I had a long discussion with some friends last night about persistence and its merits. They helped me realize that the first 30 days or even 90 days is not about building passion but rather about building good habits, consistency, and disciplined practice.
We are well aware that starting anything new is difficult, that the learning curve is steep. This is why I realized it’s so easy for people to drop off and quit before they give something new a serious effort. A more dramatic example is learning piano. It took me 10+ years before I became passionate, but then again I was a child and I did not like being told what to do. As an adult, you can choose what to learn.
“Repetition is the mother of all skills.”
A good question to ask is, “Why do we become passionate about something?” More often than not, we are passionate about something because we are good at it or we believe we’re good at it. Right now, I can say I’m not very passionate about writing (even though I want to be), primarily because I don’t believe I’m good at it yet. It’s a struggle to collect my thoughts, order my thoughts, and write in a concise manner. But we all know that repetition is the mother of all skills, so here I am pounding away at the keyboard.
I believe if we learn to build good habits and being disciplined enough to stick to something for 30 days, giving it a REAL effort and chance, the worst that can happen is that we can decisively conclude we don’t enjoy doing _______. The best thing that can happen is, we become good enough to gives us the discipline and confidence to continue on.
Now, I acknowledge not EVERY skill can be learned in 30 days, as some instruments may take years, but I also don’t doubt you will surprise yourself with your progress in 30 days and have the confidence to continue on.
Human beings take pride in growth and becoming good at things. So what will you decide to get better at for the 30 days straight? Comment below and let me know!
