Seth Godin recently reflected on 11 years of daily blogging and had some insightful things to say about the value of long-term repetitive practices:
Streaks are their own reward.
Streaks create internal pressure that keeps streaks going.
Streaks require commitment at first, but then the commitment turns into a practice, and the practice into a habit.
Habits are much easier to maintain than commitments.
Seth Godin, 8/8/19
Habits so much easier than commitments to maintain because, over time, our habits have written a story which we choose to believe. “This is what I have done, and I can see the results. I have changed, and others perceive me differently.” While commitments may have potential to develop that kind of power, as yet they have no associated narrative. The power of story cannot be underrated.
What Godin calls a “streak” is what a Christian would call “self-discipline” or perhaps even “liturgy.” This isn’t just the liturgy of a weekly worship service, but the regular disciplines that imperceptably form us (whether by their practice or by their omission). What he says resonates because it is fundamentally true.
So what are the things I do regularly, my “streaks”? Regardless of what I say I want to do, what are the things that I actually repeat, the activities that I’d feel really odd about omitting, the practices that make me “me”? What do I habitually say, eat, wash, arrange, read, ignore, and compose? And what do those things say about me and what I value?
How can I leverage the power of story (what I say to myself) to change both my commitments and my habits? Because it will go both ways: my habits change me (mostly in ways I do not notice), and I change my habits (which takes considerably more work).
A Penney for Your Thoughts 