Everything is Habit

People are often commenting on the amount of content I post; photography, video, written content, sometimes even referring to it as prolific. It can seem daunting for some people who don’t have a similar output and wish to up their game and from their vantage point of not creating much content I totally understand. It seems like a lot of effort. The thing is it does take effort for a while to create content of hopefully a high quality on a daily basis. That is until it becomes effortless.

For me taking photographs every day is something I have done for a long time so for me, it is pretty much like breathing. Writing also is something I have practiced for a long time and I write most days in my journal even If I am not posting anything online. So for me, it is simply part of my life. It is kind of effortless. It’s habit. Everything is a habit. Not doing something is a habit. Doing something is a habit. And a new habit takes effort until it becomes effortless.

Put the Cart Before the Horse

Another factor is motivational energy. i.e. being inspired. One of the things I have trained myself to do is to not wait around to feel ready or inspired before I get off my ass to create. It is impossible to be both prolific and at the effect of our moods. If we only ever created when we felt great we would rarely create.

I have trained myself to put the cart before the horse and with experience I’ve seen that if I do this, i.e. if I make a start, then I will, 9 times out of 10, shift my mood anyhow so that I pretty soon feel inspired as a consequence. We have to do something to feel motivated. People have it upside down. They wait to feel ready and motivated and then they make a start.

There are no Short Cuts

This means their output and their creativity is at the mercy of how they feel. This blog that I’m writing now has taken me 4 minutes to get to this point. If I wasn’t in the groove of writing every day It probably would have taken me hours. To get to a point where things become natural to us, where they are not a pull on our lives we have to go through a good period of time where it’s uncomfortable.

There is no short cut. But if you keep going eventually, in time, whatever it is you are practicing or whatever task you are doing regularly, will stop becoming a hurdle and it will feel effortless. You will also start to make connections. One thing spills into another thing. When you’re taking photographs every day you have something to write about. When you are writing something every day you may need to take a photograph to accompany it. And so on and so on.

Keep it Simple

A good idea is to choose one thing and to make an agreement to do it every day until it becomes a habit. Keep it simple. 20 or 30 minutes each day. And do it. No matter what. You may ask why you need to post content so frequently. You don’t. Not at all. I do it for two reasons:

1) It makes me feel good when I’m creating consistently. I feel a sense of accomplishment all of the time. Creating feels good. 2) It gets me noticed. I’m often in peoples thoughts when work and creative opportunity comes up. It’s not by accident that I have so much content to post. It’s not the money though. I simply love to create.

Or go and Watch Netflix

The other way to get more work is to pay for it and advertise. Then you can spend the day watching Netflix and forget about creating.

I’m interested to know your thoughts on this subject. Signing off at 8 minutes. xxx