Hey everyone,
I’ve done these things. You’ve done these things. Pretty much every writer I’ve worked with has done at least one, if not most, of these things.
They will keep you stuck. And the sooner you recognize them for the sabotaging stories they are, the more quickly you will make progress.
Recognize any of them?
- Dreaming big dreams but never actually creating a plan of action that will help you get to them.
- Thinking “I suck at this” instead of “What do I need to learn to get better at this?”
- Never learning to love the process and putting all the focus on the outcome. (This is you if you loudly proclaim you hate writing but love having written and then wonder why you always feel miserable and unappreciated as a writer.)
- Not choosing to do the difficult work that is equal to your dreams.
- Constantly trying to fix your weaknesses while failing to build on your unique strengths.
- Not cutting off rude and soul sucking clients the moment they start becoming a problem, allowing them to fester and steal your time and energy.
- Living in reactive mode, that is, allowing deadlines, client edits, and external due dates dictate how you structure your days.
- Thinking everything you write is worth fixing, saving, or publishing.
- Building a social media following for a book you have not written and have not sold.
This is hardly an exhaustive list. How you think will dictate how you act, and how you act will dictate your results.
This is why mindset is so important, and if you been doing anything in the list above, it will keep you stuck, and it might be time to consider what steps you’re going to take to shift that.
Cheers,
Natasha