The Creativity Conversation: Assessment Week Day 4

~ David Willis ~ Leave a comment

Assessment Week – Day 4
Friday, February 13, 2026

The opportunity to get to be creative every day has been one of the best parts of Round 1.

I was telling my son a few days ago—he read a copy of the book I had revised, the one I’m very eager to get out either through self-publishing or to see if I can get traditionally published this year.

And we were talking about the plot points. He was giving me feedback on what he liked and what he didn’t.

What I Told Him

I smiled at him and said, “Man, you gotta understand—I have not felt this creative or alive in any time that I can remember.”

That’s the truth.

I am purposely attacking creativity every day, and ideas are showing up. I’m able to make room for what I need to do. And it’s been just so fantastic. It’s been so, so good.

What Changed

Here’s the thing: I’ve always wanted to write a book. I’ve always wanted to be creative. I’ve always wanted to pursue these projects.

But I never did. Not really. Not with this kind of consistency and follow-through.

What changed?

I set my mind to it. I got after it. And I started using the tools at my disposal.

Voice-to-text for capturing thoughts. Daily creative hour on the calendar. OpusClip for video distribution. AI for Bible images.

The tools were always there. I just wasn’t using them strategically.

And the moment I committed to one hour of creative time every single day—not when I felt like it, not when inspiration struck, but DAILY—everything unlocked.

The novel got revised. The Light Bearer got outlined. Blog posts got written. Bible images got created and distributed to 50,000 people.

All because I stopped waiting for the perfect conditions and started using what I had.

The Conversation Validated the Journey

Talking with my son about the book I wrote—hearing his feedback, discussing plot points, seeing him engaged with the story—that validated everything.

This isn’t just me working in isolation anymore. This is real creative output that real people are reading and responding to.

And the fact that my own son is one of those readers? That makes it even better.

What I Want You to Hear

If you’ve been waiting to start something creative—waiting for the right time, the right tools, the right level of skill—stop waiting.

Set your mind to it. Get after it. Use the tools at your disposal.

You don’t need fancy equipment. You don’t need perfect conditions. You don’t need to feel inspired every day.

You just need to show up daily and do the work.

Train yourself in the essentials so that when opportunities come along, you’re prepared.

Because here’s what I’ve learned over 40 days: When you create space for creativity every single day, ideas show up. Projects get finished. Goals get achieved.

And one day, you get to have a conversation with someone you love about the thing you created.

And you realize: This is what being alive feels like.

Assessment Week – Day 4: Complete

I have not felt this creative or alive in any time I can remember.

And it’s because I finally stopped waiting and started doing.

See you tomorrow for Day 5.

I Can Finally Answer Yes: Assessment Week Day 3

~ David Willis ~ Leave a comment

Assessment Week – Day 3
Thursday, February 12, 2026

I’m still continuing with Assessment Week. I’ve been thinking hard about what I want to get done, where I’m at, what I’ve been doing.

The amount I’ve accomplished versus the level of effort I put in versus what I could have put in.

The Nagging Voice

I think I’m like everybody else. I have this nagging voice in the back of my head that always asks me if I’m doing enough.

The one that rarely goes quiet. Doesn’t want to give me any peace.

That just says: Are you performing? Are you doing what you said you would do?

And for the first time in a long time—maybe ever—I can actually answer that question with a resounding YES.

I am doing what I’m supposed to do.

I have been doing everything I can to leverage these seven habits into better daily decisions, into goal pursuit, into finally accomplishing things I’ve been trying to accomplish for a long time.

And it has been rewarding and frustrating and inspiring and so many other things.

But it’s been so needed.

The Level of Effort

I’m simply saying I know the level of effort I’m putting in now. And I have not done this maybe ever. At least in a very long time.

This is one of the breakthroughs of Assessment Week: My desire to accomplish is growing, not diminishing.

That’s what makes this different from every other time I’ve tried to change something.

Usually, momentum fades. Usually, the initial excitement wears off and the habit dies.

Not this time.

Round 1 proved the system works. And instead of being satisfied and coasting, I’m more eager to get after Round 2 than I was to start Round 1.

The Seven Habits Are Working

There’s a reason I start my day with my Bible. There’s a reason I want to ground myself in Scripture every day. I’m a follower of Jesus. I have to stay grounded to His word. I have to stay in the Scripture. Or I spin out of control.

I have to exercise every day. Even in Assessment Week, I’ve been averaging 45 minutes a day—not quite the hour, but as soon as we start next week, I’ll pop back up to my hour a day.

It’s a way that I keep myself in check and make sure I’m doing the right things. Because if I’m exercising, I’m also not as tempted to overeat or eat things I shouldn’t. My calorie counting and water intake prove that exercise, eating, and hydration all work in tandem with each other. They work really, really well.

I have been pleasantly surprised with reading my books every day. While I’ve taken a couple of days off during Assessment Week because I’ve been doing other things, I’m also looking forward to getting back to that every day as well.

The idea that we are only six weeks into the new year and I’ve already finished three books and started a fourth makes me very happy. And that doesn’t include the times I’ve read my own book that I’ve been writing—which I’ve read at least a couple of times as well.

I have read more and consumed more in the last six weeks than I have in quite some time. And I’m very pleased.

I’ve also done my very best to stay grateful every day. I’ve had gratitude listed as one of my daily habits, and upon reflection, I feel like I’m doing well because gratitude is one of those centering things.

By reading my Bible, by knowing where I am with God, by pursuing a relationship with Him, I stay in a constant state of gratitude because I know that He takes such exquisite care of me and my family. That He loves me dearly.

So that’s enough to be grateful for every day all in itself. But also all the people He puts in my path, the opportunities He gives me, just the opportunity to take my next breath because life is so very precious.

I am just grateful.

The Central Message

I say all this to say: It’s better to pursue something. It’s better to set your eyes on a prize out in front of you and go after it.

It’s better to have these daily things that you make yourself do so that you can get to do other things aside from it.

To train yourself in the essentials so that when opportunities come along, you’re prepared.

The 7-40 Challenge is working.

I am so entirely grateful.

And I cannot wait to get started on Round 2.

Assessment Week – Day 3: Complete

For the first time in a long time, I can answer YES to “Am I doing enough?”

And that feels so good.

See you tomorrow for Day 4.

Assessment Week Day 2: Thinking Out Loud

~ David Willis ~ Leave a comment

Assessment Week – Day 2
Wednesday, February 11, 2026

The time to rest and reframe during Assessment Week has been very good.

I’m finding I do so much better by getting my ideas out and clarifying them as I go. I used to think that ideas had to come out fully formed, but I’m learning more and more to start with a premise and work through it.

The Voice-to-Text Game Changer

Voice-to-text on my iPhone has been a Round 1 game changer.

I think out loud. That app lets me capture it all. Then taking that raw material and asking questions through it? That’s gold.

For years, I felt like I had to have things polished before they were even workable. Like I had to know what I was saying before I could say it.

That’s just not true.

Reading Seth Godin Differently Now

That line from Linchpin about people being afraid to figure things out for themselves hit me different this time.

I used to read Seth Godin a lot and then put him down. His abstraction frustrated me. But now I have more experience under my belt, and it means more.

Maybe that’s what happens when you do 40 consecutive days of anything—you prove to yourself that iteration beats perfection. That starting messy and clarifying as you go actually works better than waiting for the polished version.

What I’m Grateful For

I’m grateful for Assessment Week. For the space to rest, reflect, and discover things like this.

For voice-to-text that lets me think without self-editing.

For the process of getting ideas out, even when they’re not fully formed, and working through them.

For 40 days that proved I don’t need to have it all figured out before I start.

Assessment Week – Day 2: Complete

Sometimes the best insights come when you give yourself permission to think out loud.

See you tomorrow for Day 3.

The Factory vs. The Linchpin: Assessment Week Day 1

~ David Willis ~ Leave a comment

Assessment Week – Day 1
Tuesday, February 10, 2026

I started reading Linchpin by Seth Godin today. Like many good books, it says more to me on the second read than the first.

The Factory

Godin talks about how the Industrial Revolution created what he calls “the factory”—the 9-to-5 job where somebody tells you what to do, you get paid to do what you’re told, you go home. You’ve been a part of the system, somebody else owns the means of production.

From standardized musket parts to Henry Ford’s assembly line, the factory seduced us into giving up what we were meant to do just to be part of the prescribed system.

The Quote That Hit Me

“People want to be told what to do because they’re afraid—even petrified—of figuring it out for themselves.”

That made me think: How many times have I neglected taking a more entrepreneurial path because I was afraid?

I’ve known for years there are projects I wanted to work on—the book I wrote and revised, the new book I’m writing, the speaking business I’ll start this year. But I’ve also spent way too much time just following instructions at work versus solving actual problems.

Being a linchpin means you know your job so well that you’re pushing the edges. You’re finding out what really needs to be done versus what the system says you need to do.

The Fake Version vs. The Real Thing

I remember a sermon where the pastor told someone who bragged about being good at Guitar Hero: “If you put as much time in on an actual guitar as you put in on the video game, you could be an actual guitar hero.”

We’re seduced by the easy, prescribed path. But I think because it’s difficult, it’s the very reason we need to do it.

What Round 1 Proved

Round 1 wasn’t the fake version. Forty consecutive days of real creative work—novel revised, blog posts written, 30,000+ people reached with Bible images. That’s not Guitar Hero. That’s the real guitar.

The Round 2 Danger

Here’s what I’m realizing as I enter Round 2: I need to lean even more into excellence and resist the urge to coast.

As momentum builds, it’s easy to phone things in. But the creative sessions, the reading, the daily habits—they’re leading me to become indispensable. Not just a factory worker following instructions, but someone figuring things out.

The Obligation

I have an obligation to myself, my family, and my Maker who gave me talents to make the most out of what I’ve been given.

I enjoy my day job. I enjoy data management. But that’s not all of who I am.

So I’m continuing in my side hustle tasks AND leaning into my day job to become as indispensable as I can make myself in both areas.

General Douglas MacArthur said, “Security is one’s ability to produce.” Being able to produce and being indispensable is about the only job security I can think of.

Assessment Week: Choosing Self-Direction

That’s why I’m working through Assessment Week—to figure out what Round 2 needs to look like.

I want to tell myself what to do with my creativity, my ability to produce. I can choose to be told what to do, or I can become what Seth Godin calls a linchpin—indispensable.

That’s who we should aspire to be. But we have to figure out how. And we have to do the hard work of getting it done.

Assessment Week – Day 1: Complete

Round 2 starts February 17. Time to figure out what it looks like to become indispensable—in every area of life.

See you tomorrow for Assessment Week Day 2.

Day 40: Round 1 Complete – Excited, Exhausted, and Ready for What’s Next

~ David Willis ~ Leave a comment

Day 40 of the 7-40 Challenge
Monday, February 9, 2026

Hello and welcome to Day 40 of the 7-40 Challenge.

Here we are. At the end of Round 1.

And I am both excited and exhausted.

Why I’m Excited

I’m excited because every single day of this round, I have executed on the seven daily habits I set out to accomplish:

  • Bible study
  • An hour of exercise
  • Calorie tracking
  • 100 ounces of water daily
  • Daily gratitude
  • Reading for 30 minutes a day
  • An hour of daily creative time (blogging, writing, revising, social media content)

I’ve been able to do all of this for 40 days in a row—despite the fact that I hurt my hand, have been extremely busy at work, and had a variety of other things come up trying to interrupt progress.

I’m excited because I’ve lost 12 pounds. I’ve been able to revise my novel. I’ve started getting feedback from my first round of readers (my family). I have been actively blogging—this is my 40th blog post in a row.

I’ve also been posting daily on Instagram and TikTok on a handle called BiblePictures365, where I’m creating visual images from the different chapters I’m reading. Over 100 posts. Over 30,000 views.

There’s a lot to be excited about. I’ve gotten a lot done. I’m laying the foundation for what’s probably going to be my most productive year ever.

And that’s how I’m still moving forward.

Why I’m Exhausted

Now, why am I tired?

Go back and read the section above. Then pick back up here.

Of course, I’m kidding. But that level of doing does require a lot of mental energy and a lot of time. And I am absolutely knackered as I write this.

But here’s the thing: This exhaustion is real, and it’s also a byproduct of doing something that is worthy.

If it were easy, I wouldn’t be tired. But it also wouldn’t be worth doing.

What I Learned About Myself

A few things I’ve learned over this last month:

I am far more capable than I give myself credit for sometimes.

My shortfall is not a lack of ability. It’s a lack of structure. And I’ve proven to myself that with these seven daily habits I need to tackle, I am able to provide myself the structure to accomplish the greater things I set out to do.

I am a great example of how the path of least resistance is the attractive one, but not always the beneficial one.

I’ve noticed there are certain days and times I get to where I want to sink into old habits. Thursday evenings with a pizza and a glass of wine. Saturdays to eat out. There are plenty of opportunities to crash my goals if I’m not careful.

And that’s why these seven daily habits are so important. Because I know that either I take the path of least resistance, or I take the path of accomplishment. Those two paths don’t usually coincide with each other.

Here’s what I’ve realized: Our brains’ primary job is to conserve energy, which is why we have habit routines to start with.

I’m forcing my brain to go down a different path and choose a different route, which short-circuits things for a little while and makes things difficult and harder to do.

That’s normal. That’s expected. That’s the price of change.

Thankfully, this month, though I’ve eaten a few things I wanted to, I’ve stayed within my calories. I’ve stayed within my goals—as evidenced by my progress.

If I Can Do This, You Can Too

Here’s what I want you to hear: If this overweight 47-year-old man can decide to change things, you can too.

I’m not special. I’m not superhuman. I’m just a guy who decided 40 days ago that 2026 was going to be different.

And it has been.

What Happens Next

Going forward, this next week I am going to take a moment. I’m going to start planning for the next round, which actually begins next Monday, February 17.

And I am going to get in a little extra rest.

I will still practice some of the habits. I may not blog every day. Then again, I may. You never know. I may just keep right on going.

This is Assessment Week (February 10-16). Time to:

  • Review my yearly goals
  • Make sure I’m not short-circuiting anything I said I wanted to do for any of my new bright ideas
  • Rest and recharge
  • Build momentum for Round 2

I have some very cool details to share at the beginning of Round 2 about progress on other projects I haven’t yet mentioned. But in the meantime, I need to evaluate, rest, and refine.

Your Turn

How about you? What habits are you practicing? Where have you seen marked improvement when you apply yourself to them?

I would love to hear your story to go right along with mine. The successes you’ve had so we can celebrate them together.

And if you’re ready to join me for Round 2 starting February 17, I’d love to have you along for the journey.

Round 1: COMPLETE ✓

Forty days. Seven habits. Perfect execution.

Total Progress:

  • 40 consecutive days of all seven habits
  • 12.4 pounds lost
  • Novel revised (97 chapters)
  • 40 blog posts published
  • 100+ Bible images posted (30,000+ views)
  • Social media system operational
  • Creative breakthrough (The Light Bearer outlined)

Assessment Week begins tomorrow.

See you next week for Round 2.