Skip the Sprint; Start the Hike

This is the second post in a series I'm writing about the book Wordsmithy: Hot Tips for the Writing Life by Doug Wilson. For the first, I discussed the advice to live wide and live well. Tonight I want to mention the idea of "plodding."

For those chasing writing immortality, Wilson offers this advice: "Read until your brain creaks. . . Output requires intake, and literary output requires literary intake." As a literature geek, I believe it's sound advice for all. Regardless of the desired success, however, his ideas in this section apply to all:

• "Plod. Make time for reading, and make a daily habit of it, even if it is a relatively small daily habit. . . I believe firmly in plodding. Productivity is more a matter of diligent, long-distance hiking than it is one-hundred-yard dashing."
• "A little bit every day really adds up."
• "I am astonished at how many young Christians want to be writers and how few of them want to mess with all the prerequisites, which look suspiciously to them like work."

It is in the plodding where real gains are made. 

My goals for the year (75 blog posts, 25 books, 25 letters) seem daunting at times. It sounds like it's going to require a lot of me, and it will. But I didn't have to write 75 blog posts today. I just had to start this one. And starting may be the hardest part of plodding. As I've said before, I rarely "feel like" making progress. I have to break the barrier between wanting to have done something and actually beginning the process. I didn't want to get off the couch tonight and work out. I was tired and had already accomplished two rather difficult task - leading my  soccer team of 5 year olds to the spoils of a tie, and convincing my children to stay in bed. Instead of starting, I turned on the TV. Just for a minute. A minute turned into 30, as the quality of the Big Bang Theory rerun increased the longer I sat there. Eventually I broke through. I started. I plodded.

Then I had to plod to write this. I'll finish soon and crack open some Steinbeck, reading a few pages before I go to sleep. My goals won't get done today. But done isn't the goal today - progress is the goal.

If you want a better marriage or relationship or body or bowling score, plod today. Do a little bit. Inch forward. You won't get there today. You don't have to. If what you're chasing is really worth it, it will be a long-distance hike. You can chase the sprints; but when you're done with them you're going to wonder why you even bothered.