Motion vs. Action: Building Better Habits

I recently read Atomic Habits by James Clear. The book contains valuable information on building good habits and how to break bad habits. Clear makes the content simple to understand. I drew inspiration from the content but one item in particular hit me like a ton of bricks. The difference between motion and action.

In the book, Clear describes the difference between motion and action in detail. However, in a recent 3-2-1 newsletter, which I subscribed after finishing the book, he drives the point he is trying to make in a succinct manner.

The difference between motion and action.

Motion:

-talk to a personal trainer

-research your book idea

-explore different types of meditation

Action:

-do 10 squats

-write 1 sentence

-meditate for 1 minute

Motion feels like progress. Action is progress.

After reading this information I realized that I suffer from ‘motion paralysis’ when it comes to building habits and reaching goals. I enjoy the process of planning and learning but fail miserably when it comes time to execute certain things. My mind begins to play the ‘what if’ game and my ‘perfect’ plans never leave the planning stages.

I’ve always wanted become a better writer. However, I’ve never tried making a habit out of writing. In his book, Clear describes the concept of getting one-percent better every day. As he puts it, tiny changes produce remarkable results. Writing well is important in life because writing is needed to communicate in almost everything. Whether it is a press release, writing laws, producing the words to a best sellers or writing manuals, someone is hired to write words in a certain way. It is my belief that writing is an invaluable skill.

All of this to say that this first post on my website is my way of creating ‘Action’ to become a better writer. I want to practice writing while at the same time provide valuable information to anyone who bothers to read my articles. You can even subscribe to my newsletter to receive additional insights.

I will mainly write about topics that I know about such as technology/digital marketing, youth soccer coaching, family, faith, sports and books. The idea is to write content that I would share with family and friends. The content will be something they would learn something from or enjoy knowing about.

My goal is to publish at least two articles a month.

As I type that sentence it feels scary because my mind goes into a stream of thoughts that want to deter this post from even being published by way of fear.

Here are the thoughts that come to mind:

• What if I don’t have time?
• You are going to run out of ideas, then what are you going to do?
• No one is going to read any of this, so why bother?
• Dude, that is at least 26 articles a year, are you crazy!?

I’m going to try getting one-percent better and it starts with this post. I’m sure the ‘this isn’t perfect’ thought will cross my mind and I will freak out. However, once I hit publish on this article I just have to keep writing articles, even if they are only a paragraph long.