I made a discovery this weekend. Those kind you’d call “light bulb” or “aha” moments.
I noticed I was experiencing that old “my life is nothing but work” attitude. I asked my why and discovered it was because I had allowed other commitments keep me from working on my own story. So on Saturday, I did a bit of work on revisions and also did something fun. And my bad attitude evaporated.
This drove home to me the importance of working on my own projects everyday, even if for only 30 minutes. It keeps my passion alive and the blues away.
All of us can discover and learn new things on a regular basis. If I don’t know how to do something, but want to know, then I teach myself through books, YouTube videos, online classes, or even a college class.
As writers, I believe it’s essential we learn and discover regularly.
Discover and Learn About Yourself
I put this one first because I feel it’s the most important one.
This is where you discover negative beliefs that impact your…
- Relationships,
- Confidence in yourself,
- Productivity in your writing (or in your 9 to 5)
- Prosperity
- Contentment, happiness, joy and more.
You discover
- What works for you and what doesn’t
- What you like and don’t like
- What you’re willing to pay someone else to do
- What you truly want out of life.
Don’t make this harder than it is. It can be as simple as listening to various kinds of music as you write and learning which kinds help you be the most creative.
After listening to nature sounds, I learned I’m much more creative while listening to forest birds chirping and brooks babbling, than to the roar of ocean waves. That simple discovery also made me realize I’d prefer to live in forested areas than next to the beach. I’ve lived in both, and I always end up somewhere land-locked. Now I know why.
About Better Publishing Skills
If you think you’ve learned all there is about the craft of writing, then you’re probably not producing great books, or you’re growing stagnate in your ideas. As writers, we can always improve our craft.
With social media platforms making changes (daily, it seems) and new ones emerging, there’s new stuff to learn about the platforms we use.
Entrepreneurs consistently launch new online courses. They often include a free challenge of some kind in their launch. Try participating in those that interest you.
I recently participated in Bryan Cohen’s Amazon Ads Challenge (ends tomorrow actually). Five days of video teaching and FB live Q&A times. So many puzzle pieces to Amazon ads fell into place for me! All it cost me was my time.
Yes, these free challenges include plugs for signing up for a paid course. If you can’t resist signing up, then maybe you need to avoid them. Overall, they are a good way to discover and learn.
About Technology
Technology is growing faster now than in any other time in history. New software tools that can help us write, market, research, and indie publish pop up faster than moles in the “whack-a-mole” game.
Keep your antenna up and investigate new stuff to see if it will work for you.
All this learning takes time. Maybe you feel you won’t have time for writing. My point isn’t that you should be doing all this learning all at the same time.
My point is that you should be in a discover and learn mental state all the time. Because that’s when those “aha” moments happen. These things can affect our productivity and impact our prosperity as well, for the negative or the positive. Wouldn’t you like to be on the positive side?
What have you learned that’s impacted your life or your writing? Leave your comments below.