Something @brandonwilson mentioned in the comments of this post piqued my interest. 

I think with some people the low bar becomes a ceiling. It’s a minimum of 200 words per day but by all means write more if inspiration strikes. 

I love the phrase “the low bar becomes a ceiling”. What a curious observation! I never thought of it that way before. I always thought the lowering the bar of writing to only 200 words was genius. It was the writing equivalent of doing 1 rep for your workout. Small, simple, easily accomplished. And many people who signed up here testified to that. It feels almost common sense now.

But when does a low bar become a ceiling?

It’s uncanny this question came up, because right about this time, I’m experiencing what is probably the opposite of a slump. A “peak” perhaps? By luck or fate, I’m feeling inspired by certain themes and topics that had fallen on to my lap, and I feel that I want to explore them further and have a lot to write about. The thing about inspiration is that, it’s best to strike while the iron is hot, so as not to lose it. Inspiration is like energy you receive from the outside. It fills you up but doesn’t stay around for long. 

But I was still stuck in the previous mindset of “I just need to post 200 words today. I can write more about it tomorrow.” That started to feel a little off, because the energy wants to be expressed. Today. Now. And spreading out the posts over days would mean spreading out the energy of inspiration thin, like a small dab of butter on a large slice of bread. It becomes tasteless and bland.

I could write it all in one go and schedule the posts for later publishing, but that would mean quite a long stretch until I can write other things that I’m feeling energized to write about. 

Why not just write more? Who cares anyway!?

This is when the low bar feels limiting. And of course, there was never a rule in place that we cannot post more than one post per day! It was entirely (and stupidly, in a unintentional way) self-imposed. 

So there. Just as there are slumps, there are also peaks. The journey of daily writing here on 200wad is anything but static!