“If you can get 1% better each day for one year, you’ll end up 37 times better by the time you’re done.”
– James Clear

Have you seen someone posting about yet another achievement? Do you find that you feel…empty, almost. You’re happy for them but suddenly your failures are so…bad. The good news is that you’re not alone! The bad news is that the feeling won’t go away overnight.

I am never more motivated than when I see one of those posts. I will sit down and whip up a one-year plan within an hour. I will make a valiant effort before I get tired. Then, I will stumble along to the next thing. Where have I been going wrong?

I recently started reading Atomic Habits. It will most likely be yet another book I don’t finish. But I really like the above quote. It is tempting to focus on the big picture all the time. Where I’ll be in five years or even ten years. It’s tempting to focus on the unknown. By tempting I mean soul-destroying. None of us knows what tomorrow brings. By focusing on improving daily, it should be easier to build up the habit of at least trying.

“Little progress is better than no progress at all. Success comes in taking many small steps. If you stumble in a small step, it rarely matters. Don’t gift wrap the garbage. Let little failures go.”
– John C. Maxwell

I have put this into practice. Instead of skipping study sessions because I won’t have a three-hour block, I will do whatever I can. Sometimes it is 25 minutes. Other times it’s an hour or two. The main takeaway is that I am actively working towards something. I am reinforcing the habit of sitting down and working to achieve an overall goal.

“If you want to experience significant progress toward your goal, you need to be intentional about the work you’re doing every day.”
– Unknown

Being intentional is an area in which I struggle. I am often multi-tasking (sometimes successfully!) and juggling different things. My best work comes when I am laser-focused on the task at hand. When I am in the zone and putting my brain to task, magic happens. The problem is getting that magic to happen all the time. One thing I am doing to improve is keeping weekly logs of various activities. I have logs for my Data Analysis/Coding Journey, Writing and day-to-day. I have also created a weekly checklist of tasks I need to finish.

…and I have learnt that remembering to check these logs or lists is a habit too!

Updating this blog is always on my to-do list. *Fingers crossed*, there will be more posts. I can prove to myself that the lists work!