Momentum90: The First 30 Days

I’m sitting at a small table facing the large window in my living room. The desk is a relic from pandemic times once serving as a makeshift remote office, but now, 5 years later, has become my writing spot.

One month into my Momentum90 experiment, this bright space is where I start most days, writing for the first 90 minutes of my work day. Turns out, the space itself has been a key part of the experiment and one of the aspects I’m sharing in this look back at the first 30 days.

Momentum90

As a refresher, Momentum90 is a personal pact to write for 90 minutes, six days a week for 90 days. Using the Momentum Formula to structure the concept, it’s an experiment intended to build a consistent writing habit that’s sustainable and feels aligned.

What’s working

Mornings

I’m a nice balance of rested, focused, and engaged in the morning. Maybe it’s the clean slate of the morning, or the fact I haven’t opened my email yet, but it’s working.

Fortunately, I’ve avoided falling into the trap of assuming any other time of day won’t work. On the few days that I’ve written later in the day, I’ve still been able to focus.

Do Not Disturb

Setting up a schedule for Do Not Disturb mode has been incredible. Since it applies to all my Apple devices, I know my laptop, my phone, and my watch won’t interrupt me unless it’s a family member. With it set to recur daily, I never have to remember to turn it on.

Dedicated Writing Laptop

Choosing to wipe my 2017 laptop completely and only add back Notion for writing has worked very well. I leave the computer at the writing desk by the window so it’s always there. Using fullscreen mode means no toolbar or menu to distract me either.

When I am away from home, I do write on my current laptop, but I put Notion in fullscreen so it feels just like the dedicated writing laptop.

Writing by Windows

I rarely have natural light in my home office. I use blackout curtains to control the lighting for virtual presenting and recording. Since it’s a pain the open and close the curtains behind my desk and gear, I leave them closed 90% of the time.

But, writing comes more easily to me when I’m by a window with lots of natural light. So when I’m home at the writing desk or away from home at a café, the windows are key.

Accountability

I’d love to say I would be consistent with this experiment even if I kept it completely to myself, but I’m not sure that’s true. Putting it out there for others to see was an intentional decision because I respond well to outer accountability.

Knowing even one person may be paying attention to this experiment is enough for me to want to keep it up and share about the experience. Once in a while, I run into a person who tells me they are reading all my emails and interested in what I’m sharing (even though they haven’t replied directly). My follow-through is better when others know about the commitment.

What’s changed

Going into the experiment, I wanted to keep an open mind and change anything that wasn’t working. The goal was not to stick to a rigid plan at all costs. The goal was to figure out the best Method, Mode, and Mindset to establish a regular writing habit even after the 90 days are over.

80/20 Rule

Two weeks into the experiment, I noticed my original plan to allow interest to drive the writing felt unfocused and disjointed. Turns out, I missed having some guardrails.

I updated the Method follow an 80/20 rule on weekdays, with 80% of writing following a content strategy and the other 20% to write whatever I felt like. In other words, 1 day a week to write based purely on interest. I noticed an improvement right away with this approach.

Editing

Early on, I pushed myself to only write during the 90 minutes and leave editing to other times in the day. In theory, this would mean the writing sessions were focused solely on getting words onto the page.

In practice, however, this didn’t work for me. Most of my editing is re-writing, and it fits well into these 90-minute blocks. But, I did make a rule to not edit a piece the same day I write the initial draft.

Reflection Timing

Every weekend, I have one writing session dedicated to reflecting on how my experiment is going. I look at the Method, Mode, and Mindset each time to review what’s working, what I notice, and what I can change. This practice has been extremely valuable and has led to changes like the 80/20 rule and when to edit my writing.

But as the weeks went on and I continued to fine-tune the experiment, I noticed I didn’t need as long to review the past week as I did early on. Since the goal of the weekend writing is reflection, I decided to remove the 90-minute timeframe. Instead, the reflection can take as long as it needs to take, but no longer.

Vacation Timing

Maybe it would be obvious to others, but when I chose the experiment dates, I didn’t have any summer vacation planned. Now, as we start looking at the summer schedule, I realize the lack of foresight may be an issue.

Luckily, this experiment is my own creation, so I can adjust the timing. Although I don’t have firm dates for a break, it’s likely I will extend the experiment end date to allow for a true vacation. In fact, having a break in the middle may provide valuable data about returning to a newly developed habit.

So, is it working?

Sharing what’s working and what’s changed after the first 30 days is useful, but ultimately, what matters is whether or not the goal of the experiment is being met. I started this experiment to establish a writing habit so I could achieve clarity of ideas.

Now one month in, I can say yes, it’s working.

Every day after I’m done writing, I spend a couple of minutes reflecting on the day’s session. Most days, I make a note about how the writing went (e.g. did the writing come easily or more of a struggle) and capture any ah-ha moments (e.g. seeing how a concept connects to another).

The more I write, the more connections I make. I start to notice emerging patterns. I’m even making new observations about the Momentum Formula. So yes, I am gaining clarity of ideas by writing consistently.

But, even better than that, writing has become one of the best parts of my day. Even on the days when the words aren’t flowing, I enjoy spending time thinking about concepts—what they mean and how they can apply in our lives.

Right now, I can honestly say I have momentum. Not only have I been consistent, the practice feels aligned and sustainable.

Let’s see how the next 60 days go…

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