I started in journals but then in July 2015 moved to the web using 750words.com at the recommendation of Rick Webb. I’ve now written 123,000+words even with a number of missed days. Most of it is just chatter, half baked ideas, and reflection, but by showing up everyday, I sometimes hit on something that I want to get more feedback on or share with others. That’s why I continue to publish on this blog, to give myself a place to share ideas. Thanks for reading! 

My daily writing stats from 750words.com.

Writing is not publishing, but as Fred and Albert taught me at USV, writing is a great way to get feedback on your ideas and create a space for conversation around it. Shifting my publishing mentality from “I need to provide good ideas” to “I want to get feedback on my ideas” furthered my interest in publishing here more. I look forward to hearing more feedback.

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