Doubling Down On Effort
The same level of effort I have been demonstrating will not lead me to the results I want. Repeating the same patterns, habits, and behaviors that I currently possess are not all empowering and providing what I need.
I have been on a quest to improve and master myself for many years now, and doubtless, there has been progressing and change. Understanding progress and change lead us to find out that they are dynamic, always in flux. Because I changed something about my life once, does not mean it ends there. Right now I am working on increasing my focus and managing my attention with more discipline. Let me explain how and why I decided tonight to double-down my efforts.
It is wonderful to be 50 weeks into my Writing Wednesday practice. 50,000 words writing once a week. 2 weeks short of a whole year. All good things. But, to continue the journey it is not enough to squeeze in a few hours a week to write. Like my physical training, it needs to ultimately become a daily practice. However, at present that is a drastic change that I am going to ease myself into.
Rather than completely change everything (which seldom sticks), I am going to work within the existing framework that is working. I am going to dedicate the entire day of Wednesday to writing. I have built a habit of writing 1000 words every Wednesday. That’s already working. Why not add on top of that?
Becoming a writer is a major part of my dream and vision for my life. I am going to allow myself to fully express this one day a week. I am a writer. This is my process.
Scheduling a day of pure writing is something I have never been able to pull off yet. Even today — the first day I intended it — there were large amounts of time that vanished. Squandered. Yet, here I am at the keyboard battling the resistance. I am making myself put in the effort. I am, with each keystroke, building my craft and aligning myself with my vision.
An entire day to do a practice called “acting as if…”. Determining what our dreams are and acting as if they have already come true. Getting to design an entire day of writing now is essential. It is going to be a similar type of day that I am working towards populating my calendar within the next few years. Looking ahead, does it not make sense to start to build this day now? Or should I wait until I have “made it”? Can I even make it without starting now?
Why wait? Why delay? Why doubt?
This entire process over the last 50 weeks has been extremely transformative. The effort I have put in is real. Even though some of the writing is dribble, I have shown up. If I was doing this 20 years ago there is no way what I write would be publicly shared as soon as I finish writing it. Not because I would not do it, but because that opportunity was not even there.
These 50 Writing Wednesday entries would likely be in a notebook or a compilation of pages from a typewriter. Just sitting there. If I ever wanted anybody to read it, I would have to take it to an editor or publisher. Or I would die and someone would come across it and do the same thing.
Today being a writer is open to anybody. So is being a musician and many other creative art forms. Writing today means I have my own means of distribution, my own publishing process. The work is just waiting to be done. The words are in the ethers, I must harness them and transcribe them.
Is once a week enough to master anything? Perhaps to continue learning, but not for real mastery. So even though I am doubling down my efforts by dedicating an entire day, rather than a few hours of that day, I know I still must do more.
A growing inspiration for my writing career is Ray Bradbury. He wrote 1000 words a day every day since he was 12 years old. By the time he was a young man he had written over 3 million words.
That is where I need to be heading. 1000 words a week? That’s weak. I can do more, I can do better. Even today I have written around 4000 words. As I well know, these are not Pulitzer prize winning words, yet they are very important. I know I need to do this to ever be worth anything as a writer. I know I need to do this to learn about harnessing the divine creative energy. I know I need to do this for the discipline.
The effort is always in our control. I am grateful and happy to have come this far, but to get further I have to try harder. Distractions need to go. An entire day of creation every week is an exciting possibility. If I am going to manifest my dreams this is an essential step. If I am ever going to write words of value, I need to pound out thousands of mediocre words before I stumble upon some elegance. I am in control of how much time I dedicate to this practice. Regardless of how we always want to say “life happens” or “I’m busy” we all know deep within our souls that if we fully dedicate ourselves to something we can have it. What is most important?
This is not yet full dedication, but this is a start. 1/7 days a week. 14% potentially of my week. Subtracting sleep it is probably 7–10% of my week. That is a full day. Now you see why I need to double down my efforts? The math doesn’t even add up now — dedicating a full day it is only 10% of my week at most. Do the world’s most highly skilled top performers devote only 10% time and effort to their craft? No.
So I am doubling down my efforts. Not for the last time either.
This is the 50th installment of Writing Wednesday. Two more weeks and I have a year of writing consistently under my belt for the first time ever.
Let me know your thoughts on this or any of my pieces. Write me a response or get at me on twitter @multitude27
Thank you.
