I was listening to one of my new favourite podcasts (No Bad Ideas), and this particular episode jumped out at me. The reason why might be apparent if you’re willing to spend a power hour listening to it, so I’d say give it a try and tell me what you think later.

You’ll hear Zach, Gabriel, and Sarah discussing the concept of “nonzero days”, which is the product of Zach’s only visit to Reddit? For full insights into the mind of the creator of this post, feel free to dive into the Redditor’s mind. On No Bad Ideas, listening to these incredibly talented creatives talk about how they feel like it’s very easy to be hard on yourself for not “doing” enough really makes you want to re-evaluate how these standards are set.

Truthfully, the idea that you’re not doing enough is both a product of capitalism AND a big, ugly lie. However, we really buy into it because there’s an arbitrary measurement for our success and productivity. Nonzero days puts this into perspective by letting you pick up a pen and scribble your name if you’re a writer, or touching the strings of your guitar or the keys of your piano if you’re a musician – even if you have no true intention of writing or playing.

Because sometimes we’re just so far gone in our own heads that we never bother to pick up the pen, or touch our instruments, and suddenly we’ve lost the ability to understand what that feels like. And we simply stop doing it.

Here’s to letting every day ahead be a nonzero day.

If you think it’s difficult, consider this: waking up today is +1 thing you can cross off your to-do list.