Hey everyone! You probably noticed that I didn’t post a blog last week. Which means for the first time in over ten years I didn’t post one. The streak is done. Why? Well, real life decided to take over for a bit. I was up to my eyeballs in helping put on our BSA council Wood Badge course. I had a great time and completely lost track of time while I was there. And that means I didn’t get a chance to post something. Which is a perfect excuse to discuss why I set goals the way that I do.

Consistency Is Key

I write a lot. Between my blog here and the writing I do for Gestalt IT I do at least 2-3 posts a week. That’s on top of any briefing notes I type out or tweets I send when I have the energy to try and be funny. For someone that felt they weren’t a prolific writer in the past I can honestly say I spend a lot of time writing out things now. Which means that I have to try and keep a consistent schedule of doing things or else I will get swamped by some other projects.

I set the goal of one post a week because it’s an easy checkpoint for me. If it’s Friday and I haven’t posted anything here I know I need to do something. That’s why a large number of my posts come out on Friday. I keep a running checkpoint in my head to figure out what I want to cover and whether or not I’ve done it. When I can mark it down that I’ve done it then I can rest easy until next week.

With my Gestalt IT writing, I tend to go in batches. I try to find a couple of ideas that work for me and I plow through the posts. If I can get 3-4 done at a time it’s easy to schedule them out. For whatever reason it’s much easier to batch them on that side of the house than it is for me to work ahead on my personal blog.

If I don’t stay consistent I worry that the time I dedicate to blogging is going to be replaced by other things. It’s the same reason I feel like I need to stay on top of exercising or scheduling other meetings. Once the time that I spend taking care of something gets replaced by something else I feel like I never get that time back.

I know that doing things like that doesn’t work the way we would like it to work. Juggling writing without a firm schedule only leads to problems down the road. However, I feel like treating my blog posts like a single juggling ball being tossed up in the air over and over keeps my focus sharp. Unless something major comes along that absolutely steals my focus away I can make it work. I even thought to myself last Thursday that I needed to write something up. Alas, lack of sleep and other distractions get in the way before I could make it happen.

Writing Down the Routine

It’s important that you pencil in your routine to make it stick. Sure, after ten years I know that I need to write something each week. It’s finally ingrained in my head. But with other things, like exercise or harmonica practice or even just remembering to take out the garbage on Thursdays I need to have some way of reminding me or blocking time.

Using a reminders app or a journaling system is a great way to make that happen in your own head. Something you can refer to regularly to make sure that things are getting done. Whatever it is works just fine as long as you’re checking it and updating it regularly. Once you let that slip you’ll find yourself cursing it all because you’re halfway through a month with no updates.

Likewise, you need to make sure to block time on you calendar to take care of important things. My morning routine involves blocking time to go for a walk or a run. I also block time to write down posts and projects that are due. Putting those times on my calendar mean that I not only get notified when it’s time to start working on things but that other people can also see what I’m up to and schedule accordingly. Just be careful that you leave time to do other stuff. Also, while it’s important to use that term wisely don’t just sit there and do nothing if you’ve scheduled writing time. Write something down with the time you have. Even if it’s just a random idea or three. You never know when those half baked ideas can be leveraged to make full-blown magic!

Tom’s Take

I had every intention of writing my makeup post on Monday. Which slipped to Tuesday or Wednesday. And then I realized that real life is never going to stop. You have to make time for the important things. If that means writing something at midnight to post the next day or jogging up and down a muddy dirt road at ten minutes before midnight to ensure you close your last activity rings you have to do what needs to be done. Time isn’t going to magically appear. The gaps in your schedule will fill up. You need to be the one to decide how you’re going to use it. Let your priorities ensue in real life instead of the other way around.