Writing and composition are driven by motivation and discipline. The act of showing up daily, regardless of the outcome, is the only way forward. Taking time each day to just touch your work, to simply have the expectation of engaging with it, facilitates a greater progress than the longest of (isolated) writing blocks.
If you take every other Sunday and carve out 6 hours to work on your writing, it's helpful, but only to an extent. The effort required to reenter that project, that space in your mind where the dream is being crafted, is pretty substantial after two weeks away. A mere 20 minutes per day, five to six days a week, is less time than that Sunday block, but has the potential to take you even further.
The idea of compounding daily wins, of building off of yesterday's progress and creating a rich bank to draw from, helps push us towards this idea of daily practice. When you show up on Wednesday, Monday and Tuesday's ideas and progress are fresh in your mind and you can hit the ground running. No answering of, "What was I doing?" or "Where was I at?" You just know.
An idea from Atomic Habits by James Clear is to make a daily practice easy and consistent. Don't set out for hitting three 60 minute workouts every single week. Simply build the practice of showing up three times a week and lacing your shoes. You can work out if you want to, but you don't have to. You're welcome to go home after showing up and thinking about exercise. The intent is to build habits step by step, and to master each part of a routine in isolation. After several weeks of showing up at the gym consistently, add 10 minutes of exercise each time you go. It will be easy to follow through and exercise regularly for that short amount of time because you've mastered the art of showing up. The progress that's made in those 10 minutes is irrelevant.You're still building and maintaining a habit each time you enter that space and time.
If you have a calling to create, to dream, to wonder, are we not to be obedient with that call? God doesn't walk away from us and simply finish refining us right as Christ is returning. He continues to work on us and through us as time goes on: "And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns," (Phil. 1:6). We are called to continue. I don't believe that carving out isolated moments is wholeheartedly pursuing continuance, does not demonstrate good stewardship of the ideas He has entrusted to you.
I am the first to wrestle with lack of diligence, of not finishing tasks and projects and dreams. I am the first to blurt out a new idea, before even asking God if it's what He wants, before I finish the three open projects in front of me. God's leading is dynamic; it meets us where we are. If He has said yes to something, it may not be a yes forever. Likewise, a closed door may open later. I don't want to run ahead of the Lord and will stop these projects when faced with a closed door. But until then, I am convicted of the need to continue, above all else. To show up regularly and frequently, so that God can close the door. The doors of my hopes and dreams have been closed because of my lack of effort; I have not even given God the dignity of being able to close or open the door. I have willingly closed the door with my failure to show up. Progress in a piano arrangement or a novel cannot be made if my efforts are half-hearted and inconsistent, compromised by the busyness and distraction of my life.
So, until I receive hard nos from God and humans, until God tells me that this pace is unsustainable, or until the structure of my life leads me towards other good, serving projects, I am committing to showing up daily towards the Kingdom work that God has started in me. It doesn't matter whether I write five pages or simply read the work I've already done and plead with God for clarity and confidence, this will be protected time where I commit to being present. Regardless of what is accomplished, it is an extension of my time with God. I will have grace for myself and be joyful no matter what is written; I will celebrate time and discipline for the gifts that they are. If God's grace sustains me beyond the goals I have set, that is all praise to Him. In the meantime, I am starting with easily achievable goals and asking for His help in showing up, and as always, I will
[Pray for plot]
I am prayerfully accountable and committed to:
Five 60 minute blocks of novel work every week
One blog post per week
When I have mastered two full calendar weeks of these goals and dreams, I'll check back in on this topic to share my progress and adjust my list of standards/goals. How glorious it is that we get to parter with God in continuing; we get to partner with Him in telling the good news and loving others unceasingly.
