For about half a year I've been keeping a work journal for myself.
Just two sections — what I did that day, and what I'm thinking — written in a Google Form and accumulated in a spreadsheet.
I should do it every day, but I forget all the time.
Same with this blog. In a few months it'll be three years since I started it, but lately three updates a month is a good month, and sometimes I don't update even once.
Continuity is really hard.
Talking with a friend recently about how valuable continuity is brought it home again, so I'm writing it down.
Sometimes delivering stable results no matter what matters more than a novel concept with outstanding one-off results. Put stronger: even on days that produce no value, just continuing has value.
Imagine Chef's Whim Restaurant: literally whim-based, guerrilla-open about once a month with insanely delicious food — versus a ordinary restaurant open every week with one fixed day off and merely pretty good food.
Novelty and concept might make the former popular and known.
You don't really need to compare them — but generally the latter will earn trust.
But what is the definition of trust?
What is differentiation?
It has to be something born (kept being born) through continuity.
At the idea or concept stage, you can never truly differentiate.
The value of trust is born through continuity — in the sense of "I'm hungry; it's not their day off; that place is open."
By the same logic: if Chef's Whim Restaurant, though irregular, continues to deliver uncompromising overwhelming quality every time it opens — that's also trust.
"That chef is whimsical, sure, but the food is definitely good. Quality of taste doesn't lose to other places."
Both have value; the evaluation axes differ.
Whether value is taste quality, consecutive days open, or scale.
What's the same is that it's decided on a time axis of continuously doing something.
And that it's continuously done as planned is what connects to reliability.
Executing as planned is truly hard. Of course the invisible creates some drift — but people who make a plan, execute it as a matter of course, and keep doing that continuously are quite rare.
This is somewhat contradictory phrasing, but continuing the process itself is harder than producing results. (Hard might be less accurate than painful.)
"Execution over ideas" is common sense — but that execution means continuity, and I've only recently started to really feel how hard and valuable continuity is.
Also, continuity is about designing daily life so it can become habit — and which domain you habit-ize for biggest impact becomes a strategy question, so it ends up being about strategy too. Hmm, hard.
Thinking about impact, strategy may be the biggest variable — but continuity is indispensable, and because it's the most painful thing nobody does, it differentiates.
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