I used (and use) a similar approach to develop the habit of writing everyday.

For example, if I'm scheduled to write for 3 hours and I feel too much resistance, I write for less time. Maybe 2 hours. If I'm super resistant, I invoke the 'nuclear option' and write for no more than 30 mins, or even less.

Much more important than hitting some predetermined target is writing everyday no matter what. To be forthright, it's not particularly difficult once I get going. The writer in me wants to write; that guy just needs a little coaxing sometimes.

I learned of the 'nuclear option' from an unfortunately titled book by Jerrold Mundis called 'Break Writer's Block Now'. The title is pretty cheesy but the book is gold. It's designed to be read (and applied) over an afternoon, perhaps 3-4 hours. It works. The proof is me. I've been a professional screenwriter for several years now as a result of daily effort.

I guess the most important thing I've learned is that punishment doesn't work (at least for me). But gentle, consistent practice does.

This advice is gold. It's not just about writing. Anything you want to accomplish long term, you need a consistent "at least a little step every day" approach. No matter if it's a new language or fitness goals or learning an instrument or whatnot. A step every day. Consistency is key. It doesn't help to make one big chunk of time once in a full moon.

Time aggregate is a huge leverage and immensely undervalued.

Total sidebar: Have you read The War of Art?

The Mundis book sounds like a very practical take on writer's block; Pressfield's take in The War of Art is more of a metaphorical approach.

I'd be very curious to hear your thoughts if you happen to have tried both!

Yes, I've definitely read and used them both. I think your understanding of the difference is well-conceived.

There's some conceptual stuff in the Mundis book that provides a framework for understanding the why of his approach, but the majority of it is a 'Do this' and 'If this happens, do this' type of pragmatic approach.

What I found is if I followed the book's suggestions, I got a lot of writing done. That simple. Same for a good friend who is a comics artist, except for the obvious fact that he draws.

I found the Pressfield book somewhat useful but the simple fact is, I just don't turn to it anymore. I didn't find it skillful to anthropomorphize an abstract concept like 'Resistance' that I had to wake up and defeat everday. I think it's possible to have a really productive and fulfilling creative life without thinking of it like some kind of a daily fight.

I return to the Mundis book time and time again.

Finding the way into a healthy self-discipline is such a personal and creative act. The process that ultimate worked best for me is to give an approach a sustained trial (30 days or so) and then reflect on how it went. Assess and try again. After going through a lot stuff that didn't work (for me), I found the thing that did.

Perhap those reflections are useful in some way.

That was quite useful; you've convinced me to buy the book.

There's a lot to be said for empiricist approaches from real practitioners. I'm looking forward to checking out his techniques.

This is how I use my calendar.

I would have "do one pushup" as a calendar appointment at a specific time during the day.

My calendar today has; "write morning pages", "clean brewery", "run 30 min"

how does it work though? sounds like you are being rewarded for not holding your own end of the promise (next day you do less challenging thing). I'm not saying punishment should work better but curious how it works.

> sounds like you are being rewarded for not holding your own end of the promise

That's a risk, but I find that overall I pick things just hard enough to be challenging but just easy enough to make myself do. Then I do those things consistently until they become my new baseline and I increase the challenge. (2 pushups, 10, 20 pushups + putting on jogging shoes, ...).

The big idea is to pick things that you're almost certain you'll do. Falling back to smaller promises should be the exception.

> curious how it works.

Slowly, with lots of restarts, but the advantage of this method is that no matter how many times you fall off the wagon (and no matter how far you fall) you have something simple to start again.

Starting over at the proverbial "1 pushup" after you've spent time and effort building it up to so much more than that definitely sucks, but it's far better than other alternatives I've tried (such as waiting until I have the massive motivation needed to restart from exactly where I stopped).

Edit: I think it works for me because it slowly builds up self trust, which then becomes a positive feedback loop.

I can corroborate this method and perspective on why it might work. With a backstory similar to yours but earlier in the journey to transformation / success, I’ve found that locking in “wins” and completing the cycle of intent to follow-through turned out to be much more valuable and helpful than I ever imagined when I was slogging through the long era of seeking change but preemptively dismissing all visible paths.

Thanks for sharing and thanks for putting possible future obstacles / challenges on my radar!

"Someday"

When someday arrives, I'm going to be really friggin' busy

Nobody's perfect, and besides... I haven't promised myself yet, so technically it isn't procrastination! :)

0. I am going to start that workout tomorrow. /s