Jerry Seinfeld knew the secret.
Paul Pimsleur invented it.
“When trying to develop a new skill, the important thing isn’t how much you do; it’s how often you do it.” ~Jack Cheng
Today I read Jack Cheng’s blog on 30-minutes a day and the spacing effect. In brief, it makes total sense. We cram for short term memory. But, if we want to learn something new, it’s best to put in a few minutes every day instead of blocks of hours all at once. You can read the entire blog here.
What hit me upside the head was this:
I have been practicing the spacing effect for 561 days now. (Yeah… 561 days. Wow.)
That’s what this blog, unbeknownst to me at the beginning, has been all along.
It’s a discipline. A daily act of fearlessness.
It’s my accountability plan.
If writing a blog scares the bejesus out of you, never fear. There are tons of ways to keep yourself accountable with your goals.
Take it from Jerry Seinfeld, who knew writing every day would make him a better comedian. For every single day he wrote, Jerry placed an X on his calendar. That string of X’s alone is motivation to keep any streak alive.
I’m not saying Malcolm Gladwell got it entirely wrong when he wrote about the 10,000 hours theory in Outliers: The Story of Success. I loved reading about the elite experts and top performers in the world that Gladwell studied.
But, I’m thinking about you and me.
What is your goal this year and how are you going to get there? What do you want to learn or get better at? What do you want to create?
As for me, I’ll be right here with you, writing, every single day.
What about you?
Here’s another way to think about it…what do you want to mark off on your calendar?
There are approximately five months left until New Year’s Eve.
What are you going to do before that ball drops?
I just moved to a new city and started a new job. Your post reminded me to take a few minutes a day to look at the horizon of a few months from now. Thank you.
Hi Terry! You’re so welcome and best of luck and good vibes for the new job. So many new things to do and learn. Thanks for being here too! xo~Jamie