There are a number of things that you can do to get out of your own way and become the author you were meant to be. Each of these pieces of advice can help you to focus on positive qualities and banish the negative ones. Each of us at one time or another focus on the wrong things and because of this, our work suffers. As human beings, we have a habit of being our own worst enemy. We allow our minds to tell us lies and we accept in without question. When in reality one of the best pieces of advice for getting out of your own way is to question anything that your mind tries to convince you of.
You need to put aside your fears and work towards your goal of being an author. This is not easy because, coming back to your mind and it’s thoughts, your mind will try to convince you of things that are not always truthful. Your fears are there to protect you but at times, your mind becomes over-protective.
To put aside your fears, you need to look at what those fears actually are. When you take a closer look at your fears and begin to break them down, you begin to see them for what they truly are. You can also see that some of the fears can even be a bit ridiculous.
Working towards your goal of being an author will be a struggle. You will not wake up in the morning and have fame and fortune, receiving a large advance, it just won’t happen. Instead, if you really want this, you will have to push for it. This struggle will improve you as a person, as an author and will improve your craft also. But it will not be easy. It will be a hard road to complete.
Realize that success is a journey not a destination, enjoy the trip. Too many people look at success as one thing which they strive to attain. “If I could only reach this point, then I will have made it.” But the truth is, it doesn’t work this way. Instead, as you reach each point along the way, you will want to strive to reach something further along the path. You will never, ever reach a point where you can put your feet up and say that you are a success. You may have completed things and become a success in what you were trying to accomplish but there is always something else to strive for.
One of the best things you can do is one of the simplest or rather one of the most obvious. If you want to be an author, do the work, sit and write. People want something for nothing. They will want to be an author and they may scratch out a little here and there but then they go out with friends or to do something else and they wonder why they never make it as an author. They fail to do the work and to put in the time. All it takes is a commitment to doing the job. Paying your dues if you will.
When you do sit down to do the work, you don’t need to be perfect. You want to strive for excellence not perfection. There is a BIG difference there. If you are going for perfection, it will never be right and it will never be good enough. It just won’t happen there will always be something wrong with it. What you want to strive for is excellence. With excellence, you do the best you can, you create the best possible and then you send it out into the world.
As you struggle through writing, if you aren’t having fun, you aren’t doing it right. Writing is supposed to be fun, that’s why we write, because we enjoy it. If you aren’t having fun then something is wrong. I’m not saying that the whole thing is a game, you will struggle but for the most part, you shouldn’t hate writing. Along the same lines, if you are bored with what you are writing, your readers will be bored also.
To get started writing or to get through writing or any other obstacle, set a goal or a series of goals. We have been told time and time again to set goals it is what will help us accomplish our tasks and there is a lot of truth there because goals will provide forward motion. As you reach each goal, you will strive a little bit further.
Another important aspect of anything you are working towards is practice, practice, practice. It is only through practice that you will improve. The more you practice, the better your abilities will become. Don’t forget to focus on practicing the basics and reviewing them on occasion. This will help with your foundation.
As you go through your work and even through your life, don’t compare yourself to other people. This is another big mistake that people make. We compare ourselves to others and we tend to think that they made it so easily and that they got to the point where they are at without any work. We think they are so much better than us or were bestowed with so much better skills. The total opposite couldn’t be more true. The real big difference is that they put forth the effort and did the work and stuck with it.
When you are stuck or find the road difficult, don’t forget to take time to think. This can help you in everything that you do and can give you insights in many ways. Thinking can take difficult things and break them down so you can see the individual parts and understand them. You can also see how much your mind can blow things out of proportion.
Also, as you go through the process and work towards your goals, don’t forget to take time to enjoy other things. It doesn’t all have to be about working towards your goals and writing and becoming an author. Take time to live life and enjoy it because that is where you will find inspiration.
What are your best pieces of advice for getting out of your own way?