Category Archives: Writing

I’ve talked about writing goals before.  I mentioned that setting daily goals gets things done.  Now I want to talk about the power of habit.

Habit is a bitch.  It can embarrass or even kill you — as in picking your nose, biting your nails, snacking while watching TV, or smoking.  I should know, since I have a history with all four.  Although I seem to have the smoking thing licked (clean for almost 18 months by the grace of the gods), and the snacking thing too, I  still struggle with nail-biting and and nose-picking.

What can I say.  We all have our demons.

But habit can also work in your favor.  A gabillion books have been sold on the subject of the positive power of habit.   I haven’t read them, because I figured it out all by myself.  A pity I didn’t write a book about it, because I would have made a wheelbarrows full of money.  Anyway, the point is, go form some habits that benefit you.

Here are some of my beneficial habits (there are too many to list all of them):

• Every night before bed I set the coffee pot to brew at 5:00 am.
• Each weekday morning I check my goal progress and work social media over coffee until 5:30 am.  At 5:30 am I exercise until 6:30 am (unless I’m injured, like I am now, in which case I write or futz around for an hour).  At 6:30 am I come in, unload and reload the dishwasher, and straighten the kitchen so my wife comes downstairs to a happy kitchen.  I eat breakfast, wash up, and head out for work at 7:30.  On lunch break at the office I write 1,000 words.
• On Saturday morning I work on secondary writing projects, visit my Mom, go to martial arts club, and grocery shop.
• On Sundays I rest, blog for the week, visit my Mom, and cook all my breakfasts and lunches for the next 5 days.

What kind of habits could you form that would benefit you?  Give it some thought and you might be able to realize your dreams.

And please try to stop picking your nose.  It’s a nasty habit.