Guest Post: Rev Up Your Mind by Kirsten McNeill

 

The hardest part about writing is to start writing! You would think I’d be constantly excited about writing. This is my livelihood and dream after all. Unfortunately, I’m full of excuses and fear, and I’m sure that goes for many others looking to accomplish a big task.

It’s easier than you think to make time to write. I’ll make excuses like “oh, I’m too tired” or “I have no time today.” Then, make time! The only thing getting in my way is myself and my fear. I’m afraid to start because I think my work will be bad.

All first drafts suck anyways, right? It’s better to have it done. That’s what editing is for. My fear controls me. It tells me that I’m not good enough and that I’ll never succeed. I haven’t tried yet, so it’s impossible for me to fail. All I have to do is come up with an idea and get my butt in gear.

I was watching a webinar once, and the person said that good writers make time to write. I don’t think “good” is an appropriate adjective here. Making time to work on your craft doesn’t have that strong of a correlation to your talent.

Sure, if you never write, you’ll never practice and get better. Sometimes, it’s hard to find motivation to work, though. That doesn’t make you a bad writer. It just means that you won’t get as much practice in as you may have wanted.

Day jobs, family, friends, and other responsibilities take up our time. I guess what the person from the webinar should have said was to make the most of the extra time you do have. Every bit counts, so when you don’t know what to do you should write.

Start typing, even if what you’re typing is complete garbage. You can always go back and change it later. Just get something on that page! That is my advice to myself and all the other struggling writers out there. Crush your fears and get your butt in gear.

Kirsten McNeill is an aspiring YA writer and hopes to change the world with the written word. She loves to create stories, play music, and read whenever she has the chance.

Kirsten’s website is www.theartisours.wordpress.com.
You can also find her at www.twitter.com/WorthInMusic, www.facebook.com/TheArtIsOurs, and
www.cornerhub.social/member/KirstenM

 

Book Promo: Edgy Conversations: How Ordinary People Achieve Outrageous Success

How to Overcome Excuses
6 Tips to Gain the Edge & Meet Your Goals

Great people throughout history often fail, quite miserably, before finally reaching their goals, says international business strategist Dan Waldschmidt.

“Van Gogh sold only one painting during his lifetime; Winston Churchill lost every public election until becoming prime minister at age 62; Henry Ford went bankrupt five times; Albert Einstein was a terrible student and was expelled from school; Sigmund Freud was booed from a stage,” says Waldschmidt, author of “Edgy Conversations: How Ordinary People Achieve Outrageous Success,” (www.EdgyConversations.com).

“Ideas, brilliance, genius – they all mean nothing without the guts, passion and tenacity necessary to make your dream a reality. But often, people fall back on excuses and give up on trying to reach their goals.”

Most of us have dreams, and many of us have big ones, but few of us actually see them through, he says.

He offers six tricks for jumping off the excuse train and forge the path to your goals.

•  Avoid the need to blame others for anything. Mean, small-minded people know that they suck. That’s why they are so cranky and eager to point out others’ mistakes. They hope that by causing others to feel inadequate, everyone will forget about how woefully off the mark their own performance is. Don’t blame anyone, for any reason, ever. It’s a bad habit.

•  Stop working on things that just don’t matter. Not everything needs to be done in place of sleep. If you work for a boss, then you owe them solid time. You can’t cut that out. You can, however, cut out television time, meetings and anything else that gets in the way of achieving your goals. Replace entertainment with activity toward your goal.

•  Refuse to let yourself wallow in self-doubt. You’re alive to succeed. Stop comparing your current problems to your last 18 failures. They are not the same. You are not the same. Here’s something to remember: Your entire life has been a training ground for you to capture your destiny right now. Why would you doubt that? Stop whining. Go conquer.

•  Ask yourself, “What can I do better next time?” And then do it next time. If you spend a decade or two earnestly trying to be better, that’s exactly what will happen. The next best thing to doing something amazing is not doing something stupid. So learn from your mistakes and use the lessons to dominate.

•  Proactively take time to do things that fuel your passion. Exercise is a great example. Living in the moment requires you to live at peak performance. A huge part of mental fitness is physical fitness. A sparring or running partner is a great way to refresh physical competition. Physical activity accelerates mental motivation.

•  Apologize to yourself and those around you for having a bad attitude. Do this once or twice and you’ll snap out of your funk pretty fast. When you start genuinely apologizing for being a bad influence on those around you, you learn to stop whining and start winning.

About Dan Waldschmidt

Dan Waldschmidt is the author of “Edgy Conversations: How Ordinary People Achieve Outrageous Success,” (www.EdgyConversations.com). He is an international business strategist, speaker, author and extreme athlete. His consulting firm solves complex marketing and business strategy problems for savvy companies all over the world.