Understand that I’m not making a promise, either to you or to me. It isn’t a promise, but it is a true truth: This little bit of daily writing might have become a habit, or at least something that I’m now so accustomed to doing that not doing it feels a little like not brushing my teeth.

Perhaps you are as unsurprised as I am. If you know me, then you already knew there was probably going to be at least a #57 out of 56. I’m a self-acknowledged over-achiever. (Too late to change that, so I’m not even trying.)

Along the way, over the last eight weeks, I have thought a bit about habits and rituals and commitments. I have thought about what day 57 of a 56 day program might feel like.

In the context of other kinds of commitments – work, exercise, relationships, personal care – daily writing has, as I suspected it might, wedged its way into my natural rhythm.

I’m not making a promise here, only acknowledging the situation.

Two thoughts, then, for your consideration:

I wrote at the beginning of the series that one impetus for my birthday self-challenge was a conversation with a friend during which I asked (rhetorically) what could happen if I put as much time into writing as I have into other daily practices. There was only one way to satisfy this curiosity, and eight weeks proved just long enough for a start, not a conclusion.

Just start, then see what happens next. In my experience, that’s always a solid approach, even if getting started seems scary and overwhelming.

The second thought is related to the first: The only way to get anything done is to put in the work required to get it done.

Do the work.

Whether in professional or personal pursuits, relationships or self actualization, there is no magic, immediate way forward without a commitment to putting in the work.

We’ll just see how this goes, OK?

OK.

P.S. I wrote this post in my tiny phone screen. If there’s some outrageously funny Siri word substitution somewhere that I failed to catch, then so be it.