Daily habits and keeping momentum

This video from Adrian on a daily photography practice is worth watching. Though it’s about photography it applies to nearly any skill we could hope to improve.

As an amateur photographer I’ve found incredible joy in capturing images of the world around me. On my daily runs I’ll often pause to catch a picture of the scenery, trying often to contain a tiny sense of the beauty around me.

For every photo I’m proud to share there are dozens, if not hundreds, that never leave my photo library.

Some paraphrased quotes from the video:

I find it much easier to keep those good habits going then falling into bad habits and breaking the cycle and having to start from scratch

Momentum keeps vision in check

Practice reconnects with the feeling of being a photographer

This is not about grinding, but about staying attached with the creative process. Keeps our instinct engaged.

Whether running, writing, or practicing something that we hope will turn into something more, a daily approach encourages us to focus on the task at hand, and learn something new to improve how we tackle it the next day.

By making it daily, you also remove a ton of internal debate on the topic. There is no question if if or when, but rather you just do it and know the choice has already been made before you woke up.

When I go out on a run I never regret the run—once I’ve left the house. There are countless runs that never happened, though I thought about them a great deal.

Deciding to do a thing each day, and then learning and growing and improving based on those learnings, has been my path toward enjoying life and finding beauty in it.