Writing every day for 365 days, I’ve learned to lower the bar and to reduce expectations.

It has always been easy for me. When I start something, I quickly go in the flow, I usually have fun, and I produce something decent. Almost everything is generally almost easy for me.

And this is where perfectionism killed my creativity. To do too much, I’ve got stuck, and I didn’t do anything.

It happened after I’ve reached a good publishing pace—one article per week on my blog. Then I took the challenge of summarizing a complex and rich experience, and the draft started to grow. One thousand, two thousand, five thousand words. And I didn’t even finish it.

Reading and rereading, writing and rewriting, it became too much. I’ve started to get nausea.

And I failed. That draft is still sitting there. And I still have a terrible feeling if I think about it.

I’ve finally found the hard things. And you can face them only by taking a little chunk of them. Piece by piece. By making each piece so easy to accept that it’s almost effortless.

For instance, like this short essay, knowing I have only one page to fill on something so present to my mind makes my work not only comfortable but fun.

I couldn’t sleep. This essay came to my mind, spontaneously. I had to get up to write it at 2 am. It took me just the time to write it in one go.

Make your work easy to be done so that you cannot miss it. You’ll achieve great results.

This is Essay 5 of 30 in the my challenge One Year Writing: 30 Lessons Learned in 30 Days

1. The Journey is the Purpose (16 Nov 2020)
2. Writing is Thinking (17 Nov 2020)
3. Write a Lot to Write Well (18 Nov 2020)
4. Creative Loneliness (19 Nov 2020)
5. Be Less Ambitious, Be More Consistent (20 Nov 2020)
6. Writing builds your networks (21 Nov 2020)
7. Connect ideas now (22 Nov 2020)
8. Writing improves your memory (23 Nov 2020)
9. Writing makes you a better observer (24 Nov 2020)
10. Writing sets the focus on yourself (25 Nov 2020)
11. Dissolve your distractions (26 Nov 2020)
12. Writing reduces your jargon and slang (27 Nov 2020)
13. Walking generates ideas (28 Nov 2020)
14. Writing is like drinking coffee (29 Nov 2020)
15. Creativity makes you happy (30 Nov 2020)
16. Be smart, let it go (1 Dec 2020)
17. Writing is a process (2 Dec 2020)
18. Automate repetitive tasks (3 Dec 2020)
19. Publish text as digital text, not images (4 Dec 2020)
20. Why asking questions? (5 Dec 2020)
21. Facilitate growth by tracking habits (6 Dec 2020)
22. Type more, type faster, type better (7 Dec 2020)
23. Transcribe your thoughts to become an effective communicator (8 Dec 2020)
24. Write daily to become a better manager (9 Dec 2020)
25. Do it small to do it better (10 Dec 2020)
26. Don’t lose your mind. Back it up (11 Dec 2020)
27. Write daily to enhance your reality (12 Dec 2020)
28. If only I could be ten, again (13 Dec 2020)
29. Writing compounds despite everything (14 Dec 2020)
30. The habit of building habits (15 Dec 2020)