I'm a serial starter.
I love starting projects, but don't love wrapping them up. I live for habit trackers that I inevitably let fall by the wayside. I pick up new hobbies with ease, but let the equipment gather dust in my closet after a couple months.
I'm great at the thinking and planning phase, but not so great at following through for the long haul.
This itself is a habit that I'm trying to break. This writing challenge is another example. I hope that it continues for years. It's becoming a forcing function for starting my day with thinking. It's getting the creative juices flowing and puts me into action mode for the day.
Something I'm good at finishing is books. I rarely mark them as DNF or "did not finish." This may not be the best thing since reading a book you aren't excited about can end up being a waste of time. I'm good at finding books I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy, which means my overall GoodReads ratings hover somewhere around 4 stars out of 5.
What is it about reading that makes me push through books even when I'm not loving them? Is it simply because it's a passive habit that allows me to sit on the couch or pay half my attention to while driving?
I'm sure that's part of it.
But I also think there are a couple other big reasons I tend to finish books: I deeply know that I enjoy reading and I know that books have something to teach me.
I'm trying to apply this same mentality to other projects and habits I pick up. Action leads to more action and growth.
Consistency is they key to growth.
This is something I've faced time and time again in my content creation. There are so many blockers holding me back. So many easy excuses for why I pause the output, take a break, and re-enter the planning phase. There's no better way to figure out what works than to keep putting content out there and seeing what people respond to.
Consistency has always been a challenge for me in life. In everything from habits to relationships. My lack of consistency has cost me several friendships and probably tons of priceless experiences. Something about the consistency of communication is so difficult for me to maintain.
I tend to get sucked into my own mind and not come out for a while. When I resurface, I reach out to the people I love. After doing this for many cycles, they begin to wonder why I'm only responsive when it's convenient for me -- ie. when I'm in a social mood and not one of my hermit weeks.
To the people that have stuck by my inconsistent butt all these years, I thank you and it's something I'm working on. This public display of creating a consistency challenge is my way of building accountability toward fixing this habit. I'm telling myself and the world that I am someone who can be consistent and show up everyday for things and people I care about.
Do you have trouble sticking with habits that you know you want to build? What challenges do you have with consistency? Let's be accountability buddies :)
Have a wonderful day and happy beginning of December!!
Happy adventuring,
A