(Maybe) how to post consistently
I’ve tried to write and publish posts consistently before, but always ended up stopping after a few days. This time I’ve been posting for 17 days straight now (counting today).
So here’s what I’m doing differently this time, which has helped considerably in getting me to post consistently so far.
Set Aside a “Spot”
First, I have a specific “spot” where I write and post. This helps to get my mind in the pattern of “okay, it’s time to write.”
Removed Friction in the Process
I’ve also removed a lot of friction that there used to be in times past in actually publishing the posts.
I have a simple Hugo static site with posts written in Markdown files in a GitHub repository.
Using my phone for the entire process makes it much easier to write and publish in just ~15–30 minutes most days.
I write in my notes app and then I use the GitHub app to add a new file, paste the text in, and commit. The build process is automated via a GitHub actions script, so there’s no friction in having to rebuild the site manually.
The process is extremely simple and undistracted. It goes like this:
- Open my notes app and start writing.
- Copy the text to the clipboard.
- Open the GitHub app, create a new Markdown file.
- Paste the text into the file.
- Commit.
After that, it’s published in a few minutes.
Writing for the Next Day
Another thing I’ve been doing differently is writing the post for the next day. For example, this post will be published on December 3rd, but I’m writing it on December 2nd.
There’s something about writing “for tomorrow” that makes it less stress for my brain and for that reason I can usually write pretty well.
There is a second reason I write a day in advance. I keep the Biblical 7th-day Sabbath (Friday sundown to Saturday sundown), so there is one day a week that I won’t publish a post. So, instead, that extra post forward covers the Sabbath and I publish two posts on the 1st day of the week (Sunday).
Changed My Mindset
Maybe one of the biggest things I’ve changed is my mindset. My mindset used to be that the post should be a complete, error-free, finished work of its own (the posts from 2023 are a good example of this).
This time I don’t limit myself to only worthwhile, in-depth topics, and don’t (currently) have a minimum post length. Some posts are only two paragraphs and others, like this one, are longer and more in depth.
So, in short, removing as much of the friction I possibly have from the writing and publishing process has greatly helped me to post consistently.