Yesterday I wrote about a simple idea that I’ve struggled with my whole life, that it’s better to finish something than to start it. I start new projects almost every day, but I rarely ever see them through to the end. In the article, I gave myself a task to complete today, a goal. That goal was to write a follow up post about what it was like to write the original post. To be honest, I really don’t want to be writing this right now. What I really want to do is sit my ass down on the couch and watch reruns of Rick and Morty. But here I am instead.
Why?
Because I said I would do it.
Typically when I say I’ll do something it’s a shot in the dark whether or not I’ll actually do it, and if I do get around to it it’s usually long after I originally intended it to get done. That’s another one of those things I struggle with, in the same way that I don’t finish what I start, I also don’t usually do what I say. I have no follow through. Just as I am trying to build a habit of finishing things, so too am I trying to build the habit of following through on my word. So that’s why I’m here. Not because I want to be, but because I think it’s important that I follow through for once in my life.
So what did I learn from writing yesterdays post?
Honestly, not a whole lot. But I think that’s just the way things work in the real world. We only have a handful of moments in our life where we learn a new truly profound idea that changes the nature of our existence, and most of them happen when we’re young. Everything else we either already know but don’t implement, or we learn over a long period of recurring exposure and reinforcement.
I do however feel good that I actually finished the article and posted it online, it’s a nice change of pace from my typical approach. Usually I start writing one post, and somewhere during that process I have an idea for a slightly different article which I immediately start writing in a new file, then that leads to an even newer slightly different idea, until eventually I have 10 sloppy half-written articles that I just give up on. It was nice to stick with one idea to the end, even though it was a pretty pointless post written in a stream-of-conscious style. Pretty much exactly like this one.
For now I think I just need to stop worrying so much about writing the perfect article, and about covering every small semi-related idea that pops up in my head, and just write. Maybe that’s the secret to life. If you want to do something, just do it. At first you’ll suck, but if you stick with it long enough and put up with enough shit eventually you’ll get good enough to convince other people you don’t suck.
Once again I feel as though I’m nearing the end of this article, mainly because I’ve grown tired of writing. But I want to set another goal for myself tomorrow before I finish. I think I’ll stick with the article theme for now. So here it goes:
My goal for tomorrow is to write a post detailing exactly how I make my avocado toast in the morning. Why? Because writing about food is an extremely boring topic to me. I believe that every project I set out to complete, no matter how exciting at first, will become mundane at times, and I need to practice pushing through when things get a little boring otherwise I’ll never reach the finish line.