The 10x10 Experiment

Getting back on track / Issue 1,434

Oh, hi friends!

As I emerge from post-ultra, post-musical reading, post-vacation brain, I’m trying to figure out…

What’s next? 

Because this always happens, right? 

We decide to do something, we build it up, the event happens, then we settle back down.

Instead of picking one big new goal, what I actually need is to rediscover my best routines.

So in a weird eureka moment last night, I came up with a plan…

The 10x10 Experiment

A Time Container

I once read about someone running a 10K a day for 10 days. I filed that away in my Project Queue as something to consider doing later.

Right now running six miles every day isn’t quite right for me, but I liked the simplicity and short-term nature.

Ten days is achievable.

Accessible.

The Practices

The most fruitful time in my writing life was 2017, when I committed to writing three pages a day, every day. (To clarify: Script pages, not novel pages!)

I did this for a year and a half.

Looking back, I wrote a bunch of short plays (which were actually staged), a pilot, my first play, a ton of monologues, and just a bunch of fun STUFF. Play-Doh. Fresh and fun. Because I was writing so much, it didn’t matter if most of it wasn’t great. There was always tomorrow.

Three pages was a very good practice.

So we have ten days…

Six miles…

Three pages…

What’s my other most useful practice? Reading. 

If I spend an hour a day reading, whether that’s screenplays, plays, non-fiction, fiction, research or pleasure, I am more focused, calmer, and have much better ideas.

Six miles…

Three pages…

One hour…

That actually sounds like a perfect day.

A perfect 10.

The Point

Because I don’t want to run six miles every day, I’m giving myself the option to mix up these numbers.

The goal of each day is to get to 10, using whatever math necessary.

Maybe that looks like:

• Run three miles

• Write six pages

• Read one hour

Or something like:

• Read three hours (wow!)

• Run six miles

• Write one page

I just want to do all of these things consistently.

I also want to see how these three pieces work together.

The point is to reconnect to my most generative and inspiring processes, give myself a short-term and satisfying goal (it’s 10 days, not forever!) and provide a nice and neat container for my day. 

I even made a little basic chart in Google Drive to track the experiment.

Spent 20 seconds in Canva with the desire to make a “pretty” version but this utilitarian approach works for me.

At the end of 10 days, I’ll hit 100!

(This is the extent to which math plays a role in my life.)

Your Experiment

I hope this makes sense out of my brain, but right now it’s what is on my brain and I wanted to share it with you.

And the other point, of course, is to ask you whether you have any practices you’d like to combine and commit to for a short little while.

We definitely don’t have the same three practices, but here are some other ideas:

• Networking and reach-out emails to send

• Hours spent updating your website/social/marketing stuff

• Time committed to meditating

• Time spent job searching

• Quantifying your research

• Exercising and outdoors time

You all have interesting lives with tried-and-true processes…

I just wonder, how can they work together?

How can we experiment?

And how much might change in 10 days?

I’m starting today — join me anytime!!