Learning How to Create Content At Least Once a Day
As a beginner blogger to another
I set a new goal of trying to create any kind of content for the internet at least once a day.
I have been reading on and learning how to form new and productive small habits for quite some time now. I have listened to audiobooks, watched countless youtube videos, and read books & articles on how to be consistent, how to be organized, how to be more productive, how to use my time more wisely, how to be rich one day, and the list goes on.
Despite having heard about it for a few years, I came across the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, that I am finally getting around to reading. I am less than a half way in, but I highly recommend that everyone to read it. I wish I took pursuing change more seriously in my 20s and read this book along with all the other self development books.
Well, as most of you probably know, habit forming is not easy. If it has, I probably wouldn’t be here writing this post today.
Along the way, I have picked up pieces here and there. I still manage to make my bed almost every morning, I still make it to work earlier than I need to, I still haven’t quit my job, and I still haven’t completely lost my mind.
But when I fail to be consistent with myself, there seems to be a cycle of guilt and self shame affiliated with the inability to do so. I fall into a state of negative self criticism and scold myself for failing to see things through yet again.
Though this has been a pattern for quite some time, I have been teaching myself how to be nice to myself and to celebrate the small wins on a daily basis. I have been learning how to see the glass half full.
And as I learned how to be more optimistic, I was able to see that I had actually taken quite a few steps forward from who I kept comparing myself to: my old, naive, unmotivated, college self. Though I do fall in moments of regret reminiscing about my youth, and how much more productive and “successful” I could have been had I known what-I-know-now back then, I keep reminding myself that I am doing a good job and that I have come a long way.
Now, how does all of this relate to my title of Learning to Create Content At Least Once a Day?
Understanding my pitfalls, I didn’t box myself and into a particular time or block that I needed to post. To prevent from setting myself up for failure, I didn’t confine myself to either posting on a specific social media platform or writing a blog post. Rather, I tried to focus on creating a small habit of sitting down and attempting to create content for at least 5 minutes a day. Whether that may be: Instagram, Wordpress, Tiktok, or Medium, I told myself, “It doesn’t matter where or when, just once a day. You pick the time and place.”
For the most part, the process of learning how to create and post content for the internet has been more enjoyable. But because I didn’t force myself to have to do anything, I found myself eager to create and focused on thinking of different ideas and topics rather than trying to stick to a schedule or deadline.
Through my personal trials and errors in life, I learned that I am less likely to follow through on less critical and demanding tasks when I place a specific time deadline on it. Despite the deadline, I find myself ignoring the tasks and pushing them off for another day. The pressure and obligation of having to do something repulses me from wanting to complete the task. Honestly, it’s all a weird cycle.
So for those of you trying to learn how to create content daily, don’t focus solely on the content just yet. Start with building a small habit. Start with creating something somewhere first for 5 minutes a day. Slowly build yourself up until you have successfully created a habit and then shift your focus.
Once again, this all brings me back to my current motto in life, “Strive for Progress, Not Perfection.”
