Beyond 100 words a day
haideralmosawi • 10 Jun 2025 •
For those new to Lifelog, you may have been lured in by the June Writing Challenge to write only 100 words a day. Initially, being consistent with 100 words a day MAY have felt challenging, especially the part about trying not to skip any day.
But by now you’ve gotten a sense of what showing up every day looks like and what writing 100 words feels like. You may have also noticed that you have (or can) go beyond 100 words a day. I’m not asking you to and I’m not suggesting that you shift your attention beyond the minimum number of words to write a day.
When it comes to habit-building, we want to make showing up as easy as possible. 100 words removes much of the resistance to show up. If you still feel resistance, you can tell yourself: Fine, I won’t write 100 words. I’ll just write one sentence.
But when you show up to write that sentence, you’re more inclined to continue writing.
An easy target ensures you show up, so you don’t want to move the target that allows you to show up.
But if you have ambitions beyond writing here (you want to write a book, blog posts, Instagram captions, reports, etc), I want you to recognize that you have it in you to write more. A lot more.
Lifelog helps you embrace writing and being a writer. What you do beyond this site is entirely up to you. But I encourage you to consider what writing (if any) you want to do beyond Lifelog.
(The above is 269 words, which took me less than 5 minutes to write while I wait for my coffee to brew. This is what I mean about having more capacity to write beyond this site)
Comments
no matter what @therealbrandonwilson is always one level away from you.
@knight “One level” is being too generous towards me 🤣
Have you considered a strict 100-words-a-day challenge? For all the different reasons. I was having a conversation about this challenge and was surprised to learn that some people can easily write more than a 100 words, it’s writing less that is more difficult to them because it takes time to refine and summarise. It made me remember an anecdote (of an anecdote) shared with my former employer who shared it with me… anyways, he told him he sent him a long e-mail because he had no time to write a shorter one. It stuck with me because it’s so true. It takes more time to write something shorter because you have to be laser-sharp and precise with it. Hence this ramble.
@isra.a.writes I’ve been wondering recently whether my attempt at writing more is compromising the quality of what I produce and maybe paying attention to my choice of words (which includes attempts at brevity/precision) would be a good use of my time.
BUT, I have a few writing projects I want to complete during the summer, which requires paying attention more to substance than style. I will have to revisit style once I’m done with those projects. 😄
The sky is not the limit; it’s only the first level.