When I decided I wanted to become a professional writer I had no idea what I was getting myself. It's just as difficult and unlikely as becoming a pro-athlete. Your odds are one in several million that anyone will give a shit about your work.
I've tried a long list of crap to keep myself motivated and writing every day for the last decade. Most of it didn't work but I STILL managed to write almost every day for the last TEN YEARS. Here's what does work:
- Making myself write every day
- Ignoring other people's busy work as often as possible
- Saying no to things other people think are important but are not
- Savoring the joy of having done the work when I go to bed
- Realizing that reading books about writing, going to seminars about writing and talking about writing are NOT writing
- Being unforgiving with myself on the off days I do cheat myself
- Exercising daily
- Having a good sense of humor
Seeing the truth motivates me. However, I've discovered a strange phenomenon where it does the exact opposite to many other folks. When I sit down to write something "true" it might as well be written in invisible ink.
That's because the truth is hard. It's boring. It's unforgiving.
I've struggled with how to get a real message across to people for years. The dirty secret is that self-help empires are NOT built on telling the truth because people don't want to hear it. They're built on lies that sound really good.
You'll find the same with diet and fitness (which are really self-help variants). If you want to write a great diet book absolutely do not tell people to simply eat a lot more vegetables, exercise, cut calories and stop eating shit. Instead pick one food enemy, like fat, sugar, carbs and tell people that all they need to do is cut out that one thing and everything will be fine! Also tell them they can keep eating whatever it is they like that is bad for them as often as possible.
One way I've found to get that message across is with humor. If you cloak the real message in satire, it goes down a lot easier. That's why I wrote this satirical piece: The Secret Key to Writing A Pop Motivational Masterpiece on Medium in Five Easy Steps after perusing the top motivational articles on Medium and finding the same tired list of garbage echoed endlessly. (Yes, it is my piece. No I don't post my own shit very often. Yes I think it's relevant and feel free to vote me into oblivion if you don't agree.)
So what is the truth? Here is where it gets challenging, because I'm going to come into this temple of motivation and piss on some sacred cows and folks won't like it because they're invested heavily in believing in magic. Giving up our beliefs is like dying to the ego.
Here is a short list of shit that has never worked for me:
- Meditation
- Visualization
- Reciting mantras
- Journaling
- Motivational seminars
- The power of positive thinking
- The law of attraction
- Flotation tanks
If you're heavily invested in one of these things, please take a deep breath before penning an angry response. :) Maybe visualization works for you, but talk to me in five years if you're still doing it and you are NOT a motivational speaker peddling it to others.
Now don't get me wrong, I've meditated for decades, but I don't see it as some super power to getting what I want in life. I see it as a way to calm down that's better than jerking off again or watching TV.
There is only one way to achieve something in life: Keeping doing it every day, even when you don't feel like it.
Oh and have a good sense of humor.
Thanks for listening.
Submitted February 13, 2017 at 05:09AM by buddha33 http://ift.tt/2khxpJL
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