Just Beginning
Writing the first post for your blog is like writing the first paragraph for your term paper---you just have to start somewhere. You just have to put something down on the page, get that first draft (or first post) out of the way, and revise it later. (For whatever reason, revising a lot seems to require less motivation than writing a little.)
It's more important to engage in the activity than do it well in the beginning. Now, while I'm very good at saying that, I've yet to make it a habit. I've caught myself literally and metaphorically staring at the screen many times---paralyzed by not knowing where or how to start. So today, I'm just going to begin by writing about one accomplishment:
I woke up on-time at 8:30AM today.
This might not seem like much (it may even seem late to most people), but I've recently identified sleeping as my worst habit. Well, more specifically, it's the lack of a consistent sleep schedule. I really enjoy sleeping and dreaming (I have vivid, memorable dreams most nights), and I've often overslept, overdreamt*, and awakened very late in the day (even after noon on multiple occasions). When I do this, I immediately feel behind schedule, even if there is nothing important to be done. Well, today I woke up, and I stayed up. That's it.
Next time, I'll explain why this became an issue, what it might mean if you're in a similar situation, and share some of the solutions I've tried---including one particularly effective solution that takes just seconds to do, and can be done anytime, anywhere. Incidentally, today I also was able to: clean my home, do the internet routine, exercise, work on a current design project for multiple hours, grab coffee at a coffee shop, read a chapter in a book, watch a couple of episodes of a show I like, do four loads of laundry, shop for groceries, organize some paperwork, listen to a new album, prepare a meal, play a game of chess, watch a movie, and write this blog post. I know it's nothing spectacular, but it's progress.
//
*I may have made up a word here.
