We all struggle from time to time with doing the work we’d like to do. It’s hard to find time to write. It’s easy to fritter away an hour or two on Facebook while intending to write. Beating ourselves up when we don’t use our time the way we’d like to is easy too. (Saying it doesn’t help much to beat myself up has rarely stopped me from doing it). So what’s the answer?
I think one answer is in BJ Fogg’s, “Tiny Habits,” (which I talked about a little last week here).
The question he poses goes something like this:
What’s the tiny, nearly effortless step you can take which could work as a catalyst to get you started?
One of his examples is flossing one tooth. Another is doing two pushups. When he does either of those things, he celebrates, which helps encode the behavior that his brain should repeat (and celebrate more). There’s a lot more scaffolding BJ talks about to support and build the habits we want in our lives, but it’s pretty much that simple.
1. Find a habit you’re already doing that could naturally lead into the habit you’d like to add into your life. (He calls the current habit an anchor).
2. Find a tiny behavior that supports that habit, like flossing one tooth—something so small you don’t need to be motivated to do it. Then do it.
3. Celebrate performing that behavior.
Which leads to the question, what is a tiny habit you might use to start writing a song? Email them to me, I’d love to know how you plan to get started. (Celebrate having doing one before you email me).
The Prompt:
The Musical Idea:
timmyr.com 
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