On the Welcome Call for our Writer’s Circle session that started yesterday, it was fun to notice how many members were talking about finishing. So many of us were at that point of having just finished a major draft or putting the finishing touches on one.
After having run the Circle now for going on two years, it’s deeply gratifying to see so many writers reaching that milestone.
It got me to thinking about the ingredients that go into the mix to make that happen.
It strikes me that there are both internal and external aspects to these success stories. What I see on the internal side is:
- Vision — having an idea or a calling to see something come to fruition.
- Passion — having a love or interest or fierce desire for a specific project or idea.
- Decision — making the decision to tackle the project.
- Courage — having the courage to dive in to the unknown.
- Perseverance — having the wherewithal to stick with something.
- Intuition — knowing when something is right for you, or not.
Hopefully we have all these skills. If we don’t, we can strengthen them within ourselves. (And there are good coaches and therapists who can help us do just that.)
So yes, completing any project requires a tremendous amount of drive, determination, and courage. But even the strongest of strong-hearted among us get tripped up by a laundry list of obstacles, like:
- Doubt — what if I can’t do it?
- Fears — of success, failure, rejection, disapproval, shame
- Resistance — the force that repels us from our dreams
- Procrastination — our tendency to put off anything that moves us toward completion of our dreams
- Perfectionism — the belief that perfection is attainable and that if we’re not hitting it, we’re failing.
- Bad habits — putting vices before taking action on our dreams.
- Poor self- management — struggles with discipline, decision-making, commitment, time choices.
- Poor self-care — not taking care of our bodies, minds, hearts, and spirits.
- Comparison with others — thinking other people are doing better than we are.
- Obsessing about our chances of success — focusing on the big questions rather than doing our work.
- Approval-seeking — looking outside ourselves for validation of our talent or ability.
- Life challenges — stopping when life gets hard.
Many of these things can be solved with self-awareness and determination, and yet what I see time and again is that we can draw on resources outside ourselves to help us make it through the rough patches. Things like:
- Support — there’s nothing quite like having other people believe in you, especially when you’ve temporarily forgotten your own skill and ability.
- Daily accountability — having support to see it through, to keep showing up and do the daily work is deeply motivating.
- Community — being a part of a community where you are with other people who truly “get” what you’re experiencing helps end the sense of isolation we can all experience at times.
- Energy — the shared energy of working together, whether side by side or as a team, can move us into action when we’re otherwise flagging.
- Inspiration — a shared spirit of energy and enthusiasm can reignite us when the going gets tough.
The question that strikes me is this: Do you have the support you need to weather the challenges of creating your dreams? If not, how can you create that for yourself? Tell us what you think in the comments.
Warmly,
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