🧩 How to Commit and Stick to Doing Something Everyday
Last Updated: 3 months, 2 weeks ago
Whether it's a Building a Good Habit or Routine, or Practising a Creative Talent Everyday
I wrote this for anyone who struggles to "stick to it" when taking up daily writing, drawing, any creative activity, or even anyone simply trying to work towards a general goal, build new routines or start good habits.
I am including my fellow ADHD readers out there. I am ADHD myself, and these are the hacks I used to get into daily writing when I was first getting started.
A Little Personal Backstory
My brain has learned a fear of getting too attached to things I love, associating this with getting hurt by either the thing itself, or of losing the thing. It is a fear of failure - or a fear of disappointment - combined with a fear of attachment. Thus, it manifests as a fear of commitment and of even trying and often, even getting started, seeing everything as overwhelming.
Through this, my mind has had a tendency to scare me away from even tentatively approaching a goal that could in any way potentially turn out to be aligned with fulfilling some ultimate dream, something that could get too close to that "attachment".
One of the ways that my mind tries to do sabotage me from getting started is by focusing my thoughts through the lens of perfectionism... which of course immediately results in analysis paralysis.
My ADHD and resulting general struggle when it comes to sticking to routines in general has further made the need crucial for me to find a psychological "hack" to keep me consistent.
Overcoming Perfectionism
The answer to all of this for me came in the form of some useful YouTube videos by YouTube psychiatrist "Dr. K", a.k.a HealthyGamerGG.
HealthyGamerGG's videos were incredibly helpful to me in terms of:
- overcoming perfectionism and channelling my creativity into action and
- Most importantly, developing regularity and routine - something which is sustainable.
These are the specific points and the relevant videos that helped me.
1. Becoming less impulse-driven
This is how to Psychologically hack "Discipline" and "Patience" to go from Creativity to actual Creating.
In a nutshell, Dr K explains how to become less impulse-driven. The important thing here is not simply willpower and "just do it" actions but an internal mindset shift which enables those external actions. He also talks about the importance of focusing on the creative task itself, not on the desired outcome of becoming a best-selling author or famous artist, etc, but to simply doing the best you can in the moment.
2. Grieving "Perfect" and letting it go
However, simply doing one's best and perfectionism are entirely opposite.
This is why, paradoxically, in doing our best, we actually need to learn to let go of perfectionism:
This directly addresses what I and many others refer to as "analysis paralysis".
In essence, Dr K explains that to be able to commit to practising in order to improve, we need to learn to "grieve" the perfect and accept that it's ok to make something that isn't perfect, something which may in fact turn out really crappy.
In fact, this realisation can be incredibly liberating and downright inspiring when you internalise that it's really ok to make an artwork or story that is actually bad!
3. Realising that your brain is lying to you to make you do less work
The above steps are crucial, but there is another key factor that sheds the important light of context that can help with motivation: realising why the mind actually messes with us in telling us we have to be perfect.
Our brain plays an evolutionary trick on us. By design it deliberately sabotages us and makes us feel overwhelmed and even physically tired, in order to deliberately disincentivise us from doing “unnecessary” work! In fact at this point it tells us to come up with reasons why it won't be worth it to do the work!
Yes, it does in fact manifest these psychological symptoms physiologically!
As Dr K. explains in this video - you may have a situation where you look at a task that you really don't want to do, and suddenly you feel exhausted! However, once you realise you no longer have to do the task or have decided to put it off, you no longer feel like you need a nap and are just fine to do something else that isn't daunting! The tiredness was indeed being brought on by your psyche!
That's right, in those cases, your mind is telling your body to work against you, which is something you have to be aware of when trying to develop a new discipline! Hence be wary of the excuses your brain comes up with which try to convince you that it won't be worth it!
Your brain works really hard to find ways to put you off, so you should be suspicious of the reasons it gives you to convince you to give up, especially if you realise you are actually finding reasons that you shouldn't even get started in the first place, even on one task, and are blowing things up by looking far into future hypotheticals! (Eg: "I'm not as good at writing as all those famous people, why would people be interested in my work, in fact, what's the point of even trying, it's going to be so hard working on this for [insert number of years here]...". You see what I mean?)
If you scrutinize those reasons, they are not actually rational! Remember: ANY progress is better than no progress, regardless of how your brain may try to lie to you you need to be perfect or else should do nothing at all to improve!
A Final Motivational Note
For anyone who is considering taking up daily writing, drawing, anything creative; trying to work towards a general goal; or simply build new routines or start good habits, I strongly do recommend watching the above videos, if you haven't already while reading this!
If you're trying to overcome the analysis paralysis with something daunting and new, or get into a routine with something familiar and this time actually stick with it, they will really help you!
Remember, it is not about summoning willpower to undertake those external actions, it is the internal mindset shift.
In summary, you are removing the need to be perfect! You are shifting your focus from an end goal to instead be in the moment in your craft! This, the mindset shift, is what enables you to do those actions, not the other way around!
If you are looking for sustainability and routine, particularly if you are ADHD like me and thus struggle with Executive Dysfunction and potential Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria, is crucial to have this understanding of the necessary mindset shift, and to develop this self acceptance, not simply treat these tasks as something you just need to "power through" as an external action! The internal mindset of embracing the moment, letting go of "perfect" (or even "good") and embracing the doing and creating process rather than fixating on the created or an end-goal achievement down the line, is what you need to succeed!
Don't focus on how good or perfect it will be, or it must be. Instead, as Neil Gaiman once said: "Create what you want to exist in the world!" And this goes just as well for goals and routines. Do what it is that you want to do, without getting hung up on whether it will be good enough. And eventually, you will get there. Even little steps at a time count! The trick to true sustainability is not to get intimidated and overwhelmed at the start, and along the way!
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