The Circle of Write
Thursday, November 01, 2007 - posted by hellomynameisscott at 4:30 AM
A common barrier to putting the pen to the page is:“…yeah, but I don’t really LIKE writing.”
That’s cool.
I still suggest you get started.
And here’s why…
1. The more you write, the more you will like writing.
2. The more you like writing, the more you will want to write.
3. The more you want to write, the more thought, time and effort you will put into your writing.
4. The more thought, time and effort you put into your writing, the better your writing will become.
5. The better your writing becomes, the more confidence you will have.
6. The more confidence you have, the more you will write and want to write.
And then the pattern repeats itself. Forever.
I call this “The Circle of Write.”
Creativity guru Mihály Csíkszentmihályi refers to this type of process as a Feedback Loop of Mutual Causation and Reinforcement.
This means, as he explains in Finding Flow, “If you focus attention on anything, it is likely that you will become interested in it. And if you are interested in something, you will focus on it.”
So, the effect becomes the cause.
And the cause becomes the effect.
WHICH MEANS: the key to writing is to addict yourself to it.
So, follow The Circle of Write.
And that whole “…yeah, but I don’t really LIKE writing” excuse will become non-existent.
Hakuna-matata!
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Labels: how to convince yourself that you actually have a real job, kicking your own ass, writing is the basis of all wealth
Scott:
I sum it up this way...
You can feel your way into acting...or you can act your way into feeling. If you choose to operate by feelings first - you probably won't get anything done.
Scott - What great timing. With today kicking off NaNoWriMo this is well worth reading. Love it! - Ashley
My Karate instructor recently said that most people don't like to do things (whether it's writing, push-ups, or whatever) because they don't do it well. So, until you've practiced to the point that you are good at something, you don't have a right to say you don't like to do it.
As far as overcoming creative resistance, for me, I just remind myself that I just have to do it, I don't necessarily have to do it well. By just doing whatever it is consistently, the "doing it well" part seems to just work itself out.
Just two great examples from life today. I'd been putting off changing my tire from the spare back to the repaired and fixing the toiled. I didn't want to do either. They were chores. Then when I sat down to do them, I actually enjoyed the challenge of doing it. I think I'm going to try and choose to approach every problem that way and maybe there won't be so much downtime before it gets done.