When I’m feeling stuck, here’s how I motivate myself
Have I told you yet, that writing a book is challenging? There is a chorus of fears going off in my head at any one time.
- “You’re never going to meet your deadline.”
- “You won’t have enough stories.”
- “You’re going to have to learn a new way of writing if you think you’re going to pull this off.”
But here’s what helps. I have a secret weapon of motivation that sits right above my computer at the desk where I write.
It’s my manifesto.
A framed poster-sized line item of beliefs about myself, what I’m capable of, and the world around me. Are they all true, all the time? Definitely not. Sometimes I flounder and fail, but when I fall or fail to measure up, I can remind myself who I want to be in the world and get back up.
It reminds me that I can do hard things and that I’m not going to walk away from this even though I don’t yet know how it will get done.
In the last exercise in The Rewrite, I invited the participants to write their manifestos. At first, you think it’s not easy to do; to claim THIS is who I am and then share it with others.
But I think it’s incredibly empowering.
When I first created my manifesto and hung it on my wall. I read it every single day. I allowed these statements to wash over me and drown and begin to replace other, less helpful beliefs.
Now when I’m feeling stuck, I look to it for inspiration.
Here’s what’s on my manifesto.
I’m curious, what would you write on your manifesto? How do you remind yourself of all the good things you are when life feels hard?
