What I, an ordinary person, realized after successfully building a daily habit

Until now, every time I challenged myself to build a daily habit, I ended up failing.

If you have similar memories,

I would really like you to read this article.

Even when I started recording every day with a habit-tracking app, if I missed a single day, my motivation would plummet, and before I knew it, I wouldn't even open the app, and it would disappear from my life.

Have you ever had an experience like that?

I have had it many times.

I would repeatedly install and delete new habit-tracking apps. Even when I paid for them to get motivated, I would eventually end up back in this loop...

That 'ordinary person' that I am,

for some reason this time,

has succeeded in making 'drawing every day' a habit.

(By the way, I am not using a habit-tracking app.)

It all started on June 6, 2024,

when I wrote the following article. Since that day, I have continued drawing every morning and have surpassed '100 consecutive days'!

For an 'ordinary person,' isn't that quite amazing? Looking back at my past self, I think it is close to a 'miracle'.

The works I drew little by little during this time are
posted in the 'Everyone's Photo Gallery'.

Thankfully, they have been used to accompany over 100 articles💐

By the time I reached 90 days of consistency, I began to feel resistance toward 'quitting' this habit.

If I were to quit now, something I have miraculously managed to keep up for so long,

the ray of light that shone into my ordinary daily life would be cut off.

It might sound exaggerated, but
that is exactly how it feels.

Between a timeline where daily drawing has become a habit and
one where it hasn't,
at the very least, the former
has a higher possibility of 'becoming better at drawing'.

However, that is not all.
'Even I can keep this up'
—having learned that, thoughts like this began to emerge.

'If I keep drawing every day, beyond that, there might be
interesting developments waiting that I cannot even imagine at this moment.'

That faint sense of excitement
is the 'light' that has shone into my daily life.

Thank you for waiting. We will now get to the main topic.

Why was I able to succeed in building a daily habit this time?

I will summarize the points that I believe were key, including my own personal experience.

Also, these points can be
customized for you! Therefore,

"I don't have the time, it's impossible for me"

Instead of looking at it from that perspective,

"If you could do it, what would you want to incorporate into your daily life?"

"How could I arrange this for myself?"

I would be happy if you could read this while keeping those questions in mind.

Key points for successfully building a daily habit

🌷 Incorporate it "subtly" into your daily routine

As I wrote in the introductory article, I incorporated this habit into a series of actions that were already habits.

The brain tries to avoid "new things."

Once it realizes that "something new" has started, it will give you feelings of "it's a hassle" to try to return you to your usual self.

The strategy I came up with to resist that was to "casually" incorporate it into my daily routine.

There is also resistance to "changing or stopping" things that have become routine. By utilizing that nature of the brain,

"I want to eat breakfast as usual, so let's just get this done quickly!"

In this way, I was able to increase my motivation—the drive to get started.

🌷 Instead of "doing it at a certain time," do it "before doing X"

When I wrote the introductory article, I was waking up at 5 AM even on work-from-home days and holidays. However, since work got busy, I've been waking up around 7 AM to 8 AM more often.

Even so, I have been able to keep up the habit.

The reason for that is,

before breakfastthat I made it my personal rule to do it for 30 minutes.

If I had set it as "do it for 30 minutes starting at 5 AM!" and I overslept, that would be enough of a reason to say,

"Today was a failure."

It would provide the perfect conditions to give up.

However, if it is "before breakfast," the time does not matter.

Whether I wake up at 8:00, 9:00, or even later, it feels acceptable.

Regardless of the time, I just need to do it before I eat breakfast that day!

In this way, the strategy of "before doing X" was effective in terms of creating some leeway in my personal rules.

If possible, try incorporating it into your routine
"before a time you enjoy!"

This is the first customization point.

・Before a meal
・Before a snack
・Before getting dressed
・Before going out
・Before relaxation time
・Before taking a bath
・Before getting into bed

To repeat, the key is
to 'quietly' incorporate it into your daily routine.

Right now, please look back atwhat you do every day.Then, try to think: can you carve out a few minutes 'before' that?

🌷 Structure your habits into 'two parts'

In my case, I decided to wake up a little earlier and dedicate 30 minutes in the morning.

However, I feel that if I had simply set a rule of 'drawing for 30 minutes,' it would have been too vague and I wouldn't have kept it up.

The habits I have been able to sustain consist of a 'Part 1' and a 'Part 2'.

In 'Part 1', I work on
'10-second drawing x 30 figures' from Posemaniacs.
It takes about 5 to 10 minutes.

I quickly sketch the poses that are displayed randomly on the site.

At first, it was a setup aimed at 'improving drawing skills' that seemed likely to be abandoned, but now that it has become a habit, the term 'warm-up' before drawing feels just right.

The existence of this 'Part 1' has become something thatlowers the hurdlefor working on it every day and for starting 'Part 2'.

In Part 2, I draw 'Min-Photo illustrations'.
It takes about 15 to 20 minutes.

To be precise, I am conducting a self-verification experiment: 'How much can my drawing improve by drawing while looking at reference materials?' Therefore, I have made it my personal rule to draw while looking at references.

I thought it would be killing two birds with one stone if the pictures I drew there could be useful to other noters, so I am posting them to the 'Everyone's Photo Gallery'.

If I think of anything else, I am also considering things like side jobs or drawing pictures for other platforms.

Personally, I feel that 'Part 2' requires more mental preparation before starting than 'Part 1', but it doesn't have the same level of intensity as saying 'I'm going to draw properly!!!'.

Rather, I have set it up to be quite loose.
To explain how loose it is, the content of 'Part 2' includes:

・Time to look for reference poses and materials
・Time to worry about color schemes
・Time to create articles to post on note

It also includes these.

Sometimes it takes several days just to look for materials or worry about color schemes. There are many days when I finish 'Part 2' without actually drawing a picture.

I consider such time to be a perfectly valid 'creative time'.
I set 'Part 2' as the time to do what is necessary to draw and to post (output) my work.

Combined, 'Part 1' and 'Part 2' take about 30 minutes.
There are days when I finish 5 minutes early, and days when I end up working for an extra 10 minutes.
Try to think of the actual time spent as something that fluctuates by about ±10 minutes depending on your mood and physical condition that day.

The points to consider when thinking about a two-part structure are the following three:

① Set 'Part 1' to something you can do even when you are tired or when you are traveling. (Think of it as a warm-up exercise in terms of difficulty!)

② Set 'Part 2' to something that gives you the conviction that continuing it will increase your self-esteem and help you like yourself more.

3. Treat days where you only complete 'Part 1' as a successful continuation.

Thanks to the point above, my habits never broke, even when visiting my parents' home, during busy work periods, or even when I caught COVID (*though never push yourself when you're feeling unwell!).

I didn't place much weight on the perspective of 'I've been able to do this for XX minutes every day,'

but rather, 'I've been able to keep doing this every day.'
It was simpler, and I found it easier to continue when I could take pride in that.

Based on the above,
for example, if I wanted to build a habit of 'reading a long novel every day,' this is how I would think about it.

Part 1 (first 5-10 minutes)
- Read a self-help book (a genre that is easy for me to read)

Part 2 (last 15-20 minutes)
- Read a long novel

If I wanted to build a habit of writing on note every day,
(this is just my personal approach)

Part 1 (first 5-10 minutes)
- Do journaling (writing down exactly what I'm thinking in my head)

Part 2 (last 15-20 minutes)
- Write on note (including choosing a topic, drafting, proofreading, and finding a header image)

The idea here is to write a little bit every day and post it once it's finished.
If I wanted to make 'posting every day' a habit, the two-part structure would likely be different.

🌷 Don't think about 'finishing it' in a few days, and don't think about 'drawing a line' on a daily basis either.

This time, I introduced an 'alarm'.
Just set it for 30 minutes on your smartphone.
It's fine to change the time spent on part one and part two depending on your mood that day.

As a result, it was an effective tool for maintaining a healthy distance from the habit, in the sense of 'not spending too much time on it every day'.

We often

'When I have time, I'll do it to my heart's content!'

tend to think like that, don't we?
However, please try to think back calmly.

Think about when you finally have free time on a day off
'✨Finally, I can do what I love✨'
and you feel liberated.

You end up lying down with your smartphone in hand for the time being,
and before you know it, you've been fast asleep for two hours.

That's right. You should have already realized this yourself.

This is what 'humans' do.

...

I apologize for making such a sweeping generalization.

At the very least, I have done this many times while thinking, "I'll create something when I have time!"

After all,

"I'll focus entirely and finish XX when I have time"

This kind of setup is difficult or unrealistic for many people.

"Work on it loosely and steadily for 15-20 minutes every day. Before I knew it, I had finished 10 works."

This is something that an "ordinary person" was able to achieve in reality.

How was it?

Finally, I will summarize the points.

If even one thing resonates with you💡, please try incorporating it into your daily life with your own "customization."

It is okay if you break the streak.
You can just change the "customization" and try again when you feel like it.

Beyond that repetition, you might find yourself "succeeding smoothly" unexpectedly.

When "what you really wanted to make a habit" is added to your daily life, your "self-esteem" will also rise.

You will be able to like yourself more.

I hope this article is helpful to you.

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