I’m No Longer Writing Twice Per Week. Here’s Why.

For nearly three years, I have written a new article on JamesClear.com every Monday and every Thursday.

This twice-per-week pattern has changed my business and my life. When I started this habit on November 12, 2012, I had zero readers. Today, more than 200,000 people receive my email newsletter each week.

Along the way, I’ve met many of you at live events, heard from thousands of you via email, and enjoyed the satisfaction of knowing that my writing is making some small difference in the world. I’m very thankful to have you reading each week.

But today marks the end of my Monday-Thursday streak and the beginning of something new. I will now be writing once per week. Every Monday, I’ll post a new article.

Here’s why…

Why Write?

From the very beginning my intention has always been to create work that matters. Usually, this means I write articles that attempt to answer the question, “How can we live better?” 1

When I started, there was no way I could answer that question for myself or for others without developing some level of skill as a writer. I needed to write twice per week to find my voice. I needed to write twice per week to build an audience. I needed to write twice per week to churn through my average ideas, so that I could uncover the great ones. In the beginning, I had to put in my reps.

After three years, my mission is still the same: to create work that matters. The difference, of course, is that now that I have put in some reps (260+ articles) and I have you all reading each week (over 5 million readers per year).

I feel a serious level of responsibility to produce work that is more meaningful and more impactful for your life. I’m grateful that many of you find my previous work useful and inspiring, but I believe it’s time for me to step up my game.

To produce a higher quality of work I need to improve the way I practice my craft. I need the time and space to create a higher standard of work. I need to build upon my previous efforts and pour more effort into each article. In the words of Marshall Goldsmith, “What got you here won’t get you there.”

This is the reason for the change in my writing schedule.

Why Do We Have Habits?

I often write about how to build better habits. Maintaining my twice-per-week writing schedule for nearly three years was one example of how I lived this philosophy out.

But why do we have habits?

We don’t build new habits in the hope that our lives will become fully automated, repetitive, and robotic. We do it because habits are a tool for helping us do the things that make us come alive more frequently and more consistently. Habits are a method for accomplishing the things that provide meaning and purpose to our lives.

That’s exactly what my twice per week schedule did for the previous three years. It was a tool that helped me produce a volume of work, improve my skill set, and create meaningful work.

My new writing schedule will give me the space to create work that I hope will be more inspiring, more thoughtful, and more meaningful. I’m so excited to share what this next chapter has in store. I’ll see you on Monday.