• Stop committing to extra activities.
• Stop feeling guilty for not doing more
• Stop answering your email 15 times a day
• Stop helping everybody for free
• Stop starting new projects until you publish the current one
• Stop comparing yourself to other writers
• Stop watching the news
• Stop holding grudges
• Stop listening to people who don’t believe in you
• Stop following people on social media who irritate you

Success as a writer and creative person isn’t really a matter of doing more. It’s also a matter of eliminating the negative and unproductive things in your life so the good things can naturally start sprouting up.

Today’s Challenge: Choose one of the items I just listed and stop doing it today.

The post The Productive Writer: Create a “Stop Doing” List appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

He held up another person’s book, and to the front of it he had taped a mock-up of a cover for the book he was writing. He already knew in advance the print size of the book, so he made sure to choose another print book of the same size.

I thought this was a genius idea and have been doing the same thing ever since. Anytime I’m working on a book, I always have the cover designed as early in the process as I can.

Then, I find another print book of the same size, tape the printout of my cover to the front, and keep it on my desk during the whole writing and publishing process.

This helps make the book tangible and real, instead of just a file that just lives on your computer. It also helps you make it through the rough spots in the writing and editing. When you keep the vision of the final product clear and it’s sitting on your desk, you will feel much more motivated to keep going.

Question: If you are working on a book project, do you have the cover designed yet? Have you printed it out and attached it to another book of the same size to keep your vision clear?

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We’ve spent the last couple of weeks talking about several milestones in The Writer’s Path. I want to emphasize again that these are not necessarily sequential in the sense that you can’t move on to the next one until the current one is completed. Rather, these are all just pieces of the larger puzzle of a writing business, and you will continually refine them as you go along.

Today I want to share three primary benefits of approaching your writing business in the way I’ve suggested, using The Writer’s Path:

First, there is less stress because you know exactly where you are and what you need to do next. Many writers get paralyzed because they get distracted by people doing all kinds of different things. The Writer’s Path gives you clarity.

Second, you have clear goals for your business, instead of feeling like you have to do everything at once. This is critical because it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all the things you feel you should be doing, instead of focusing on the next thing in front of you.

Third, you will have less tendency to compare yourself because you can see where others’ success has come from following these steps, instead of just having blind luck or more talent.

I truly believe in what I’m sharing about The Writer’s Path. If you put these principles into practice, they will absolutely transform your writing business and give you a clear pathway forward. Tomorrow we’ll talk about a few examples of people who have used this same framework to build their writing business.

Daily Question: What would it feel like to have less stress and more clarity as you build your writing business?

The post How Does the Writer’s Path Benefit Your Business? appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

So far, I’ve given you a quick introduction to The Writer’s Path, why it’s important, and I’ve shared a bit of my story of traveling the path myself. Over the next couple of weeks, you’ll learn more detail about each of these seven milestones. I’ll explain what it is and also share the biggest challenge you will face as you try to achieve it. I’ll also give you some examples of people who have built a writing business using this pathway.

Let’s dig into Milestone #1: Clarify a powerful message for a specific audience.

Why it’s important: In order to have a strong business, you need a specific point of view of the world. You need a clear message that is the basis for everything else you do. Every business does this. They have a mission of some kind.

Remember: you are not for everyone. You should have one main thing to say, or one main thing you do, for each business you have. When you have a bunch of conflicting messages, people get confused and they tune out.

Think of Apple products. Now it’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Apple products. If you think of their core value, or their core message, what is it? It’s basically this: we build superior products for an audience who appreciates integration and a great design aesthetic. They have consistently followed that over-arching mission for many years.

You need to do the same thing. It’s important for you to have one single clear message that you are sharing in your writing.

For the Daily Writer Club, my message is: The Daily Writer Club is a supportive and engaged membership community that helps you clarify a powerful message, write books and content to serve your readers, grow your network and online platform, earn an income from your writing and services, and develop habits for wellness and success.

It’s also important to choose a specific type of person you’re serving. Again: you’re not for everyone. Don’t try to write for everyone. Choose one type of person with a specific set of needs or interests. For example, my specific audience is writers who want to build a business with their writing but are looking for community and resources to do that.

Here is the big challenge in choosing one overall message and a specific audience: you will be tempted to expand and try to reach everyone. So be disciplined and focused in your message and audience. Do a deep dive into the needs, desires, problems, and frustrations of that audience and create material specifically for them.

Daily Question: What is your core message, and who is your specific audience?

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It’s tempting as a writer to think that “everyone” is your audience. But the reality is that your message is not for everyone. It’s a paradox that the more you focus on a very specific type of person, the more people will be able to relate to it.

Specifically, narrowing down your audience will give you three things:

1. Clarity. A lot of the frustration that writers feel is because of confusion. When you understand who you’re writing for, and the frustrations that you’re helping to solve, life gets a lot easier and more fun. You want your material to attract the right people and repel the wrong reader.
2. Intensity. It is very exciting to go through this process and finally get a handle on who you’re writing for. This will give you an incredible intensity because you know your audience and understand them. It also takes out all of the guesswork about your writing. When you have clarity, you will then have an intensity of focus because you know what you’re trying to accomplish.
3. Feedback. When you start to write for a particular type of person, you will get feedback from people that will help you further refine your audience’s needs and interests. If you are writing for “everyone,” your message is going to be diluted because you’re always going to be second-guessing yourself.

If you try to write for everyone, it’s like going down a wide river that has no momentum. When you write for a more focused and specific audience, it’s like going down rapids where the banks are close together and there is lots of action. You will experience a lot more excitement and get where you’re going much faster.

Daily Question: What specific audience are you writing for?

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This is the seventh and final entry in our mini-series on dealing with rejection.

Rejection is not fun, but it still has an important place in our business and creative lives. When you’re rejected or criticized, it forces you to ask tough questions like these:

Is this something I should have been doing in the first place?

Do I really, truly want to be doing this?

Even though I’m in love with this idea, does this person have a point?

How can I make this idea better?

The people who have rained on your parade have done you a great service. They have forced you to decide whether you should be doing this thing in the first place… and if the answer is YES, they have forced you to consider how it can be improved.

Rejection and criticism are like the refining process for precious metals. They make you more pure and more valuable. They bring out the best.

So even though you might be irritated right now, you can still be grateful because those unkind words are helping you become a better version of yourself.

Daily Question: Think of the most reject time you’ve been rejected. How did it make you better or help you have a clearer vision of what you want to accomplish as a writer?

The post Are You Grateful for Your Critics? appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

One of the perennial questions writers ask is, “Where do you get good ideas?” It’s a fair question because all of us have struggled with finding good ones for our writing.

The overriding feeling we have is that we need to do something more, or add some technique, in order to find great ideas. In fact, Stephen King wrote, “Let’s get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn’t to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.”

So how do we put that into practice? It’s not a matter of doing something more, it’s actually a matter of doing something less. Less time on your phone, less commitments to things you don’t really want to do, less time watching mindless entertainment, less time filling every possible nook and cranny of your life with noise and distraction.

Recognizing good ideas is not a matter of addition, but subtraction. When you free up space in your mind, it’s much easier to recognize and cultivate those great ideas that are so critical to writers.

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We have it pretty easy in the modern world, right?

In many ways, this is the golden age of writing. We have more opportunities than ever before to publish our work and impact other people with our words.

Yet at the same time, it’s also a challenging time for writers. Why? Because there are so many options for writing and publishing that it’s easy to get overwhelmed and paralyzed by all the possibilities.

As a person of faith, I grew up learning about the Ten Commandments. These are the rules that governed God’s people in the Old Testament, and in many ways, they have formed the basis of ethical behavior in human culture for thousands of years.

The helpful thing about having a set of commandments is that it simplifies things. You have a clear idea about what is right and wrong. Those guidelines govern your behavior and eliminate your options.

What if there was something similar for writers? Something like a code… or perhaps a set of commandments… that could guide our behavior and show us clearly what is most important?

You’re in luck because I have put together such a list. Of course, these commandments are not original to me. These principles have been practiced by writers, and all successful creatives, in one way or another for a long time. However, it’s helpful to have these collected in one place.

I believe you can go to the bank on these commandments. If you practice them consistently, you WILL be successful as a writer. These are the principles I try to follow in my own writing, as well as my ghostwriting business. But they will also help you, no matter what type of writing you do.

Commandment #1: Embrace your identity as a writer.

The #1 problem that stops most people from writing has nothing to do with talent or ability. It has nothing to do with a lack of time or opportunities. But it has EVERYTHING to do with them not believing they are a writer.

When you stop and think about it, this is kind of crazy. The average person can easily write 1,000 words a day between text messages, emails, social media, and other communication in their everyday life. Yet when it comes to writing a short blog post of 500 words, or even something like a longer book chapter, they don’t believe they are talented enough.

Success as a writer has very little to do with talent. Instead, it has everything to do with seeing yourself as a writer, then putting in the work on a regular basis. That’s pretty much it. If you write… by definition, you’re a writer.

I have recently been training for a half marathon. I guarantee that when I do the race in a few weeks, I will be in the bottom ten or fifteen percent. I’m slow. I’m not in as good a shape as most of the other runners. But I’m going to get out there and do it. And most importantly, I’m going to finish!

I AM a runner. I’m slow and there is lots of room for improvement, but I still embrace my identity as a runner. Why? Because I’m running. I’m putting in the work every week to train and prepare. And that makes me a runner.

So, if you write, you can proudly call yourself a writer.

Commandment #2: Don’t compare yourself to other writers.

You can make a lot of mistakes as a writer and still be successful. But one of the mistakes that will kill both your enthusiasm AND your success is constantly comparing yourself to others.

Granted, it’s almost impossible not to do this as a writer. After all, it’s human nature to compare ourselves. And social media has made it impossible not to notice other people’s success in writing. Whenever you see a friend hit a bestseller list or launch a new book, it’s hard not to feel jealous.

But that negative energy doesn’t really help you with your own goals, does it? When you focus on what you lack, that negative mental energy only slows you down and makes you feel bad about yourself.

Worse yet, what you see on social media is only a small part of other people’s lives. When you see a successful book launch, you’re only seeing the highlight reel. You don’t see the months—or even years—of hard work that went into the making of that book.

So instead of feeling jealous, let other writers’ success spur you on to your own achievements. You’re not on the same journey as they are. You have your own journey with writing. There is no point in comparing yourself because you either end up feeling bad about yourself, or you feel prideful because you seem to be doing better than someone else. Both of those will take you off course.

Commandment #3: Take action on what you learn.

A few months ago, I cleaned out my home office. Over the last few years, I had printed off thousands of pages of free PDFs, e-books, seminar and workshop notes, and other material that I thought would help me with my business and writing.

Truth be told, I used very little of it. Most of it was great material taught or written by leaders worth following. But it was too much information. WAY too much. For several years, I fell prey to the curse of knowledge. I was accumulating way too much knowledge and was putting very little of it into practice.

Maybe you have done this also. It’s very easy to do! There is so much great information out there that it’s almost impossible not to have a constant stream of it coming into your podcast player or inbox.

Here is the key: the next time you listen to or read something helpful, figure out if it’s something you should take action on. Then do it. It’s a pretty simple concept that will work wonders for your writing or your business.

This may sound counter-intuitive, but I also encourage you to delete or unsubscribe to things that are not helping on your journey right now. Too much information can absolutely paralyze and confuse you. Trust me, I’ve been there! And I’m still there, sometimes.

When I cleaned out my office, I literally filled up our roll-off trash can with those printed notes. It was crazy. But it was so freeing being able to discard the material that wasn’t helpful to me right now in my journey. Don’t be afraid to do the same thing.

Commandment #4: Make time to read every day.

This probably seems contradictory to the last point. Didn’t I just say that you should stop accumulating so much knowledge, and instead focus on putting it into practice?

Yes, I did. But here is the key: you need to read often, and read widely, in order to figure out what is helpful. If you want to be more creative, and you want to be a deeper thinker, you have to fill your creative well. Let me address two quick things on this point of reading.

First, what should you read? I recommend having two books going at any given time: one for education, and one for pleasure. Right now, I’m reading a book by the world-renowned copywriter Dan Kennedy on marketing. I’m also re-reading the excellent book The River of Doubt by Candice Millard. This is the story of Teddy Roosevelt’s journey down an uncharted river in South America after he lost the election for a third term in office. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read.

Of course, you can develop your own system, but having two different books going at once works well for me.

Second, how should you read? I have one rule to help me read a lot: I always have a book with me. Whatever I’m reading, I take it with me everywhere, and I mean everywhere. You never know when you’re going to have a few minutes here or there to read. You can get a lot of reading done that way.

However you approach reading, make sure you read at least a few minutes every day. Those few minutes of filling your mind with good material will pay off hugely. After all, if you want to write books, you must first be a person who reads them.

Commandment #5: Write every day.

Now let’s get something clear for a moment. When I say the phrase, “Write every day,” it’s the kind of phrase where people ask, “Do you mean actually write every day?”

And yes, I mean write something every day. But what am I suggesting that you write? Here is my definition: write something that advances your goals as a writer. That can include material for your blog, book, podcast, or some other type of content that helps you reach your goals. But it can also be just writing in your journal.

Now, whether you include weekends, or whether you actually do it every day, is completely up to you. But I liken this to someone who is trying to live a healthy lifestyle. If you want to be healthy, you eat healthy every day, not just when you feel like it.

So the real question is, “How healthy do you want to be as a writer?” If you want to be in tip-top shape, I encourage you to write every day, preferably the first thing in the morning when your mind is fresh, before you have started checking email and getting into the details of the day.

Commandment #6: Edit what you write.

This is an easy step to skip because we feel pressed for time. We just want to get our work out there without the hassle of carefully reading it over, running it through editing software, or having someone else help us with editing.

I recently took my wife to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse for our 25th wedding anniversary. It was the most expensive meal I’ve ever purchased. The bill was over $200 for two people, including the tip. But the service, the food, and the setting all reflected the fact that we were in a fancy restaurant.

On the other hand, I can think of times when I’ve gone through the McDonald’s drive-through and gotten a cheeseburger, and it was just thrown together in a hurry. Even though the contents of the burger might be fine, the presentation was not so great.

This is the difference between writing that has been edited and writing that hasn’t. When you edit your writing, you are taking care to make sure your grammar, punctuation, spelling, and overall content are as good as you can make it. It doesn’t necessarily mean you need to hire an editor for everything you write, but it does mean we should take the baseline steps to ensure that whatever we publish is excellent.

I recommend, at the very least, re-reading your material a couple of times and running your writing through Grammarly, as well as doing a spell-check. Those are free and very simple ways to improve your writing.

Commandment #7: Publish what you write.

I don’t necessarily mean publish every single thing you write. That’s not realistic. For example, I don’t publish anything from my personal journal. But if you write something you intend for other people to read, edit it and then publish it.

This may seem like a silly commandment. After all, why would someone write a blog post, podcast content, or even a whole book… and yet never publish it? The answer is that we get scared of what others will think. We believe it’s not good enough. We wonder if we have any talent to begin with.

I confess that I have done this. In fact, there are at least two full-length books I wrote a few years ago that have never seen the light of day. So, I’m working through that material now to try and figure out the best strategy for publishing it, or re-working it.

This is more common than you think. There are many people who have written screenplays, books, speeches, and other material that they simply didn’t publish. They ran out of steam and just gave up. It’s easy to do.

So, this is my challenge to take what you have written and publish it somewhere so that it can help others. You’ve heard that saying, “If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound?” Here’s a related saying: “If you write a book but never publish it, does it have any value?”

Yes, there is some value in going through the exercise of writing. There is always value in writing, no matter what it is. But imagine how much more valuable your words can be if you publish them, if you give those words an opportunity to inspire, educate, or entertain others.

Commandment #8: Do what scares you.

Think about some of the important achievements in human history. These would include Amelia Earhart flying solo from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbing Mount Everest, Neil Armstrong setting foot on the moon, Magellan setting sail around the world, and many thousands of others who faced their fears and took action anyway.

You and I are no different. We have challenges and scary things staring us right in the face every single day. You can probably think of something that intimidates you as a writer. Is it setting up a website? Publishing a book? Pitching an article to a large publication? Writing and publishing a short story?

Whatever is it, run toward it. If you want to do it, but you feel scared, that is your subconscious mind telling you it must be done, no matter how you feel about it.

If you only do what feels comfortable, you won’t make any progress. You won’t grow. Progress and growth are predicated on the act of doing what scares you. So, put on your big boy or big girl pants and start moving forward. You’ll figure it out as you go along. And as soon as you overcome this challenge, there will be a bigger one waiting just behind it.

Commandment #9: Learn from other successful writers.

When it comes to dealing with successful writers, we commonly have two different responses. We dismiss their success as dumb luck, or we ignore them because their success reinforces our own insecurity. If you have ever responded this way, don’t feel bad. Every creative person on the planet has felt this way at times.

Our natural creative pride makes it hard to put ourselves in a learning position. But that is the only way we can grow.

A major key to success is putting yourself in the orbit of other successful writers. This can include people whom you’ll never meet, as well as people you can develop a personal relationship with.

Let’s take two examples. Stephen King and another writer you know personally who is more successful than you. Chances are pretty slim that you will ever be able to convince Stephen King to mentor you personally. However, there are plenty of interviews and articles about his writing habits and approach to storytelling. You can learn from all of these.

But even more powerful is the writer you get to know personally. Invite them out to lunch, have them as a guest on your podcast, subscribe to their newsletter and develop a dialogue with them, or join their course or mastermind. You will be amazed at the openness other successful writers have in sharing their strategies and what they have learned from their failures.

This is the exact reason I continue to pay to be a part of masterminds, courses, retreats, and conferences. I invest in myself because my future success depends on it. So many writers aren’t willing to invest time or money into their creativity or business. But when you do, you’ll immediately set yourself apart and get yourself on the fast track to more success.

Commandment #10. Teach what you know.

This is a corollary to the previous point about learning from other successful writers. In the same way, you must help other writers be more successful. There are plenty of people in your orbit who would love to achieve your level of success, whatever that might be.

Even if your only level of experience is starting a blog, there are plenty of writers who would love to learn how to do that. Don’t dismiss your skills just because they seem common. If you’ve taken time to build or create something, you can teach it to someone else.

It doesn’t mean you have to label yourself as a teacher or set yourself up as some big expert. It just means that you’re sharing what you have learned. You can do this on social media, your blog, an email newsletter, speaking engagements, and so many other ways.

A simple but powerful way to help other writers is to host a weekly mastermind call. I have been a part of a writer’s mastermind group for years. Each week, we meet on Zoom and talk about our successes and challenges. That weekly meeting has an amazing way of encouraging my spirit.

It also helps the other writers because they have challenges of their own. The whole idea of a mastermind is to bring together like-minded people to help each other solve your problems. I can’t begin to tell you how many times over the years that a mastermind has helped me push through a problem or obstacle.

And many times, the obstacle isn’t somewhere out there… it’s in my own head. I’m my own worst enemy. But when I help other people, it gets the focus off myself and reminds me that I do have some things to teach others. If you have a brain and you can write words, you can teach others.

There you have it: ten commandments for writers. Again, these are not unique to me. But having them collected like this can help you focus on what is most important in your growth as a writer.

Let’s review the list again:

• Commandment #1: Embrace your identity as a writer.
• Commandment #2: Don’t compare yourself to other writers.
• Commandment #3: Take action on what you learn.
• Commandment #4: Make time to read every day.
• Commandment #5: Write every day.
• Commandment #6: Edit what you write.
• Commandment #7: Publish what you write.
• Commandment #8: Do what scares you.
• Commandment #9: Learn from other successful writers.
• Commandment #10. Teach what you know.

I challenge you to choose two of these commandments and put them into practice over the next two weeks. Feel free to email me at kent@dailywriterlife.com. I’d love to hear about your success!

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The Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life opens with a scene in heaven. Two angels are listening to prayers from Bedford Falls for George Bailey, who is in trouble. They call in a third angel, Clarence, who is being sent to earth to help George. If he succeeds in his mission, he’ll finally get his wings.

But before he is sent down, he needs to spend some time getting to know George. All he can see is a blur, so one of the other angels has to clear his vision because he doesn’t have his wings yet. And with the senior angel’s help, Clarence can see clearly so he can move forward with his mission.

There is a similar relationship between you and your readers. Your mission is to help them see the world more clearly. It doesn’t matter what you’re writing. The mission is ultimately the same: to help the reader get a clearer vision of life.

How is your vision? Do you see clearly? No one can believe your writing, believe the truth in it, unless you first believe it yourself.

The great novelist Charles Dickens wrote, “I have nothing else to tell; unless, indeed, I were to confess that no one can ever believe this narrative, in the reading, more than I have believed it in the writing.”

Is skill important? Yes. But skill is nothing without belief. When you believe in what you’re doing, you can take the reader anywhere you want to go.

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