Commit to Almost Daily

How to fight perfection and procrastination by committing to almost daily habits.

Almost Daily

Chris Penn has a newsletter called, Almost Timely Newsletter. I love the title because it says Chris committed to sending regular communications, but he acknowledges he will not be perfect. It reminds me that I can commit to a habit and be flawed. I only need to engage and do it almost daily.  

My boss and mentors say that perfect is the enemy of done. Perfect can also be the enemy of trying. Over the last couple of years, I have realized that I see the risk first and only the risk. Wanting not to fail or endure the risk has sometimes caused me to delay starting or not starting.  

I am approaching my writing of these posts with an almost daily attitude. Not much risk except self-doubt or self-loathing because I did not meet a daily goal. I commit to sharing with all of you almost daily. That is okay. 

I often think of things impacting me during the day that I want to do and share with others. Writing these posts is my attempt to solidify my learning and do the activities. I am committed to sharing what I face and how it may pertain to leaders, especially nonprofit leaders.

One of my fundraising mentors talked about a mental clock. You do the hard stuff daily, just like a clock that keeps time. You do it because, like time, you do it without thinking. No waiting or procrastination. You do the activity like time. No fuss. No muss. Just forward. Do it even if it is almost daily.

I have found that to be true. My biggest fear of starting a new habit is that I will stop and fail. I have decided to commit to writing and sharing without fearing giving up. I only have to commit to doing it "almost daily."

I had to develop new habits as a nonprofit leader, especially a fundraising leader. The biggest is usually the habit of fundraising. When I was a new executive director, the fear of fundraising was the most challenging habit to develop.

I finally got there. Regardless of how I felt, I had to decide to do the activity and disregard any excuse. 

Just do it. Do it almost daily.

I began with a simple formula. I would make ten calls, send three thank you cards, and schedule one visit every week. 

This formula would help me visit with nearly 50 donors, thank 150 with a card, and call five hundred donors yearly. I did not do this perfectly every week, so my numbers were lower. However, they were so much higher than the days I had committed to nothing.

This formula helped me overcome my fear and helped me to connect with donors more often, and raise more money for my nonprofit. Eventually, we hired more staff to do the fundraising. We gave them the formula or the mental clock analogy. They did it almost daily.

The awkwardness builds our strength to do the new normal. I encourage you this week to think about your new normal. Envision and write down your new habit. Commit to it. Don't be perfect. Just do it almost daily.