My Monday Rant: My take on keeping it going, a rant about ranting...

Monday, 14th October 2024 - Inspiration, Motivation, Discipline...

It is said that motivation will only take you so far, as it doesn't really last the test of time; that what you need to achieve anything really meaningful is discipline. And interestingly, the fact is inspiration sets precedence to both of them.

I've also learned that inspiration can also just come in the form of a conviction, and that carried forward is what we refer to as discipline. You see, some days all you have going for you is your own conviction - the promise you made to yourself. I've been ranting for a bit of a while now, and I have stayed true to my objective; I have not missed a Monday yet... today is one of those that I could maybe forgive myself for missing. But then I thought why not rant about that? There is a reason I positioned these scribblings as rants; it gives me the flexibility to hop around different topics and if you really think about it, there's nothing that says I should make sense here... afterall, I AM RANTING! But then again, let's give this "making sense" idea a shot, or at least, I believe I have thus far.

Over half a year ago, in ranting timescale, I went off about my favourite books and in that list I mentioned "Atomic Habits". I've made it a habit of ranting on Mondays, and I think much of it is due to concepts from this book. Much of the inspiration for this could be attributed to James Clear, the author of this book. On a weekly basis, every Thursday, he sends out a newsletter, 3-2-1. I thought I would give it a go and here we are. Once I started, I had a conviction that I'll do this until at least the end of November - not that far away then. My conviction was, still is, to keep improving my ranting style... and to stay away from politics! ?? That is the inspiration. And on a continuous basis, for different rants, I'm inspired by my experiences; sometimes something I read or watch or just a thought about something from the past.

Motivation to keep going is one that is not an easy one to conjure. Some days, it just flows and a rant is just smooth, while some days it's a bit of a hustle to even come up with a point to rant about. But with time, in some weird way, the latter has been some source of motivation because even in such days, I managed to put out a rant. So even when I wake up empty headed, I just have to sit down and start. It happened before, it happens from time to time and something has always come up... thus far. All I need to do is show up.

And so, despite different levels of inspiration or motivation from time to time, my conviction has remained unshaken... I'm doing this every Monday! There's something sooo satisfying when another Monday's rant is all set and done, more so on such days when motivation is in short supply, when inspiration is so scarce. I love that feeling at the end and I enjoy the process that leads to that feeling. That discipline has been a huge part of this, and challenging myself to maintain that on a regular basis.

Ranting has also meant learning to think, learning to articulate and expand a point; the journey continues, I keep learning and I keep ranting!

Até proxima semana!