“There’s no one way [to write] — there’s too much drivel about this subject. You’re who you are, not Fitzgerald or Thomas Wolfe. You write by sitting down and writing. There’s no particular time or place — you suit yourself, your nature. How one works, assuming he’s disciplined, doesn’t matter. If he or she is not disciplined, no sympathetic magic will help. The trick is to make time — not steal it — and produce the fiction. If the stories come, you get them written, you’re on the right track. Eventually everyone learns his or her own best way. The real mystery to crack is you.”
Bernard Malamud, via Daily Rituals
Beyond the Quote (16/365)
If Dwayne Johnson AND Jocko Willink both wake up at 4am to get their workouts done, given how wildly busy and in shape they both are, then that must be the best time to wake up and workout, right? To answer that from personal experience, no. I have tried to build that idea into my routine several times and have failed awfully each and every time. I experienced so much misery and resistance that I felt like even if I mustered together ALL of my willpower from a day, it wouldn’t be enough to get me through one 4am workout—let alone a lifetime of them. So, what gave?
What worked for them, obviously wasn’t going to work for me. I had to change my approach. Rather than try to take extreme actions that were obviously carefully engineered into Johnson’s and Willink’s lifestyles, the question simply became how could I engineer daily workouts into mine. Because what was the goal? To workout at 4am? Or to workout? The latter, obviously. And even more so to create a routine that would allow me to workout daily.
This awakening taught me a lot about myself. Working out at 4am was associated with more resistance that I had willpower—and that was a long-term battle that I was going to lose. Working out at 8am, however, was no problem at all. And so that has been my workout time for well over a decade now. I also realized that my best time for reading, writing, and meditating wasn’t first thing in the morning (doing any of those three would put me right back to sleep) but rather in the afternoon or evening (when I was fully awake and alert or ready to get sleepy). This, of course, goes against many of the most successful who read, write, and/or meditate first thing in the morning. But, I’m not the many, am I? I’m me. And you’re you.
The lesson to take away from this idea is critical and has very little to do with writing. Whenever you’re trying to accomplish ANY personal development endeavor—reading, writing, exercising, meditating, etc—remember that the goal isn’t to do it LIKE anybody else, it’s to do it FOR yourself. So pay attention to resistance, match tasks to optimized times, and then, be disciplined and don’t freaking miss.
Read Next: 12 Quotes on Discipline and How it Will Lead You to Success, Freedom, and Greatness.
Don't Let the Motivation Stop There...!
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