Writing success doesn’t come from heroic marathons—even though we are about to embark on one.
The truth is that success comes from the steps you take to implement what you learn during the challenge. Showing up again and again, long after May is over, is what will drive you to your definition of success, whatever that is (more on that, next week).
And the way to keep showing up (aka ‘build a habit’) is to create an outsized celebration for every tiny step you take towards creating that habit.
Decide, Do, Celebrate
- Choose one tiny writing task today—setting your intentions for your writing today; deciding to write one paragraph or sentence in your work in progress; opening your manuscript; noticing three Story Sparks, whatever. Just keep it tin.
- Choose a celebration to do—it might be punching the air, doing a literal victory dance, spending two minutes coloring in a picture, laughing out loud, patting yourself on the back, eating a single delicious chocolate truffle or in-season strawberry that you have put on your desk before you started. Whatever you choose it should be absolutely immediate (no searching for stickers or promising yourself an ice cream later) and it should be something (like the a big grin or the victory dance) that changes your physical state.
- When you do the good behavior, take the reward—We’re ‘burning in’ the ‘good behavior=reward’ pathway, as if we were puppies. And why not? It works for puppies, and it works for us too.
Further Reading/Listening
Listen to my podcast episode about the power of tiny wins and the Fogg Behavioral Model
Discussion
Did you choose an immediate reward? Did you choose a tiny task? Did you do both, one after the other? Did it feel silly? If so you’re doing it right! Tell us what you did:
