Write One Sentence Every Day.
(or) Do One Little Thing Every Day
You might be thinking– “Hey, I just read the title of this blog entry and feel like I already get the point, so why should I waste my time reading an entire essay you spent way too long writing?”
The short answer is: you’re probably already wasting your time so don’t flatter yourself. If you managed to find this blog, you are likely actively procrastinating, not working on a dream or ambition of yours, or are trying to figure out how to be a better version of yourself.
Referring back to the question you didn’t ask–
I’ll admit the title is fairly axiomatic (self-evident), but it is often the things that we trick ourselves into believing we have a comprehensive understanding of that haunt our progress as human beings for decades at a time.
The three personal dilemmas I mentioned above (procrastination, avoidance, and lack of direction) can all be solved by adding one simple philosophical action to your daily routine:
Write ONE sentence or do ONE little thing EVERY day.
Yes, it’s that simple.
From empirical experience I could tell you that come the end of a 365 day cycle, you will have written a lot more if you were to write twenty minutes per day rather than 5-8 hours whenever you feel like it.
Feeling like it is what leads writers to develop dependencies on substances like alcohol and adderall (trust me, I know– I went to rehab for this exact thing).
Writing is not about “feeling like writing”. It’s about writing.
Once again– it’s that simple.
Over the last couple years, I have finally developed this habit and I must say it is absolutely life-changing. Thanks to telling myself I only have to write one sentence every day, I have managed to finish three books in two years and finally make that professional writing website, newsletter, and blog I have put off for, oh I don’t know, NINE YEARS.
Let’s talk about the reasons why you might have some resistance towards believing in the compound effect of this approach–
“What I am working on is so complex and difficult that I would never finish it if I only wrote or worked on it for twenty minutes to an hour per day.”
“I don’t have the time to work on my side-hustle or dream every day– I have a full-time job after all!”
“I can’t write every day because I don’t have hands and part of my brain didn’t develop at birth so I don’t sleep and thus don’t believe in the abstract concept of ‘days’.”
Unless you find yourself in category #3, I suggest you keep reading. If you do find yourself in category #3, I suggest investing in some screw-on hands and an electronic calendar.
Why You Should Write One Sentence Per Day (or Do One Small Thing)
To start– don’t stress yourself out by thinking only of the long-term project, tricking yourself into believing that unless you do massive bouts of work, you will never finish a massive project.
It’s the opposite.
Do a little bit of work every day, even just one sentence, and I can promise you that you will finish whatever you start.
Break the work down to its smallest form and start there. Then start there again the next day. And the next day. And the next.
There’s something about telling yourself you only have to write a sentence that makes it a hell of a lot easier to sit down at your computer and write.
Here are some quotes about this concept from various famous authors so you know you’re not just taking the advice of some fame-estranged online writer who lives in his mom’s basement:
“Just write a little bit every day.” - Madeleine L’Engle, author of A Wrinkle in Time.
“You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.” - Jodi Picoult, author of My Sister’s Keeper.
“Just write every day of your life. Read intensely. Then see what happens. Most of my friends who are put on that diet have very pleasant careers.” - Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451.
“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” - Ernest Hemingway, author of a shit ton of critically-acclaimed books.
So start small, do the work little-by-little (or as the Japanese say, “Sukoshizutsu”) and eventually the big thing will be done. Learn to be satisfied with one sentence or twenty minutes of writing per day, and you will come to learn the great satisfaction of all: finishing a complete manuscript.
