One of the things I’ve noticed is that its a lot easier to do things with social support. “Back in the day we used to call that peer pressure, son.” – but not so fast, Tex; hold on. When you try to do something for yourself, by yourself, it’s easier to give up; but when you involve another person, it’s far easier to hold yourself accountable.
Now, I think there’s some actual scientific studies on this, but that’s not what I’m referring to: I think I have directly observed this in my own life. You are the easiest person to fool, of course, but I am trained as a scientist, which means, in part, that I observe the world, that I record what I observe, and I analyze it, looking for patterns. And above, you can see that the only two times I failed at a National Novel Writing Month like challenge were the two months I didn’t do it with the social support of the formal challenges – when I tried it in the off months of August and December.
The same thing happened this year: my December writing, which I’ve consciously tried to keep up each day, has in truth been quite spotty. Now, there are vacations, holidays, and the year end crunch in there, but it’s surprising that I got so little done – and perhaps NOT surprising that the days I did best were the regular writing group days of the 29th, the 22nd, the 15th, the 8th, and the 2nd (at least best compared to the days immediately around them; the 22nd was thin).
So I got a little over 1/5th of the writing done in December than my typical November (and a lot less than in this previous November, which was epic). Perhaps that’s because in Nano I’m writing new material, and in December I also edit, but still, the social support – a group of peers who are trying to accomplish the same goal – really seems to help.
My wife and I have noticed the same thing at the gym; so has my friend Gordon. Jim Davies and Lou Fasulo do the same thing with their epic New Year’s resolutions. Agile development is a mixed bag at best and active, harmful voodoo at worst, but its daily standups nonetheless have the same kind of social effect.
So if you want to do something … consider finding a friend who wants to do it too.
-the Centaur
