In running as with creativity, consistency is key, even when the results aren’t obvious.

This story was supposed to write itself.

When I added a daily mile to lessen the anxiety of this writing challenge, I half-hoped to get a good story out of it.

I haven’t run regularly in a while. Running daily was supposed to bring me back to my former — checks notes — glory? In my logic-free daydreams, my times would fall dramatically. By day 30, I’d be streaking through the mile like Natoya Goule: a running testimony to the value of consistency.

That didn’t happen.

For 27 days my mile time has stubbornly hovered above 10:00. (I am publicly discussing crappy times. This is growth.) This is better than the shocking 12:00 I recorded on day one. And yes, I have yet to figure out my watch. But 10:00+ times have been a daily disappointment. Until today, day 28, when I ran — checks watch — 12:00.

Back to the starting line.

The progress has been similarly missing on the page. The writing hasn’t become easier. It hasn’t become faster. I still have the wild panic of not doing well enough. And I’m haunted by the memory of how easily I used to crank out 400-word stories.

And yet I’ve kept showing up. To the runs and to the page. The circumstances that have kept me from both writing and running haven’t changed and yet I’ve found a way to do both for 28 days.

Consistency has strengthened my hustle muscle. That drive that blows through obligations, excuses, distractions, disappointments, and the ghosts of past accomplishments and makes me show up for myself. Daily. Its strength is measured in the effort not the results.

And when it comes to creativity, that’s the only measure that matters.

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