Do Something Daily: Make it Simple, Make it Small, Make it Yours

“Alright, smart guy,” you might be saying, “you’ve convinced me. Doing something daily is a very good thing to do. But WHAT exactly am I supposed to be doing?”

That’s a good question. Now, here’s the answer.

Whatever you want.

You really can’t screw this up.

I told you my daily something is writing and how I began by posting at least one sentence to a blog every day. That’s only partly true.

These Shoes Were Made for Walking

My daily something actually began the day I stepped onto a treadmill and started walking. At the time, I was broke, depressed, and out of shape. I had a lot of work to do, but strapping on a pair of tennis shoes and walking was about all I could manage at the time, so that’s what I did, and I did it every day.

It was the least I could do, but it became more than that. Gradually, I increased the pace, the incline, and the duration. My brief, brisk walks on a treadmill turned into lengthy runs beneath an open sky. I started eating better. I lost weight. I felt good. Really good.

Physically, I’m still not where I hope to soon be, but I’m so much farther along than I ever imagined. And it’s all because one day I stepped forward and kept on stepping.

Something Daily – Something Learned

The experience taught me several things: things can get better over time, persistence is more important than speed, showing up is half the battle, and, most important of all, I could be trusted.

I suddenly understood how I could apply these lessons to other parts of my life, including my creative hopes and dreams.

The point of this is to demonstrate that it doesn’t matter much what you first choose to do.

In time, your something daily may change. It would surprise me more if it didn’t, for in the beginning, some things may seem too scary to approach.

But do something (anything) daily and you’ll eventually find the courage to do other things, the kinds of things you once only daydreamed about.

With all of that in mind, I understand you still have to pick something, so let me offer you three general guidelines that will increase your chances of staying on track.

3 General Guidelines for Something Daily Success

1. Make it simple.

The more complicated you make things, the less likely you are to stick with them. Simple things like writing a sentence, walking for twenty minutes, or shooting a single photograph are easy to understand. You’ll know, without question, whether or not you’ve kept your commitment for the day.

2. Make it small.

Some days, you have loads of free time and energy, and you’re in love with the world.

Other days, not so much. You’re up against the clock and feeling drained, and you’re ready to burn the whole world down.

Those days, the rotten ones, are the reason you want to keep your commitment small. On those days, you just want to check the box. There. Done. Now go to hell, something daily.

On the good days, you’re free to increase the time and energy you devote to your little something. On the bad days, you’re free to give yourself a break and do the bare minimum. That bare minimum, however, is nothing to sneeze at. It keeps you in the game and builds a belief in your own ability to see things through.

For example, let’s say you wanted to increase your level of physical activity. Commit to walking once around the block every day. Too much? No problem. Commit to putting on your walking shoes every day.

Does that sound silly? It isn’t. Put on those walking shoes every day and one day you’ll start walking. I guarantee it.

Write a sentence every day and one day you’ll write a paragraph. Keep doing that and one day you’ll write a page. Keep doing that and one day . . .

3. Make it Yours

Do not make your something daily something you think you should be doing. We’re shedding the shoulds. Remember?

Your something daily is for you first. I’m not asking you to be a selfish person, but you’re far better equipped to do for others when you set aside some time to do for yourself. Align your something daily with that time.

This is your chance to tap into that curiosity I’ve been asking you to cultivate. This is a time to act upon all those thoughts I’ve been asking you to collect.

What were those mysteries you wanted to solve? Pick one and make that your something daily.

Let’s say you wanted to learn to read music. Make that your something daily. Spend some time each day learning about and practicing the reading of music.

Do you want to learn photography? Commit to taking one picture every day. If it’s a rotten day, you might snap a quick pic of the inside of your freezer. Who knows? Could be interesting.

Your something daily can be something you take in or something you put out. Perhaps you want to write poetry. In the beginning, you might choose to simply read poetry, and a poem a day will do the trick. Later, you can change things up and commit to writing one line or stanza every day.

Maybe you’ve been thinking about making a change. What’s the very least you can do to begin that change?

Whatever you choose, it’s important that it come from you, from your questions, your thoughts, your desires, your values. Make it yours.

Oh, and One Last Thing

You may be saying, “But I have too many things I’m curious about. I have a Renaissance spirit. I can’t pick just one thing.”

Just let me say this in response. B.S. And I don’t mean Bart Simpson.

You may well indeed have multiple interests. Guess what? So do I. So does everyone else. Stephen King, the writer, plays in a rock band called Rock Bottom Remainders with a bunch of other writers. There are actors who paint and musicians who play around with computers. No one is a one-trick pony.

Doing something daily doesn’t preclude you from exploring all the things your heart and mind can ponder. It merely enables you to take one of them seriously enough to do something with it. And, even better, it prepares you to eventually do something with all of them should you choose to.

Make time for all your interests. I wouldn’t think of asking you to do otherwise. But then pick one and make time for it on a daily basis. It will eventually feed and be fed by all the others. I’ll address this further in the next section on what to expect down the road.

But for now, pick a something, any something, and begin. Just remember. Make it simple. Make it small. Make it yours. In the end, you could make something fantastic.

Here’s Something to Make Yours

These blog posts! It’s easy to make them yours. Just subscribe to them by RSS feed or by Email.