« Sabotaging yourself | Main | Blogging is dead »

Momentum.

A lot of people tell you that at whatever you want to become really good at, you have to do it every single day. No matter what.

Like writing. A lot of people out there tell you that you should write every single day. And read every single day.

I think that's a bad advice. It was for me at least. I don't know about you. I don't know you.

What happened to me when I tried to write every day is that some sort of pressure built up somewhere in my stomach. And over time the load on my shoulders got heavier and heavier.

At some point it didn't feel like fun any longer. I have to admit it. It started to feel a bit like work. There. I said it. It felt a bit like work..

So I wanted to see it for myself. I wanted to see what happens if I stopped writing for 30 days. If all my skills would disappear. If I had to start all over again.

And you know what? Nothing really happened.

I still know how to write. Or at least I think I still know how to write. In case I ever really knew how to write, which I highly doubt. But that's another story.

And now it feels a lot more like fun again.

So I think it doesn't have anything to do with skills. There might something else at play. Something a lot more dangerous.

Once you stop doing something, once you break the chain, even if it' just for a few days, it's almost impossible to get back into the flow. You won't lose your skills. But you'll lose your momentum. The flow.

And once that momentum is gone, it's super hard to get it back. It's like starting all over again. Just think about your last vacation. How did you feel when you knew you had to go back to work the next day? It was probably the worst feeling ever..

You didn't lose your skills. You still knew how to do your job, but you lost your momentum.

Luckily, when you're working a job you'll have instant gratification at the end of each month. You'll get a paycheck to pay the bills, to feed your family and so on. So it's a lot easier to get that momentum back. You'll see instant success on your bank account.

But when you're trying to learn a new skill there's no instant gratification. There's no instant success. There's only a very long and exhausting path that will probably never lead to any gratification or success, ever.

There's no guarantee for anything. There's just hope. And a long and lonely road..

And that's why breaking the chain, breaking a habit or stop exercising is so dangerous. It puts everything you did before at risk. It makes you doubt the long and lonely path. You'll lose confidence in yourself, the thing you do and your path.

Until one day turns into a week, a month or a year. And then you stop for good. Like everybody else that stopped for good.

I believe that meticulously following the advice from someone you admire, someone you look up to, sets you up for failure. Because something that works for them doesn't necessarily work for you. You have to find your own way.

I don't think you have to feel obliged to do the things you want to become good at every single day.

It should still feel like fun. It should still feel right. And not like work. And not like a heavy weight on your shoulders. Or like that strange feeling in your stomach.

Otherwise you might turn into one of those Chinese kids I saw in a documentary recently who are drilled to become olympic athletes starting at the age of four years. They didn't look like they were having some fun..

Just do what feels right. What feels good. Until it doesn't anymore. And that's when you know you should change something..

→ Go Premium | Yann’s Books | Yann on Facebook | Listen to Yann's Podcast | ←

Twitter | | Pinterest | Facebook

+++++++++++++++++++++

++ YANN'S DAILY BLOG ++


  • Ideas on entrepreneurship, seeing & believing. Established 2013. Daily since 2015. Start here...
Email subscription form header
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide

Search

Archives

More...

Quote Box


  • "97% of the people out there won't care about what you do. Act accordingly."

     

  • "Money is not for buying things. Things don’t make us happy. Money is for buying ourselves some freedom to do the things that make us happy."

     

  • "Being unrealistic is the most realistic thing you could do."

     

  • "You just need one person who cares about what you do. And that person is you. And no one else. It all starts with you."

     

  • "We always think we have enough time. Until we realize there's no more time left."

     

  • "The only way to stay ahead of the curve is to create your own curve."

     

  • "Be the dealer. Don't be the junkie. The dealer always wins. And the junkie always dies."

     

  • "The only person you should try to please is your 80 year old self."

     

  • "It's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when you keep your eyes closed.."

     

  • "Most advice doesn’t work. Because most advice comes from people who’ve never even done the things they're taking about. And that's dangerous."

     

  • "Being able to build something out of nothing is the most important skill. For what? For everything!"

     

  • "Why are people who write about millionaire habits not millionaires?"

     

  • "No one will magically find out about you."

     

  • "The things you don't want to do are usually the things you should be doing. They're almost always the things that will get you where you want to be."

     

  • "Don't let other people's reality be your reality.."

     

  • "Today it's easier to get started than ever before. That's why most people give up so easily. Because it was so easy to begin with."

     

  • "When you hate your job you'll never be able to do more than just mediocre work."

     

  • "Don't listen too all the life advice out there. It's all B.S. Just like this right here."

     

  • "No one starts as an expert. We all start from the bottom. And have to work our way to the top."

     

  • "The only thing that will ever lead to quality is quantity. To do it over and over again. That’s the only way."

     

  • "Be a Warrior, not a Worrier!"

     

  • "New ways of doing things never work. Until they do. Just like old ways of doing things always work. Until they dont."

     

  • "Constantly thinking about things won’t get you anywhere. You'll never find a solution just by thinking about it. You've gotta start doing."

     

  • "Not getting it right is part of the process of getting it right."

     

  • "How long does it take to change the world? As long as it takes to change yourself. So probably your whole life."

     

  • "Focusing on results won't get you results. Focusing on the actions that produce results will get you results."

     

  • "It's easy to forget all the things you have when all you do is to focus on the things you don't have."

     

  • "Perfection will only hold you back"

     

  • "Never listen to anyone who has never done what you're doing or want to do. Ignore your parents, your friends and pretty much everybody else."

     

  • "Trading time for money is not freedom. It’s a prison. The only way you’ll ever be able to make more money is to trade more of your time."

     

  • "The only way to beat the system is to know the system. Inside out."

     

  • "It's not what you do on your good days that will make you. It's almost always what you do on your bad days that will either make you or break you."