Please help KWD grow by sharing: https://karinwritesdangerously.com/
Nothing succeeds like success – success primes the pump for more successes. Setting yourself up for small wins can help ensure that you’ll enjoy a big win. After a win, you practice harder than after a loss. Your self-confidence goes up after a win, so you’ll try more things, and the more new things you’re willing to try, the more you win.
So to have bigger wins, set up small successes that will lead to more successes. Here are a few ideas for some easy ways to build small successes into your daily writing life:
Tackle something tough early on: Mark Twain once said that if your job is to swallow a frog, it’s best to do it early in the morning. And if your job is to swallow two frogs, swallow the first one first. Great advice! So although it sounds counter-intuitive, try doing something that seems a little tough to you first. Once you get it out of the way – or make a start on it – you’ll feel great about yourself and everything else will seem easier. Writing this post is a small win for me — just finishing and sharing it makes me feel great!
Fight through on a tricky paragraph or page or plot point: What better way to boost your confidence than making progress on the page? So instead of throwing up your hands and moving on, try pumping yourself up by working on part of a project that’s been giving you a hard time. Keep slugging at it until you begin to see the light. A great small win! Who knows, you might catch a second wind and that will push you even further.
Research a topic that will help you: Getting some fresh ideas will juice your creativity, so why not take time to learn more about a topic or theme that you want to infuse into a story or novel? Learning leads to more learning – and even more ideas.
Call someone for help: Reaching out by phone and actually connecting with someone who might be able to help you with a writing project is an easy way to make progress and overcome the isolation you may be feeling. So force yourself to pick up the phone and talk with someone whose advice or knowledge can advance your work.
Send an email you need to get out: Sometimes we let those pesky unwritten emails clog up our day and drain our attention. So why not get it written and send it off so you can free up your energy for more important things you want to do?
These are just a few ideas for small wins that we can all build into our day. If you have any techniques you’ve come up with to score a small win that really work for you, I’d love to share them as we all write on!
