Just Click Publish on Something
When formating a daily writing habit, allow yourself “easy” posts.
This is my 37th consecutive daily Substack post. Some days I publish here on Civilize Thyself, which is my outlet for self-improvement content. Other days I publish on my two other Substacks: Letters on Liberty and Superhero Studies. I also plan on starting a Substack on parenting and education. I discussed why I do this practice in my posts “How Morning Blogging Can Be a Keystone Habit” and “Write Your Way Into a Great Day.”
Many of my daily posts have been full-length essays. For example, my post “How Grant Morrison Learned to Stop Worrying about the Bomb” has 1,486 words. However in other posts I have expressed brief observations. “Liberty through Education” only ran 216 words. Still other posts have been collections of quotes, like “Three Quotes on Americanism” and “Seven Quotes on Revolutionary Ideas.” And one recent post wasn’t even “content,” but was just a “housekeeping” notice to my subscribers.
For a daily publishing practice, such “easy” posts might seem like “cheats,” but they’re actually not. Whether something is a cheat depends on which game you’re playing. And one of the key games I’m playing with this practice is habit formation.
Continually building the habit of daily publishing is more important to me than writing a lengthy piece every time I publish. And insisting on the latter objective would put the former objective at risk. If I disqualify easy posts, I am more likely to not publish anything at all on a day in which I’m busier or less motivated than usual. And if I don’t “show up” at all even once, that might break the still-forming habit.
But if I allow myself “easy” posts and only insist that I click publish on something, I will be more likely to keep my habit-forming streak alive, which will ultimately mean a lot more full-length essays than if I broke my streak/habit because I insisted on full-length essays every day.
For more on this habit-formation strategy, I recommend the book Mini-Habits by Stephen Guise.