Three thousand days.
That’s how long I have been writing at least 750 words. Not a single break along the way.
Three thousand. Seems dramatic, right?
In a vacuum, yes. It is dramatic — and a little insane — to keep track of such a streak. But, I’m not the one who keeps it. I’m just the one who tries to keep it intact.
Every single day.
3,000 days ago, my friend introduced me to a website that records writing entries. The only goal? Write at least 750 words.
There are infinite opportunities at our fingertips every second of every day. We could get lost in a vortex of online videos or infinitely scroll through social media. I can’t explain why, in that moment, I chose to commit to a blank screen with a green heading and absolutely no tangible result.
Years later, this article is the result. It’s one of many results.
Through various other milestones, I’ve written articles like this. I’ve explained how, most of the time, my entries of 750 words contain nothing more than nonsense and rambling.
That’s an important note to keep repeating. Most of what I write is not even for myself, it’s for the sake of writing. It is also why I have decided to document these thoughts into a blog.
Writing is an exercise.
Physically, your fingers move faster with each passing day, month, year, etc. Mentally, you’re jostling for the right thought to move to the front of your brain as well as the right method to convey said thought. Emotionally, you are scheduling time for writing. But, at the end of the day, writing consistently is no different from going to the gym consistently.
This is also why I am choosing now to take on this endeavor. I’ve seen too many questions, fears, and roadblocks from writers who want to follow a similar journey and, even if I don’t have all the answers, I have some. Because I’ve also had those same questions, fears, and roadblocks. Now that I’ve walked the path on 3,000 consecutive days, I have certainly learned something.
I’ll start with the most important discovery of mine and piece of advice I can offer: There are countless different ways to become a good writer, but only one way to actually become a writer. That is, write.
It sounds amazingly simple and obnoxious both at the same time, but I’m not asking anybody to write something good. Or even write something productive. I’m asking to write something regularly.
The other comment I always attach to it is: The act of writing cannot get in the way of writing. Eventually, it should become second-nature. The best way to avoid this is to turn the act of writing into a way of life. A habit. An obsession.
When I first starting writing my daily words, I worried about them constantly. I would need approximately an hour to get myself to a computer, think about what I wanted to write, and then type through all of them.
Now, 3,000 days later…I still worry about them constantly. It’s just a different worry.
Sure, it’s a voice in my head that won’t be silenced until my goal is reached or it’s continual glances at the clock to see how many hours I left in my day. The difference, however, is that I use that “away from computer worry time” to start to plan what I want to write. By the time I sit down and with a keyboard under my fingers, I have cleared two hurdles: knowing, to some degree, what to write and following the habit to which my mind and body are pushing me.
Notice how the writing, itself, is not a hurdle. It’s now the vehicle that drives me through the path. A necessity to get me to to my goal.
On a physical level, there’s no denying how helpful it is to practice typing on a daily basis. That same hour or so that I mentioned earlier is now cut in half on most days, while the daily limit I really hit is 900 and not 750. Consider it my fingers running on a treadmill, where I’m both increasing endurance but also trimming the length of time it takes to run a set distance.
Really, like so many other walks of life, this game is mental. There are distractions everywhere, including the same screen that shares our words! Nothing can enhance your ability to write besides taking on those same distractions on a regular basis and winning.
Win today. Win tomorrow. Win every single day that you play the game.
Now, the two of us have a challenge. As the author of this post, I am committing to share what I have learned as often as possible in the form of this blog. As the reader — but most likely as a writer yourself — your challenge is to make your path while knowing that you aren’t alone in the process.
I’ve also cleared out every other article and stuffed it into an archive. You can read them if you so desire, but I’m highlighting one in particular. It’s the first post I wrote after exactly one year of completing 750 words. It was the beginning, and it isn’t far from where you’ll be once you get started.
This opening opening article is not intended to serve as a trophy for my accomplishment, but instead show an extremely zoomed out, macro view of how one person’s writing path looks on the “practice” side of the equation. I am hopeful that it inspires an “I can do that, too” comment as opposed to intimidate, but that’s why I personally found it so helpful in the beginning to simply start. 750 is not a lot of words. Neither is 900. Or 1,000.
Or 100.
Whatever it is, make the goal yours and figure out how you can consistently reach it.
You can do it.