Tag: finish

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The Willpower Instinct…

March 13, 2019– If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you may have seen me post about a book I was reading last week; The Willpower Instinct, by Kelly McGonigal, is an excellent read for anyone who wants to know how self-control works and how our brains process things. There are three key sentences that really stuck out and I’ve since employed them for the business/writing tasks that I don’t love to do.

  1. I will.
  2. I won’t. 
  3. I want. 

That’s it, pretty simple, right? Now, let’s combine them to make a powerful statement. If you’re struggling with doing mundane tasks consider the examples below. The more specific you are, the better this works!

  1. I will write 500 words in an hour and I won’t get distracted by social media during that time because I want to reach my goal and finish my book.
  2. I will wake up early to finish my blog post and I won’t answer return emails until this afternoon because I want to go for a walk with my spouse after breakfast.
  3. I will finish my fabulous presentation on grammar by Tuesday and I won’t turn on my phone until it’s completed because I want to show my boss that I deserve a raise.

You guys get the point! This will work in many areas of your life such as organization, education, writing, reading, leisure activities, relationships, and more. It works because I will, I won’t, and I want, allow us to be clear on what our priorities are and they draw a firm line in the sand showing us what we are willing and not willing to do and what the pay off is. This technique works really well and I hope that you’ll try it yourself! Let me know if you do and if it worked for you by sending me an email at pandapublishing8@gmail.com.

 

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You’re Not Motivated to Write…

December 3, 2018– A lot of authors have this problem, they just aren’t motivated to write or work on their novels. It’s a massive problem with new and upcoming authors, and the last thing that I want to happen to you is for you to be another one of those authors who starts something but never finishes it.

I can’t tell you the number of times that I’ve been at an event or doing a book signing where people come up to me and say, “I wrote a book too!” As soon as I say, “Oh, awesome; what is your book about?” Nine times out of ten the person will say, “Yeah, but I never finished it.” The easiest thing in the world is to start something, the hardest thing is to finish it. Be a finisher. I’m in the camp of thinking that believes that if you’re not going to finish something, don’t bother to start. Harsh, I know, but it’s true.

Here are some tips on helping you get motivated to write even when you don’t feel inspired.

  1. Set a timer. This works wonders when I’m not feeling it. I sit down at my laptop and set a timer for just fifteen minutes. I start writing, and most of the time it’s garbage, but guess what? I just turned on the faucet and the words begin to flow. Before I know it I’m writing way past the time of fifteen minutes. It works for me every, single time.
  2. Know that your mind is playing tricks. No one is always motivated so that is why we must learn to be disciplined. Your mind will do whatever it can to distract you from completing a task that you aren’t motivated to do. Stick to a writing schedule it’s half the battle. Don’t do a load of laundry, don’t load the dishwasher, don’t turn on the television, don’t answer emails. Do sit your ass in the chair and do your job.
  3. Make an appointment with yourself. This is sort of the same as the point above in sticking to a schedule, but I mean that you should quite literally schedule a writing appointment with yourself. Scheduling your work keeps you accountable to yourself and bosses don’t cancel. Keep that in mind the next time you decide to cancel the appointment you made with yourself.

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