Writing every day for 365 days, I’ve learned that writing is like caffeine.

Becoming addicted to caffeine is the emergent phenomenon (the consequence) of drinking coffee every day. You couldn’t get awake. If you don’t get your coffee in the morning, you’ll get a headache, If you don’t get your cup when your body is expecting it, you will just feel bad. Those are the complex consequences of getting your body addicted to such a substance.

Building a writing habit is the same. The first paragraph of a blank sheet is like the first sip of hot black coffee. If you’ve never had it once, it is disgusting. After a couple of hundreds of times you have faced the challenge of writing, it will become second nature.

Dumping your thoughts on paper becomes a necessity. You feel like you’re missing something if you didn’t spend your fifteen minutes in the flow of your fingers typing. It’s a thrill, a grain of hesitation living in the back of your mind preventing you from sitting on your desk and launching your text editor. It impedes your relaxation because you know you have to do it. You must do it. And, finally, when you hear the gentle tip-tapping of your neurons dancing, you enjoy the reward of the first rush of dopamine flowing into your body.

Overcoming the initial friction of starting leads to habits: the bad habit of drinking coffee and the good habit of writing daily. Choose wisely.

This is Essay 14 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)