Actions Speak Louder Than Words

“A habit is defined as the intersection of knowledge, skill and desire. Knowledge is understanding what to do and why to do it; skill is knowing how to do it; desire is the motivation or wanting to do it. To make habits, we need to develop all three components.”—Stephen R. Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People

What motivated you to start writing?
What motivated you to sign up for NaNoWriMo?
What motivates you?
Think about it.

The thing that motivates you is not always the thing that can keep you going once the novelty wears off, once the ‘hard’ part starts. Motivation is an emotion, and like any emotion it can wax and wane, and be eclipsed by other, stronger emotions. Motivation is the ‘desire’ part of the diagram above. To be a successful writer (and here I define successful as meeting your personal goals as a writer, NOT whether you publish or not) . . . To be a successful writer, you need to turn your desires into habits. Habits are behaviors. Habits are actions.

I’ve met many people who want to have written. Many of them have the knowledge to do it. Most of them have the skills or the wherewithal to attain the skills. The biggest difference between them and you is the habit of regularly putting words on the page. BICHOK.

So.
What motivates you to write?
Keep that purpose in mind. Write it down and post it somewhere visible where you work. That motivation is a reminder of why your habit brought you to the keyboard.

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”—Jim Rohn