Required actions
[00:00:00] Well, hello! This is The Daily Five with Aurooba, that's me, where we reflect on creating our best lives a little bit every day. Here we go.
[00:00:15] When I did that first season of The Daily Five, I either recorded my episodes at the end of the night or as the first thing in my morning. The start of my day and the end of my night were the two times I could always carve out in my day, and ensuring there was an episode of The Daily Five available every day was very important to me. So I made it happen.
[00:00:41] The really great thing about a few dedicated slots in my day for it was that eventually it became easier to sit down, think, and then record. The content never really got easier, but starting got easier, more natural.
[00:01:00] As I was planning for Season 2, I reflected on what worked, and I realized that while it was easy to carve out time at night for the Daily Five, That wasn't when my best output came.
[00:01:14] My best output came in the morning, or after dinner. So this time around, my rule for myself is to record every day. First thing in the morning. If inspiration strikes and I want to record a second episode after dinner, that's cool, but that's neither required nor enough to cop out of the morning episode, which is required.
[00:01:39] In Season 1, I made ensuring there was an episode available every day required. How and when I recorded was a little more up in the air, although not entirely unstructured. For this season, I'm not requiring an outcome, I'm requiring an action. If I record first thing every day, there will be an episode ready to go every day anyway, so that result is a given in this case.
[00:02:09] Making the action required rather than the outcome emphasizes our commitment to the journey. One of my favorite fantasy series is The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson, and one of the most quoted phrases, called an ideal in the books, is "journey before destination."
[00:02:30] Systems and routines are important when we're trying to achieve a goal. And you're going to spend far more time striving towards that goal, rather than basking in the pleasure of the completed goal. So, while the goal is important, the journey is more important. Not only for our happiness, but for a positive outcome itself.
[00:02:53] What makes an action required in your day to day though? How do you ensure you'll actually do it? Well, to slightly tweak what Diana's dad said to her in A Discovery of Witches series, skill may not be a problem, but desire, maybe?
[00:03:15] I think at first, any new habit or required action in our life boils down to how much do we want it. We make what we want happen. We make time for what we want. We need desire and willpower to instigate change.
[00:03:32] Systems and routines eventually ensure that you can stick to the change even when desire or willpower run out. But to build that system or routine, you need enough desire first.
[00:03:46] I spent a lot of time last year talking about and trying to ensure there were external factors that helped me stick to a new system or routine. And all those ideas are still valid. But ultimately, when we need to make a change and don't want to, there are few external factors that can force you. I don't have to focus on my health. I'm not dying, my health isn't medically in danger. So, in order to stick with a new system or routine long enough that it becomes a system or routine, I ultimately have to want it.
[00:04:19] Yes, laying out my workout clothes the night before helps, but I could just as easily opt not to wear the workout clothes the next day, you know? Or, I could wear them, go down to the weights area, and look at social media while sitting on the bench press bench instead of actually doing the weights. It's desire that makes the action happen.
[00:04:39] So, making the action required requires desire, at least at first. I don't know if I have a better answer right now or a more true one. So consider the need for desire as you consider what your goals are. Thanks for listening. Same time tomorrow?