TLDR:
- For something to become a habit, it is said that you have to do it every day for 21 consecutive days.
- Think of the Snapchat streaks you probably used to do and compare the after-effects of breaking that with missing a day in completing a particular task daily. The latter is obviously much more fulfilling on a personal level.
- “What’s the worst that could happen if I miss a day?” If you’re well above the threshold, it’s like you’ve signed a moral contract with yourself. Missing a day would not only probably lead to a guilty conscience keeping you up at night, but a domino effect potentially taking shape.
- By remaining steadfast, you’ll realize that what drives you are intrinsic motivations, such as that it is your duty, and it is helping you move the needle in the grand scheme of things, irrespective of how insignificant it may be.
- The biggest intrinsic motivation of all is wanting to get your hands dirty, for how else can you see the light of better days otherwise? Think about one of the most basic economic concepts: opportunity cost.
- It may also serve as a transcendence of sorts in becoming Goliath of what it is you’re working on, for how many people in your circle would you find to have the same level of dedication to something as quintessential as daily tasks? Probably none.
Building consistency without even knowing it
For someone venturing into the entrepreneurial journey, odds are there are some tasks you complete every day without fail.
This can be anything, from waking up at a certain time irrespective of being a weekday or weekend, to going for walks at a specific time and ensuring you’re at least one percent closer to reaching any goal you have in mind than you were yesterday.
For us, one task we’ve been completing without fail since mid-September is to write one blog post daily.
It is said that you need to be doing said thing for 21 days straight before it becomes a habit that is difficult to break, and obviously, we’re well over that threshold in this regard.
In my view, there’s a certain power that comes with completing your tasks successfully without failure for an extended period.
For starters, it’s much more fulfilling than the Snapchat streaks we used to do back in high school.
What’s the worst that could happen if you unintentionally break that streak? Just that you won’t hear the end of it for the rest of the day. You could always start over and put in the reps once more to keep your Snap Score up, akin to your tasks.
But in this case, depending on your level of dedication, a sense of guilt dawns over you if you think about “what’s the worst that could happen if I miss a day?”
Once you’re well above the aforementioned threshold, it’s like you’ve made a moral contract with yourself. If you break it, it’s not that you won’t just end up having a guilty conscience keeping you up at night, but that a domino effect could take shape, for your drive to stay committed has plateaued.
On the other hand, if you remain steadfast, you’ll find that the power is born from intrinsic motivations, in that you now have to see the finish line of that task every day, for it is your duty.
You’ll find that no matter how insignificant its magnitude may be in the grand scheme of things, it’s still helping you move the needle toward achieving your ultimate goal, as you’re building a sense of commitment and dedication within yourself.
But the biggest intrinsic motivation of all I’ve recently realized is the obligation to get my hands dirty. No matter how bad of a day in the office it’ll end up being, I still have to do it, for how else will I see the better days otherwise?
It becomes an extension of improving your craft, like in this case, if I don’t write 100,000 words with 80-90% of it being utter crap and finding myself cringing looking back and reading, what other way could I possibly improve as a writer?
For 1 day I feel an immense sense of satisfaction with what I write, the opportunity cost is somewhere between 50-60 days of consistent word vomit, as basic as economic concepts get in what you’re foregoing to achieve that outcome.
The power can also serve as a transcendence of sorts to the next level of becoming Goliath in your project, as how many people can you find in your circle with the same level of dedication in completing tasks that seem so minuscule and laughable to outsiders?
Probably none.
That’s the power of completing tasks every day without fail: realizing your true, innate intrinsic motivations that compel you to resist the urge of “there’s always tomorrow,” every now and then, as memento mori would remind us that it’s not a guarantee.