This is my 101st post in as many days. I started on December 22nd, 2020 and have not missed a day.

If you knew anything about me, you would know that this outcome is terribly unlikely. In fact, it would be impossible under any previous framework I might use to attempt it.

Quick background: I’ve been a professional writer/filmmaker since I entered college. Every day of the past 20 years I’ve thought about/noodled on/agonized over the creative work I wish to make. In that time I can count on one hand how many things I’ve made that I wasn’t paid for.

And yet, in 100 days, I have published 100 things (114 if you count my newsletter).

My usual tendency would be to approach this as an Extreme Goal™ but that’s the opposite of what I did. I now know that I can do this continuously forever, and most importantly, that it’s EASY.

I’ve treated this largely as an experiment in sustainability. I’m beyond a point in my life where I believe in explosions of work followed by exhaustion and tepid rest. I’m only interested in keeping a continuous pace and I am now convinced that this approach compromises nothing.

Keeping a continuous pace is the best way to do all of the following:

  1. Grow in capacity
  2. Improve in quality
  3. Enjoy the process

…and it isn’t even close.

Speaking of capacity, I can add a lot more to this, and I will, a little bit at a time.

I believe that the single most important hypothesis I allowed myself to test was this: Things don’t have to be hard. In fact, the fetishization of Great Difficulty™

has been deeply counterproductive to all of my creative desires.

Difficulty is neither productive nor desirable.

I want to make feature films (just one of the things I want to do) and that is Hard™. Except no action I could take in this moment toward making a feature film is “hard”. Thinking it should be hard simply orients my Am-I-Doing-It-Right Meter to use pain as its key marker.

Most living organisms will tell you: “Pain is to be avoided. Maybe eat something. Check your email.”

Our broken work culture tells us it’s supposed to be painful. DOUBLE DOWN on the difficulty. PUSH through. MAKE YOURSELF do it.

I’m happy to report that this can be unlearned.

Interestingly, to add an additional stress test on this sustainability experiment, I also exercised (specifically I rode the spinbike) every day for these hundred days.

This is also terribly unlikely if you know anything about me, but I approached it in much the same way. Easy.

Here’s to the next 101 days of doing what’s easy. I’m seriously excited about what might come from it.