One thing I’ve learned in over a decade of showing up daily for my workouts is that not every workout will be great; some might even not feel like a waste of time and effort.
Over the longer arc of time, what matters more than the quality of the workout is the consistency of showing up daily.
I’ve learned the same lesson in over 6 years of publishing a daily blog. Most of my essays get no traction. But the ones that do hit big only have a chance because I show up daily.
One of the most important factors for success is consistency. No matter what you want to accomplish, you won’t get results if you’re not showing up to put in the effort — even if you can’t give it your best effort.
Finding Freedom in the Constraint
The rules I have created for myself to show up consistently often seem rigid to other people. Many people wonder whether I should give myself a day off.
To be honest, sometimes I think a day off is exactly what I need. Some days I don’t want to exercise.
That feeling never lasts long, however.
It’s actually less effort to show up daily than to try to schedule days off.
My commitment to showing up daily for workouts saves me from the inevitable negotiation with myself about whether I should exercise that day, or what days I should take off. That self-negotiation is a huge drain on energy and time.
Sometimes I feel tired and do less. Sometimes I have more energy and do more. And sometimes get it wrong and don’t push myself enough.
If I feel like I didn’t do enough for that day, I know there’s always tomorrow.
The same applies to my commitment to publish some piece of writing daily.
Some days I don’t “feel like” writing. Sometimes I can’t wrap my head around what I really want to say. In the past, if I didn’t feel like I could publish something that met my high standard I would negotiate with myself to come back to it later and publish “tomorrow.” It was a slippery slope that led to weeks or months without sharing my work.
My commitment to publish daily gives me freedom to let the quality suffer for the sake of getting it done, or to experiment with other forms of writing, like poetry and haiku.
It All Starts With the Wake-up
As it happens, both of these practices — my daily workouts and my writing — only became possible when I committed to waking up at the same time every day and not hitting snooze.
Whereas I used to enjoy the “freedom” to hit snooze, I’ve found that requiring myself to get out of bed and start my day gives me the freedom of a structure that allows me to fit more into my day without rushing.
It also gives me the freedom to know that even if I fail to hit my mark on a given day, I’ll get a chance for a do-over tomorrow.
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