You move the starting line backwards.
That means simply sitting at the keyboard for an hour if the goal is to write. Changing into your gym clothes and stepping out the door if it’s to run. Or just opening your textbook if it’s to study.
Don’t look too far ahead, don’t aim for the results. Good things rarely pay off immediately, anyway.
You’ll find the momentum from these starting tasks to be rather compelling in getting you to complete your tasks.
I’ve been reading Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey and it’s been a blast seeing how other creatives approach their craft.
That’s how I learned about Twyla Tharp, and this was how she described her routine.
“I begin each day of my life with a ritual. I wake up at 5:30 A.M., put on my workout clothes, my leg warmers, my sweatshirts, and my hat. I walk outside my Manhattan home, hail a taxi, and tell the driver to take me to the Pumping Iron gym at 91st Street and First Avenue, where I work out for two hours.
“The ritual is not the stretching and weight training I put my body through each morning at the gym; the ritual is the cab. The moment I tell the driver where to go I have completed the ritual.
“It’s a simple act, but doing it the same way each morning habitualises it—makes it repeatable, easy to do. It reduces the chance that I would skip it or do it differently. It is one more item in my arsenal of routines, and one less thing to think about.”
Here’s how I’ve been approaching my own routines:
- I sit with the blank page first thing every morning, regardless of whether or not I have anything to write
- I do 10 push-ups or squats without planning to work out
- I wake up at six in the morning, walk downstairs, and make myself a cup of coffee, even if I plan to get more sleep
I don’t tell myself I need to write my best work. I don’t aim for any new physical records. I don’t even plan to get up early.
But by putting one foot across the starting line daily, I end up writing a thousand words, working out for an hour, getting a headstart to my day.
There’s also one hidden benefit: the pride of keeping your promises to self, no matter how small. And I guess that’s as good a finishing line as any.
Your Friendly Malaysian Writer 
Thank youu for this! It’s great and so informative, spot on as always ❤️
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It’s so true that getting started can be the hardest part. If I need to wash dishes I start by filling the sink with hot soapy water – I don’t want to waste it so the dishes get done. If I need to sweep I bring the broom and dustpan into the room that needs to be swept. At some point, I’ll be in that room and decide I might as well get it done. Setting up something to get me started seems to work for me in alot of areas. I’ll have to look up that book you mentioned, it sounds like a good one. Thanks
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I am usually overwhelmed with project deadlines. But my strategy is always to break it down and write down tasks which are small and achievable…and stay focused….then its like chipping away incrementally one task at a time…my ritual I guess is to think and write down my tasks before I do them…so I agree that good habits need to be simple and repeatable.
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You make coffee and go back to sleep…..
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i like how you start small, by the tiniest and smallest things and get things done slowly. Rituals are great! compounding effect!
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to run, step out the door….
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Oh man, the struggle. It’s so hard to change your habbits around and make them stick, but the little things do make such a difference. I get dressed into my workout clothes so that when it is time to workout and I try to backout as always I shut it down with “i’m already in my workout clothes.” Thank you for making me feel less alone, and the good writing habit tips!
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Great message and reminder! Baby steps can get you there…sometimes the hardest thing is to start. Habit stacking is a good way for me to get a new habit turned into a routine.
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This is a little like the message in “Atomic Habits”. If you want to be a runner, lace up your shoes. If you want to write, write one sentence. As the old saying goes “From tiny acorns, might oaks grow.”
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It’s funny, thinking about rituals, I agree they’re so important. Our fundamental building blocks for me, today, it wasn’t so much the beginning, but the thought of what I could do. I’ve not posted anything for about a week, but thinking if I got up with the alarm and out the house I can catch the earlier, slow train. Grab a coffee for the train and write during my 45 min journey. But you’re also right – I need to establish a ritual and routine to get me on this train on my campus days
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Amazing insight, Stuart! It’s easy to forget that the hardest part of doing something is starting. Just focusing on getting ourselves in gear is so incredibly helpful, as compared to being fixated on the journey ahead
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Thanks Stuart. Your timing is spot on as usual.
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