The first piece of instruction any aspiring creator always gets is to focus on consistency. And I 100% agree that’s the first priority. If you don’t bother to show up, then it’s literally impossible to make progress.

But recently, I’ve come to realize that there’s more to it than just showing up. You need to also focus on your creator wattage.

Let’s use cyclists as an example to understand what that means.

Most beginners who buy their new road bike think the primary goal is mileage. How soon can I hit a century ride?? Ugh I just want to flex some big numbers on Strava!!

Proving you can do long rides is important. But it’s half the story. The north star that I know all great cyclists focus on is their functional threshold power. FTP is the maximum average power you can sustain for about an hour, measured in watts. This is the number that sets your training zones.

Cyclists who do endurance training as well as FTP intensity workouts end up performing better on the long rides because their zone 2 rides are at a faster pace.

The same goes for long distance runners, swimmers, etc.

Training without intensity will leave you always feeling stagnant and bored during endurance training. It would suck if a 50 mile bike ride felt just as hard two years into training right?

I believe the same kind of focus on power output needs to be applied for creative work.

When I started this Substack last week, I thought the goal was simple: show up every weekday and publish a post. That aligns with the advice from all the greats right?

But that’s boring! I want to make sure I’m also focused on growing my writing muscle. How am I going to do that? By bringing in the same variety endurance athletes implement in their training.

For example, on average it takes me about an hour to write first drafts. But today, I set a 20 minute timer to finish writing this post. I have no choice but to lock in and get the sentences flowing!

Tomorrow, I might focus on a “longer ride” and write two posts instead of just one.

And on Thursday, I might take a rest day and dedicate that time to read through my writing and do some editing and rewrites.

The point is that I know I’ll get bored just trying to “show up everyday”. That’s just not me! I’m a person who likes to see variety and progress. And if the only data point that’s changing is the total number of posts, then am I really improving?

To be clear, I’m still going to show up daily and publish a post. But that doesn’t mean each day has to look the same.

I’m also well aware that writing is going to be just as hard two years from now. Of course I’ll have a bad day where it’s impossible to get words on paper. But my overall output should feel stronger. The same creative headwind that would make me want to quit today should feel exciting then because I’ve built up the strength to power through.

In fact, I also believe the same thing applies to my reading habit. I don’t just want to read daily. That’s lame. I want to read like an elite athlete. Some days, I’ll get myself to speed read. Other days, I’ll get myself to read in 30 minute intervals throughout the day. And some days, when it feels hard to use my brain, I’ll focus on turning a single page or trying an audiobook.

I’m not going to worry about tracking all the questions below immediately. The last thing I want to do is get too mechanical and burn myself out. But these are the questions that I’m keeping top of mind as I look to grow my creative FTP.

• How many atomic notes am I writing per day?

• How many words am I writing per day?

• What am I reading per day? How should I track reading?

• How many conversations am I having per week?

• How am I getting better at writing everyday?

• Am I consciously participating in my milieu (i.e. replies, connecting ideas)?

And would you look at that?! I was worried about 20 minutes not being long enough for my first sprint writing session but I still have 2:49 left on the clock. If you don’t up the intensity, you’ll never know how much wattage you’re capable of!