We love those little moments when we realize we’ve mastered an element of writing. Maybe we stumble on a reliable method for strengthening our dialogue or find a clever solution to a story problem or plot hole. Those eureka moments can keep us going even when everything else seems indifferent to our writing.
In a post on Writers in the Storm, Jenny Hansen discusses two a-ha moments that helped build up her confidence as a writer. In this case, Hansen’s moments were focused on achieving her personal writing goals.
During a recent life-coaching class Hansen attended, the instructor cautioned against getting mired in to-do lists. Instead, the instructor urged his class to focus on problem-solving. “I think this is the true reason so many writers get procrastination paralysis on their projects,” Hansen writes. “It’s those huge to-do lists with no action plan. There is a how to some of these to-do’s, especially big to-do’s, that must be respected.”
Hansen advises breaking down big projects into smaller goals – even minute goals – and making sure you schedule things. If to-do lists don’t work for you (and we admit we are hit or miss with them), add a schedule and deadline component. What gets scheduled gets done.
Second, Hansen realized that trying to tackle big goals in one piece not only hindered her ability to reach them but was deleterious to her motivation and momentum. “When you don’t keep an agreement with yourself, it erodes your self-confidence and the ability to trust yourself and your own word,” she says. “If you are scared or shamed about meeting your writing goals, you will get stuck. It’s human nature.”
So, keep your agreements with yourself.
