how to do anything consistently

only three elements you need: motivation, momentum, pleasure

this morning, after getting so excited about the process of language learning and connecting it to the creative process, I came up with a theory for what I need to learn (and thus do) anything. a working theory, of course, like everything in the journal. but here you go.

what you need to learn / do anything

1. motivation

2. momentum

3. pleasure

let’s talk about each in depth.

motivation

is the initiation energy; the act of lighting your fire. why do you want to do something? learn this language? play this instrument? go on your run every morning? what is the deeper core intention, motivation, meaning that it brings to your life? can you distill down the motivation into an image, a sentence, a few words? can you hold that as an emotion? what does it feel like?

momentum

is staying in motion — by restructuring your life to allow flow, and removing all the obstructions to your flow. inertia is real. you have to fight against social pressure, inner pressure, and the insane busy-ness that is modern life. if channeling the motivation is the starting energy required, now you have to be conscious about where that flame could die. where can the flow trickle out? remove all blockages - methodically. one by one. (internal and external — your own judging voices, an over committed schedule, too much social media, etc etc).

pleasure

is the act of fanning the flame, flowing more into the flow. you will not continue to do something unless it gives you a sense of pleasure in the process itself. (even if the pleasure is slightly painful, which is its own kind of pleasure) you can call it a sense of fulfillment, meaning, accomplishment, a feeling of bliss, joy, or happiness. the process itself must be imbued with pleasure, because forget about outcome — process is all there is.

whenever you are feeling stuck, ask yourself — which element here is missing? my starting energy? my momentum? or the pleasure in the process? with all three, you have enough to flow with, and into — your fullest power.