Previous me, more coercive, more giddyup, thought that publishing a daily post would take IMPORTANT TIME away from my BIG, IMPORTANT PROJECTS.

After doing it 91 days in a row I’m surprised to say that it benefits everything else that I do, especially larger projects.

The first thing that publishing every day does is prime the pump. It’s much easier to stay making things than it is to start making things just like it’s much easier to stay hiking uphill 90 minutes in, all warmed up, than it is to walk those first 1000 stiff steps.

The second thing publishing every day does is reveal my ideas about things, wrong ones, interesting ones, sometimes compelling ones. When those ideas make it out of my head, they have a chance to meet other ideas, learn about themselves, make friends, and contribute.

The third and perhaps most important thing for me is that publishing every day keeps a very pesky demon at bay: The Creative Urgency Demon. Making something seems to be the only way to calm that demon.

When he shuts the hell up, I have the freedom to explore, to play, to relax.

I think that The Creative Urgency Demon is something innate to us. Often the only way to stop my 1-year-old from destroying the house is to put him in front of a piece of paper with a crayon. He can sit there for an hour, perfectly content.

Scratch that itch, quell that Demon.

Calming The Creative Urgency Demon is particularly important to large projects. The Demon only knows how to turn up the urgency, which reduces capacity, leads to bad decisions, and makes everyone deeply unhappy.

Now everything can be approached from a place of calm awareness.

Regarding the IMPORTANT TIME itself: Posting every day has been taking me 20-40 minutes, never more than an hour, and at this point I don’t think I could ever give it up. It gives me back too much time, calm, focus, and happiness. It’s too valuable to stop.