I have been writing for myself every day in my journal for over five years. 

Contemplating my life, my emotions, my joys, my difficulties, has brought me a lot. 

But at the end of September 2020, I challenged myself to write in public.  

I had two main motivations, to share my ideas and to improve my English. (French is my native language)

The Stoics practiced voluntary discomfort. They slept on the floor rather than in their beds. Or more recently, it’s come back into fashion with cold showers popularized by  Wim Hof 😀. 

And writing in public is a kind of voluntary discomfort. I committed to my readers to post once a week on my blog. And that commitment has developed my self-discipline. This self-discipline has positive effects on the rest of my life.

  

Five reasons why it develops your self-discipline.

1. Willpower is a muscle. 

And like every other muscle in our body, it can be worked. 

Making a digital commitment to writing in public is a source of motivation. A moral contract. You want to keep it. 

I recently gained weight despite my morning runs and exercises. Why? I lacked intensity. I trained, but I wasn’t pushing myself enough. 

After signing up for a 10K, I have a goal, a reason, a desire to add intensity. 

2. It makes you work on a non-urgent but important project. 

“I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Writing in public is not urgent. Nothing will happen if I don’t do it. 

But it’s important to me. It develops my English, which I use every day. And it fills me with satisfaction by clarifying my thinking. 

The non-urgent but important projects are the ones that make us progress the most. This is our quality time. 

3. Your growth starts at the end of your comfort zone. 

I have a full-time job, a family. I like to make sports, to see my friends. Writing in public has to fit into my busy life. 

It pushes me out of my comfort zone. 

I have to get up earlier, organize my thoughts, read. It’s one of those activities that are hard to start but make you feel good when you’ve done it. 

4. You face your fears. 

Our lives are filled with fear. Mostly psychological. What will they think of me? I shouldn’t have said that. 

Our little inner voice is having fun with us, throwing us off track. 

Most of these fears do not materialize. But in the meantime they make us feel bad. I discipline and force myself to face my fears.

5. You expose yourself.

Building in public is opening yourself up to feedback. I’ve been writing an average of one post a week on this blog. Some of the articles I polished got only a few views, others thousands. I don’t know why. But it’s not the essential part.

I build intrinsic motivation by creating. It brings me joy and develops my discipline.

Despite receiving so much positive feedback (thank you so much), I get over my fear every time I click to publish. 

And that applies to any art you exhibit in public. Drawing, dancing, public speaking, singing….

It takes effort, but it brings so much. 

Through writing in public, I have gained clarity and developed my discipline. I get a sense of satisfaction every time I succeed in publishing.

And this whole process has had positive ripple effects in my personal and professional life. 

I have learned so many new things. The technical aspects of blogging, development, writing, English, learning to learn, building ideas, how to reuse the content I read…

What will be your next project build in public?