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100 day streak on 750 words

Today is my 100th straight day of writing 750 words a day.  I missed January 1st, so I’m not going to be able to get a full calendar year streak, but I do hope to get to 365 days in a row.  They say it takes 30 days to start a habit, or maybe 90 days if you are conservative, but I don’t think I can really say that writing every day is now a “habit” so much as something that I just like to do.

What is a habit anyway?  The implication is that it’s something that you do automatically, without thinking.  Something that would be difficult to stop doing, even if you wanted to.  But the point of writing every day is to get out of the “automatic” kind of thinking that habits are made out of.  It requires a bit of brute force to write 750 words, and it’s not something that you just do… it has to be intentional every time, and that’s the magic of it, I think.

So, I can’t say that writing every day is a habit, even after 100 days.  It is a proof of concept for me, really.  The point of building this website was to build something truly useful, something that helped me (and others) tap into the subconscious area of my/their brain, to dig up thoughts that rarely saw the light of day.  To complete incomplete thoughts.  Close old loops of the brain that have been unresolved.  Really get to the bottom of things.  Because I strive to be at the bottom of things.

Writing 750 words is like swimming to the bottom of a swimming pool.  It takes a bit of effort but you can get there, no problem.  And there’s a certain perspective at the bottom of the pool that you can’t really get anywhere else in or out of the pool.  Of course, you can’t stay there, you can’t just keep writing 30 words a minute for the entire day, you’ll run out of breath.  Eventually you have to go back to the surface and take a breath.  But maybe the quality of that breath will also have something unique about it.  A bit of the bottom of the pool in it.  And who knows how long that lasts, before the above water world sinks in and it’s difficult to remember exactly what was so neat about the bottom of the pool.  But then, you do it again the next day, and the next and the next, and 100 days later the two worlds begin to blend together.  You can summon the feeling of clarity of thought while above water, and you can think about the above water world even while down at the bottom of the pool.  There’s a permeability about it, of worlds fusing together, where complex thoughts and a zillion distractions can live side by side.  That’s my top-of-the-head metaphor for the value of daily private writing.

I had a feeling about it when I started this project, but of course there are a million feelings about a million things that end up not being true.  The only way to know if a feeling is right is to follow it to the end of its rope.  If I can continue writing 750 words a day for 100 days, or 365 days, of 10 years, or the rest of my life, then I will be able to tell whether or not there is value in doing it.

I’ve gotten a lot of amazing feedback from people too.  As of last night, 99 other people are on streaks of 30 days or more.  That’s pretty amazing to me, that others are as into this as I am.  To see that many people also being able to find the drive and motivation to start a new daily habit is something that I didn’t expect.  I’m a bit of a challenge junkie, if you know me, so it made sense that I’d be able to do it, but these 99 others are people who I don’t even know, and haven’t really had to pitch the idea to.  I think that’s awesome, anyway.

Since starting the project at the beginning of the year, over 18,000 people have logged in to the site to write 750 words.  Over 46,000 days have been completed… meaning that there are over 46,000 days of 750 words or more.  41,819,906 words have been written.

The project is also being sustained by the good will of its members through an idea I called Patronage.  I suggest a monthly donation of $3-4, but don’t require it.  Each month of Patronage earns the user the ability to write a note on the site (the only publicly viewable user content on the site) either as a testimonial, a feature request, a self-promotional note about something they think others would like, an incentive to complete the monthly challenge, or a request to send a larger portion of the monthly patronage to our local charity, 826 Seattle.  Even though there are almost no social networking features on the site, a sense of community is emerging from the people who are on the site, and it’s one of the things I’m most excited to explore in the future.  The irony of creating a community out of a site dedicated to private journaling is not lost on me.

In any case, I’m over my 750 words now and am curious to see if my new Pheonix badge is visible from the stats page.  Who’s going to be the next one to make it to 100 days in a row?

This entry was posted by Buster on Sunday, April 11th, 2010 at 7:59 pm. It is filed under 750 Words. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

20 Responses to “100 day streak on 750 words”

  1. “Since starting the project at the beginning of the year, over 18,000 people have logged in to the site to write 750 words. Over 46,000 days have been completed… 41,819,906 words have been written.”

    Truly AMAZING! Congrats Buster for hitting a 100 day streak… I noticed you were about to make it earlier today.

    I will be one of the next members to do it. I am one of the 99 members that are currently over 30 days and I have written every single day since I’ve joined. My 100 day streak will be around June 18th, 2010! Then it will be time for celebration!

  2. A big congrats on hitting such a cool milestone! I’m one of those 99 too and look forward to hitting a few more milestones as well.

    750Words has completely changed the landscape of my morning routine – there’s nothing like feeling I’ve accomplished something already in the morning to move the rest of the day forward. Not to mention all the good stuff that comes out of the actual writing I’ve done. Cheers, and here’s to your next milestones!

  3. I’m on 38 days. I don’t even know why I’m doing it, it wasn’t even a decision or intention to make it a habit, but somehow I just have to do it every day. Takes something I was kind of doing anyway and makes it an official task. It’s great. It seems so simple and yet it is better than anywhere else on the web for what I’m doing. Thanks.

  4. What you’ve said about not knowing the value of something after a 100 days or even a lifetime, that may be true as the saying goes: Call no man happy until he is dead. Call no day happy until it is done. But there are 18,000 people from all around the world who find your site very valuable indeed and happy the day when 750 words is done ;-) Congratulations!

  5. I love the site – my friend introduced me to morning pages about 5-6 years ago, and though I only did them for about 3-4 weeks before lapsing, somehow in those brief weeks I tapped into enough of my thoughts and dreams to realize I had always wanted to play the drums. At 25 I started playing music, and it was one of the best decisions I ever made – and I always attributed it to the morning pages somehow awakening something in me.

    Now, 5 years later, I found this site, and even though I am not expecting such concrete results, I am simply enjoying the challenge and fun of writing every day – and I thank you for making it easier to do morning pages. I think one reason I stopped is that I am really not good at writing with pen and paper in a journal.

  6. Call me crazy but the little badges keep me going. I want a Phoenix too!
    …dave
    A pessimist is really an optimist with experience.

  7. Ooh; my calendar math might be off, but if not, I should be hitting mine on about May 31st, a few days after my birthday. I WANT THAT PHOENIX.

    And thanks for validating my feeling that, while I’ve done this every day but two since mid-January, it’s not a habit so much as something I do every day. And the distinction is important for me. It’s a habit on work days, but as soon as I hit the weekend, or Germany (where I am right now), that all falls away and it’s just a Thing I Do That Is Nice (even if lately, a lot of it has been “I don’t wanna” followed by something else). I really enjoy the swimming pool analogy, too.

  8. Congratulations! I love the site and the mysterious but magical way it has made me write every day for the last three weeks. I know 21 days is nothing compared to 100, but the thing is, I will never make it to 100 without an iPhone app b/c I won’t be able to write on days when I’m not at a computer for a few minutes, and those days are coming. iPhone app, please? ;-)

  9. [...] Buster Benson, the Developer of 750Words.com via enjoymentland.com [...]

  10. 750 words has made me write regularly once again, which I had thought was a long lost habit. I only have a 14 day streak till now, but I am rather determined and a little fanatical about completing the monthly challenge and getting the phoenix badge.

    Thanks a lot. It is a terrific website. And I promise that when I can take money matters in my own hands, I will donate to this website :)

  11. Love what you’re doing… just completed my first 750 words. I love that “ddddddd” can be a word!

  12. Well I’ve been following Mr Benson’s interesting projects since before he set himself the goal of keeping a fox as a pet, which isn’t quite the weirdest by far. So when I came across 750words and then discovered who was behind it, well I had no choice but to join in. I have a feeling it’s doing some good, in a very slowly accumulating sort of way, but I also have some reservations. As somebody who needs to write and publish something fairly regularly, what worries me is that after completing my 750 words I do get a considerable feeling of self satisfaction, as if I have already accomplished something substantial for the day. But in a very real sense I haven’t actually produced anything. This still worries me, but I carry on doing it anyway.

    I’m likely to make a stretch of 30 days from time to time, but I hope never to make a Phoenix 100 because I have another goal which is to make sure I spend at least a day or two away from home and away from the computer every month. Cheers!

  13. I have just passed my 8 days. is there any way to get corrected the things i wrote (and get comments ) as Im not good at writing. love to 750 words !!!

  14. I just passed 100 days recently. I love the badges as they truly motivate me. I can typically write my rough drafts here, so I always seem to have a new blog post or story idea to work on. Thanks so much, Buster!

  15. I joined 750 words after hearing about it on Lifehacker last year. Unfortunately I only wrote a few times before eventually forgetting about it. But, I recently rediscovered the site, as I was clearing my bookmarks.
    I must say, I am very glad I came back. I have been now writing 750+ words for six days in a row and counting. I even signed up for my first monthly challenge.
    Initially, I wasn’t sure I could make it to 750, but that fear is mostly gone. In fact I am writing close to an average of 1000 words a day, so far.

    The biggest benefit of the site for me is the therapeutic effect it has on me. The way I write my entries is via “stream-of-conscious” writing. In other words, I write out everything as it currently appears in my mind. Sentences may not be in order, and I may jump back between topics, but it really helps clear my head and put my mind at ease.

    Oh, and the stats and graphs are awesome too! I will be sure to donate to the site as soon as possible.

  16. Very much enjoyed the Pool metaphor- it made so much sense to me. Focus and distraction- how to marry these. And I live in India- when you step out of the door, there is only distraction- here, privacy is a luxary. I found this site through several dots- Oprah came to India- the newspapers covered her- I went to her Book Club- then stuff she recommended and this ta da, was one of them. I have to say, I have been trying to complete a script for some time and have also been experience life changes through the death of people- some near, some acquaintance. I needed to express some of this as I had stopped writing. I just started my 750 words y’day and today completed my 2nd 750- miles to go to a 100 days. Yet it is indeed inspiring. I realise this is a very local kind of site- I hope India will enter your pool as well- thanks alot

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  18. EmilyAnn Frances May says:
    May 29th, 2012 at 3:51 pm

    Buster, Here’s a toast to you on your achievemdent!

    I’m so happy to have discovered 750worcods.com
    The site is helping me freewrite again which provides raw materials for short stories and vingnettes I create as a way to amuse myself.

  19. Congrats! I am using this site to contact you because I can’t get in anywhere else. I’m getting a bad gateway message and cannot get into any part of 750words.com. Hope it gets cleared up soon!

  20. “…the point of writing every day is to get out of the “automatic” kind of thinking that habits are made out of. It requires a bit of brute force to write 750 words, and it’s not something that you just do… it has to be intentional every time, and that’s the magic of it, I think.”

    That, Buster Benson, is going on next year’s syllabus, right next to Bob Marley’s, “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds.”
    Thank you!

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