Today is a day when my mind is struggling to focus. I have a lot of things on my mind. Work, family, health, budget, coffee—always coffee.

And at the prospect of opening up my computer to write this morning, I almost just couldn’t do it. The worries of life, and what’s going on at this moment, mostly perceived worries that don’t even exist yet, almost paralyzed me from getting started.

I’ve heard these types of days are normal as you’re building up the habit of writing. Actually, it’s probably in every day that you are building a new habit. Your brain isn’t used to just writing, so it takes extra mental energy to tread down that path again. Mostly because you haven’t treaded down that path very often. 

I knew I needed to do it again though. Because if I didn’t, I wasn’t going to reinforce the habit I wanted to create—I wouldn’t be building the habit of the person I want to become.

I am working on becoming a writer. 

That’s why I’m writing.

I knew I needed to do it again though. Because if I didn’t, I wasn’t going to reinforce the habit I wanted to create—I wouldn’t be building the habit of the person I want to become.

I’m not writing because I am a writer, but because I want to build this skill in order to communicate effectively, share what I’m learning, and bless others. For what is better than blessing someone else, giving hope and adding value? I can’t think of something much greater than that.

But sometimes I don’t want to write. And as altruistic and inspiring the above sounds, it doesn’t always motivate me to do what I want to do. It’s not a habit yet, but I’m working on that. And more than that, I’m building something that is apart of me, not something I do, but someone I am.

James Clear in his book Atomic Habits begins his book not so much on tools to build habits, but the underlying key to success in building habits. It’s about changing your identity, which fuels your ability to do your habits. I don’t want to be someone who writes. I want to be a writer. And writers write. That helped today.

I’m not writing because I am a writer, but because I want to build this skill in order to communicate effectively, share what I’m learning, and bless others.

This isn’t a fake it till you make it, it’s identifying yourself as the person you can become, then doing it. I’m a healthy person, healthy people eat well and work out, therefore I work out and run. 

Writers write.

Jon Acuff talks about having a motivation bag (he probably says it much better than that). The concept is pretty simple. Sometimes we’re not motivated to do the thing we want to do, so we need a bag of tools that will motivate us. Sometimes it’s going to be the reward. Other times it’s the process. Still others I need a quote from someone else to inspire me. Sometimes it’s my kids and the legacy I’m building for our family. Sometimes it’s the consequences of not doing it. For instance, I struggled to continue to manage our budget earlier on in our marriage. The motivation for me to keep working on it was the potential consequence of not having enough money in the account when bills came due.

There are all sorts of motivational tools that can help us continue on with our goals. 

So what was it today? What helped me just write and put this together? 

When I’m reading a book, I read with a pen. I’m underlying sentences, paragraphs, leaving notes and correlating ideas throughout. It helps me stay focused, but it also helps me find what mattered most to me in the book. Then I go back at the end and type out those quotes in a note on the Notes app. I have lots of notes of quotes from books, authors and speakers.

Today, I started reading through quotes from the most recent book I was reading, The Brain that Changes Itself, by Norman Doidge M.D. As I was reading the quotes, I thought I could write about something in the book, something about learning, something other than what I wrote about today.

It was the act of remembering how inspiring and fascinating that book was, that planted the idea of sharing with you a great tool I’ve used to stay motivated as I’m building my habits, working towards my goals, becoming the person I want to become.

So, what are you working towards right now? What New Year’s Resolution did you make that you’re no longer pursuing, or that seems to be waning? Whatever it is, take some time and make a list of a few, or many, reasons why this goal matters to you. Then, when you’re about to get on that treadmill again, pick up the pen and paper again, eat Keto-friendly granola, instead of Lucky Charms, again, you can remind yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing.

It helps. It’s helped me. It helped me write 800+ words today. 

Try it. It might surprise you.

It did me today. I thought the quotes lists were going to be good for when I was writing, but I was pleasantly surprised—am pleasantly surprised, that it inspired me to write in general today.

Writers write. Learners learn. Learning helps everyone get better. 

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