It often amazes me how different our motivation can be from one day to the next. For example, the last two days, I felt very accomplished, but today I’m struggling to get through a 50-minute writing session. It would be easy to step away; after all, I have a few other things which I need to handle, but my writing needs to take priority. I often find it challenging to prioritize something that I’m not even getting paid to accomplish. Still, I have the future in mind, and each day I’m working toward a specific goal of completing my second book and breaking into the publishing world.
When it comes to motivation or how we feel, I try to be careful and stay focused. Jerry Jenkins says (I’m paraphrasing) that you wouldn’t show up at your 9-5 and tell them you can’t work because you don’t feel inspired. I feel like some of you are going to try that tomorrow. Most companies wouldn’t tolerate that excuse, and rightfully so, because there’s a job to be done. It’s the same with writing or whatever else you’re striving to accomplish.
For example, my wife started working out with me a little over a week ago. Yesterday, neither of us felt up to the workout. It would have been much easier to take the day off, but we’d already taken Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off and had only worked out Monday. We didn’t need a break because of recovery, we just didn’t feel like adding anything else to our already busy days, but we did it anyway.
K.M Weiland says on her webpage, “I set aside two hours, five days a week, to write, usually in the morning. I’m a firm believer in Peter de Vries claim: “I write when I’m inspired, and I see to it that I’m inspired at nine o’clock every morning.”
I’ll leave you with a tip I’ve learned that helps me. It won’t benefit everyone but does wonders for me. I set a timer for fifty minutes. I focus and write during that window and then make myself take a ten-minute break. For whatever reason, I need to know that I only have a set amount of time that I need to focus, and then I can turn it off for a bit. So, I set the time each time I sit down to write, and when it alarms, I get up and walk away.
Hopefully, you are feeling motivated today, but if not, know there’s someone else walking in your shoes that made up their mind to get the work done regardless of how they feel.
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