I can name half a dozen projects I’d really love to do. Creative work; a series of essays; music; a collection of little videos; even mental chaos in my own head that I know will benefit from some focus.

We all know the tricks to get something started… find the smallest possible first step and do that; inspire yourself by visualizing the final state; dedicate just 15 minutes of full focus to earn a break, etc..

But the killer is: choose the one thing, and do it every single day. No excuses; no exceptions. Cross off each day on a big calendar with a fat red X.

If you want more motivation – beyond protecting your streak, beyond seeing your work collecting & improving – then make failure hurt more. Bet some real money on yourself, an amount that you’d care about losing – maybe €50? (in your local currency, of course)

Now, if your project is central to your life, you may want to keep it going for years. But most of mine are things that might not pan out. I’m not starting them properly, in large part, because I’m afraid I’ll just turn out something painfully mediocre. So I play it safe, and don’t try.

100 days of effort, though: that’s real. That’s enough to get through the worst of the trough of despair and “educational” false starts & mistakes, to getting peeks at something worthy.

hu.ndred.com is, tbh, another way I have put off those creative projects. I work in tech; I could build a service that’ll help anyone force themselves through 100 days of sustained output. I could take payments in escrow (finish your 100 days: get your money back!) and host ongoing or completed output.

I’ll let myself work on this, though, only if I successfully complete at least one 100 day streak, myself.

How else can I pretend to guide others through it?