two simple steps

Advertisements often seek to persuade you that the solutions they offer require no effort on your part. They do this using familiar phrases like “click of a button” or “just spray and wipe” that sweep away the effort required for the specific actions. You are free to use the same technique to support any course of action you have chosen for yourself. Phrases like “Design and build” or “Just show up and talk to people” can make what seemed like a daunting initiative look more simple and obvious.

fantasy vs. real

Write a fantasy to-do list. Load it up with anything anyone might want you to accomplish and anything that would feel good to say you had done. Then set that list aside and write a real to-do list, one that contains slightly less than you can do in one day.

phrasing

If you are not retracing the well-trodden paths, not many will follow.

unwritten ruled

It is still a to-do list even if you refuse to commit it to paper.

black and white cupcakes

Don’t eat anything you wouldn’t want to write in your food journal.

stated

The messenger is the message.

written

If you only just barely remember your new year’s resolution, maybe now it is time to write it down.

narrator

Make your story more than an excuse.

commercial-free

Write a short list of changes you would have to make in your routine to go through an entire day without seeing or hearing an advertisement.

adding on

It is easier to write on a page that already contains words than to commit a new idea to a page that is clean and spotless.

title

Imagine that a day was a story with a title. Think of a title you could use for the story of today.

sitcom stuff

Imagine a TV series based on all the reasons you are saving things that you haven’t been using. Imagine how many episodes it would take to cover all of the future contingencies you are saving things for.

final

To avoid future confusion, as soon as you have committed to a final document, delete the draft versions of the document.

timebound prose

When you read something you have written and you have no idea what it means, that demonstrates how much your perspective can change.

year in pictures

Remember last year. Think of three different ways you could tell the story of last year.

party people

Think of an event attended by a large number of people. Think of five different ways you could describe the people at the event.

highway song

Think of a long road. Think of five different ways you could describe the road.

journal

Keep track of the most important things that happen to you. Usually writing is the easiest way to make a record. If an experience can’t be properly described in words, at least record that it happened.

pen to paper

A pen is no more valuable than the words it writes.

only a story

A skilled fiction writer can tell a story that features any object you choose. That doesn’t mean the object has a place of value in your life.