I Work 9–5. I Write Most Days. Here’s How I Do It.

I came across a comment on one of my articles. I stopped for a while. Pondered this thought. And hours later it came back to me, I loved the honesty of it. Because it’s true, isn’t it? Quite simply, most things you try don’t work. But if we stop here for just a minute and reframe this moment: That doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong. In fact, chaos is a sure sign you’re on the right path. <h1>My tragic, beautiful life</h1> I know this to be all too true in my own life. I start, it’s fun, then it’s hard, then I stop. Everything from a new morning routine, new exercise habit, new anything. New is fun until it’s hard and then the fun goes and you’re left with uncertainty. And sitting in uncertainty, well, that’s difficult. It’s this that makes most people quit. The uncertainty that this new pain (exercise routine, writing habit, waking up early) will lead to nothing. Your life will be no better off for it. It leaves you with the frightening reality that maybe all this effort will go to waste. <h1>The radical reframe</h1> Here’s the realisation I had (and side note here, it took me three years to really grasp this concept with both hands): Any positive shift in your life is worthwhile doing if only for the self-respect it gives you. Saying you’ll do something, and then actually doing it, is a game-changer for your self-respect. So often we say we will and then on comes the army of excuses. You sit, 5 months on, wondering where it all went wrong, how you could just give up on day 3 so easily. It destroys any ounce of self-belief. <h1>It’s not going to work</h1> It’s very unlikely on iteration one you make your major breakthrough. Even something like a new morning routine. It’s a tall order. You’ve lived years in your current morning routine, and you expect to shift years' worth of habit in one 24-hour… <a href="https://medium.com/swlh/i-work-9-5-i-write-most-days-heres-how-i-do-it-717584d39b3f">Website</a>