No more zero days
How to stop breaking promises to yourself
You’ve had those days
The ones where you wake up with intentions and go to bed having done nothing
Where you scroll until your eyes hurt, where hours disappear into nothing, where you tell yourself tomorrow will be different
And tomorrow comes and it’s the same thing
You know what you want. You know what you should be doing. But somehow there’s this massive gap between knowing and doing
And that gap? it’s killing you slowly
Every zero day is another broken promise to yourself
Another reason to believe you’re not the kind of person who follows through
I don’t know you. But I know what it’s like to feel stuck.
What I’m about to share actually worked for me. You can take it or leave it. You don’t owe me anything. But if even one piece of this lights something in you, use it.
That’s all I’m asking.
1/ No more zero days
A zero day is when you do absolutely nothing toward whatever it is you want
Nothing toward your goal, your dream, your project, your health, whatever matters to you
No more of those
This doesn’t mean you need to grind for eight hours every day
It means you need to do something
It’s 11:58 pm and you did nothing all day? write one sentence. Do one pushup. Read one page.
One is not zero
That’s the whole point
When you’re stuck in the spiral of feeling like garbage, your behavior keeps the spiral going
You don’t break out of that spiral by suddenly becoming a productivity machine
You break out with a long string of non-zero days
Small. Consistent. Non-zero.
That’s how patterns change.
That's rule number one. Do not forget.
2/ There are 3 versions of you
Past you. Present you. Future you.
Sounds like self-help nonsense until you actually use it
Here’s how it works:
Be grateful to past you for the good decisions, even the small ones
Went for a walk yesterday instead of sitting on the couch? thank you, past me
Saved a little money last month? thank you, past me
Had a non-zero day even when it was hard? thank you, past me
That gratitude matters more than you think
Now flip it around
Do favors for future you like you’d do for your best friend
Tired as hell and don’t want to get up? this one’s for future me
Don’t feel like finishing that thing you started? this one’s for future me
Present you will always want comfort
But future you needs present you to show up anyway
and when future you becomes present you and life is a little better because of those choices?
You thank past you
That cycle... gratitude backward, favors forward... it builds something
it builds a relationship with yourself where you actually start trusting yourself again
3/ Forgive yourself
FORGIVE YOURSELF.
I mean it.
Maybe you got all the know-how, money, ability, strength and talent to do whatever is you wanna do.
But lets say you still didn't do it.
Now you’re beating yourself up for not doing what you need to, to be who you want to.
Heads up champion, being disappointed in yourself causes you to be less productive.
Tried your best to have a nonzero day yesterday and it failed? so what. I forgive you previous self. I forgive you.
But today? Today is a nonzero masterpiece to the best of my ability for future self.
Yesterday is done. Today is for future you.
4/ Exercise and books
Exercise makes you smarter. It clears your mind. It gives you energy. It’s doing a massive favor for future you every single time.
Books are the shortcut nobody uses
Almost everything you’re struggling with, someone else has already figured out
They wrote it down
It’s sitting there waiting for you
Reading is how you skip levels
That’s it
Four rules:
no more zero days
gratitude to past you, favors for future you
forgive yourself
exercise and books
You don’t need a complex system
You don’t need an app or a framework or a dashboard
You need to do one thing today that isn’t zero
And then do it again tomorrow
Anyway, here’s my Spotify focus playlist
Go have fun 🍀
-Abi