Habit
Habits are harder to form than you'd think. Especially when there are lots of forces working against the regular repetition of a behavior you're hoping to cement.
Case in point: been traveling for work a lot lately, and working long hours pretty nonstop, which means I've opted most nights to stretch or read a few minutes of a novel rather than put my own thoughts to paper.
How hard can it be to just take 10 minutes to write a bit?
Real hard, if you're going to bed later than planned and getting up earlier than you'd like.
There have been times I've been so busy that I scheduled my days in detail down to 15-minute increments. A meeting here, a coffee there, phone calls, exercise, the very time it takes to walk from one place to another, the whole deal. Guess it's a survival mechanism? A way to still feel a little bit in control?
I got away from all that when I moved to Oregon because I already stood out as wildly more Type A than anyone else. And I didn't really need to. I was busy, sure, but the sheer volume of stimuli - opportunities, really - was simply smaller.
Now that I'm in DC, where every minute seems to count in a different, more high-pressure way, I'm inching back towards scheduling in everything. 15 minutes here, 15 there, and before you know it you've got your day.
Maybe it'll help me write more often too?