A routine that sticks

Consistency is not a personality type. It is a slot in the day that does not require you to feel keen. Compers who are still entering in a year’s time almost always have a slot. Compers who “do a big session when they remember” usually fade, then blame luck.

Pick a small container

Twenty minutes is a serious comping session for a busy person. Forty is generous. Two hours is a hobby afternoon, not a daily plan. Choose a container you can keep on a Wednesday in February, not the one that sounds impressive on a Sunday night.

Anchor it to something that already happens. After the school run. With the first tea. On the train, if you only do forms that do not need a printer. After lunch at your desk, if your job allows a private tab and you are not entering on a work account you might lose. The anchor matters more than the clock time.

A shape that does not rely on mood

1. Open your list, not the whole internet.
2. Enter anything closing today that you already meant to enter.
3. Add two or three new ones that pass your filter: real prize, real eligibility, no surprise cost.
4. If you have minutes left, do one slower thing: a slogan, a postal entry, a check of a winners page.
5. Write down what you entered. Close the laptop.

The close is part of the routine. An open-ended session teaches your brain that comping expands to fill the evening. A closed session teaches it that comping is a finished task, like washing the mugs.

Lists, not wandering

Wandering feels productive because you are clicking. It is mostly how you end up entering the same noisy national giveaway as everyone else. A list — from a site you trust, a magazine, a newsletter, your own bookmarks — lets the twenty minutes go on entries rather than on hunting.

Keep a short “always check” row: two listing sites, one email folder, one social account if you use one. If a fifth source appears, something else has to leave. Unlimited sources are how routines die.

Weekly, not only daily

Daily keeps the closing dates from biting you. Weekly is for the tidying. One longer sit, maybe on Sunday, to:

• throw out closed competitions from the tracker
• check whether anything you entered has named a winner
• restock postcards and stamps if you use them
• look at a skill contest that needs a clearer head than a weekday allows

If the weekly sit keeps getting skipped, the daily container is too big. Shrink the daily one. People overestimate the routine they want and underestimate the routine they will repeat.

When life interrupts

Miss a day and start the next day at the normal size. Do not “catch up” by entering thirty things badly. Bad entries are how you get disqualified on the one that would have mattered. The page on staying consistent is about this exact wobble, because it happens to everyone who is not a robot.