Some thoughts on success

 

I see success as something that takes effort and persistence, although to be fair some folks seem to be better at it than others. The attempt to try to succeed, without a safety net can be a harrowing ordeal, for instance.

But here are a few things I agree on the topic of success:

-Success doesn’t happen on its own. Success takes some effort on your part, but also opportunities must be also be in place to take advantage of them. How to find those opportunities? Put yourself out there- meet people, go places (writer classes, workshops, or conventions). And be prepared for when those opportunities present themselves.

-Success requires failure. This sounds like it goes against the concept of what success is about, but every great idea, great book, or whatever, took its turn at failing. Just look up the number of times the famous authors endured rejections. They could have just as easily quit then, but they didn’t. They showed persistence to find their goal.

-Success can also be unexpected. In other words, you can find in success in goals you don’t even know you have in the first place. I never really thought of success in regards to my writer’s group, but its been going strong now for years, with members who enjoy and find the meetings offer them something of value- so that is a success of mine I never really set for myself.

-Success comes easier if surrounded by encouraging people. It helps they are also successful, to help guide you along or set you back on course if you stray too far. You can find encouraging people in writer’s group, meetup groups, churches, community groups, etc.

-Success often holds a different meaning to different people. For some, success ties into money and income or fame. Other people, writers specifically, might find success in completing a novel, publishing a short story or article, or gaining subscribers to their blog. Its up to you to define what success means to you.

What do you think? What does success mean to you? Do you follow the dictionary definition- a favorable outcome of something attempted- or does it have another meaning for you? What goals and success do you  hope to achieve as a writer?

Technorati Tags: goals,success,writing,novel,fiction,authors,blog

 

Motivation versus Resolve

While perusing the Internet this morning, I happened upon this article on GoodLifeZen.com. Want to Establish a Good Habit? Use This Secret Mental Force, by Mary Jaksch. As one always seeking the ‘secret trick to motivation’, my interest was definitely perked.

The author makes a very good point with the difference between motivation and finding resolve. Motivation tends to describe our state of being. We already have the motivations inside of us, so the time this wanes, where we don’t feel motivated to write, for instance, motivation isn’t there. Resolve, on the other hand, provides a means to understand that you need to write anyway. If you want to reach the goal of a published work, or even a completed novel, you have to write regardless of the motivation there or not.

I realized this works with many other areas of my life as well. Exercise is a great example. I don’t feel motivated to workout regularly, but I think I can find the resolve. I can accept that I don’t like to sweat or get sore, or make that effort, but the resolve to get fit, to feel more energy, to lose this stupid weight, then I accept those terms.

So I resolve to write regularly. I don’t have to have motivation, or even write well. I just need to write. I also resolve to workout. I don’t have to like it, or do it well, but darn it all, I will do it if I want to reach my goals.

Technorati Tags: resolution,goal,success,habit,writing,author,tips,mental,motivation

 

The importance of making mistakes

Dawny_sky

I only recently discovered that making mistakes is not only a part of life, in many aspects, screwing up now and then is essential to our overall development. Not only did this lesson seem like an epiphany for me, its really opened my eyes to other aspects of my life and the fears I previously allowed to hold me back.

I’ve encountered a number of writers who admit to having blocks and hesitations to writing because of the fear of all the mistakes they’re likely to make. Perhaps they can’t work out the issues of plot, or what if a character ends up too 2-dimensional? What if they made a mistake?

The beauty of many mistakes is that you can fix them. Power lies in the revision stages of writing, that no matter how bad your first rough draft might be, you can change it! Whatever mistakes you make can show you what not to do. You’ll learn and evolve.

Its when you don’t learn and evolve where mistakes can be a bad thing. If you stubbornly refused to learn from mistakes, you’ll just keep making them. Accept you’re a flawed person- like everyone else on this planet- and move on, because you have one thing many don’t have and that is the willingness to presevere despite the mistakes.

My biggest concern with mistakes is having to face the criticism and sometimes ridicule of my errors. My family can be very severe in that regard, where so much of life I wasted in allowing the fear of mistakes to control me. I didn’t do many things I should’ve dared to do. I also found my voice to tell them to knock it off; I’m allowed to make mistakes, no one is perfect, and their words are hardly helping my situation so would you so kindly shut up (or stfu).

Without trying, and taking the risk of bngle or gaff, you’ll miss so many ‘what if’ opportunities. You might even miss a way to learn from mistakes so you can finally succeed at what you want to do.

Just because you make mistakes doesn’t mean you are one.

~Author Unknown

A Writer’s Goals for the New Year

You might think that publication is the goal of every writer, and this is not always so. For some, they want to improve their writing or complete a story. Others plan on extending into another genre, to explore different mediums of storycrafting. Some goals include developing better writing habits such as writing daily, or paying closer attention to grammar and punctuation.

A handy acronym to follow is SMART- (Borrowed from How to Set SMART Writing Goals by Dustin Wax), which puts this handy, goal-setting process best to print;

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Time-bound

Being Specific helps narrow down exactly how you will reach that goal. When jotting down New Year’s Resolutions, don’t state so much the goal, but also consider how you will reach that goal. Sometimes the journey towards an objective is just as important as the destination.

Measuring takes on many forms from the baby steps of daily word counts to seeing the finished product of a novel. Wording must be action-oriented, thoughts set in concrete.

Achievable seems a no-brainer, but many people set goals with no hopes or expectation of achiving them. Let this year be different. Pick only goals you know you will reach, but also challenging enough to leave a sense of accomplishment.

Relevant means something positive and meaningful, something to change your life. Your goals should walk in step with your soul and moral outlook in life.

Time bound or timely includes giving yourself a set amount of time to reach the goal you’ve selected. For some this could be word counts, finishing a chapter, completing the novel, or finding an agent/editor by a certain time.

TopAchievement.com also provides a nicely done article on the same SMART principles. The author adds ‘Tangible” in addition to time-bound, discussing the importance of having goals you can feel with any number of your senses.

SMART Goal Setting 101 by Tristan Loo adds more to this type of goal setting by providing sage advice. I agree wholeheartedly the importance of failure in goal setting. Without the possibilities of failure, what challenge is any goal?

Also, knowing who you can turn to for support helps. Personally I don’t include people in my life that are there to put me down or discourage me. What use are they other than drag me down? So I surround myself with writers, and people who believe in me to nudge me along the way.

Just the other day, my sister gave me a wonderful pep talk to get a book published in the 2009 year. Her words were short and to the point, but sincere. Her belief that I could write and publish a decent story helps clarify my own goal setting for the coming year.

Pick your goals wisely. Print them out and hang predominantly in the area you write. Take one step at a time. Make the year 2009 a year to remember.