Over time, I’ve fallen into a trap. It goes a little something like this:
- I identify something that I like doing, or find valuable, that I want to make sure I do every day. Some examples: taking a selfie, writing, flipping through my Anki flashcards.
- Regretting that I don’t do this thing every day, I find or invent some new system to catch my attention and remind me to do this thing every day.
- A lot of the time this new system doesn’t stick, so we just go back to step one after some period of time.
- But sometimes the system does stick. And then, because it’s successful, I keep putting more habits into the system, because I also want to do those things consistently, too.
- I get overwhelmed by the number of daily tasks I now need to do, which causes me to ignore the habits that I set out to track daily in the first place.
- Eventually, I mark the whole system as a burden and discard it. Go back to step one.
There are, however, habits that I currently have that transcend any system. A daily journal, a daily document to organize my todos and accomplishments — though these might evolve over time, I do them daily, pretty consistently.
(There are, of course, habits around abstention that I basically get “for free,” just by virtue of not doing anything, but those warrant a totally separate article and shouldn’t be lumped into this conceit.)
These are the things that are so foundational to my processes or even my identity that I wouldn’t dare miss them.
If I want to do something consistently, I don’t need to expect something big, huge, and exciting. I don’t need a system. Just do the thing.
