It also has a downside: jealousy and bad feelings from seeing all the wins that other writers are having. We don’t see the struggle, failure, or heartaches that went into creating those wins.

That’s why you need to celebrate every inch of progress you’re making as a writer.

Did you write some words today? That’s a win.

Did you learn something about publishing? That’s a win.

Did you attend a session for your writing group? That’s a win.

Did you have lunch or set up a chat with another writer? That’s a win.

Did you talk to an editor or graphic designer about your next book project? That’s a win.

Did you spend some time marketing? That’s a win.

Whatever you did today to further your writing and author business, you won. Remember the fable about the tortoise and the hare? The tortoise won because he kept plodding along, making constant progress.

Slow and steady wins the race. The only person you need to keep score against is the person you were yesterday. All progress is progress!

Today’s Challenge: Find an author who has recently posted a win on social media and congratulate them on making consistent progress and getting a cool win. Then, see what you can learn from them.

The post All Progress is Progress appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll recall the basic plot. The main character, George Bailey, feels like a failure because he’s spent his life working at his father’s Building & Loan, and never getting to achieve his dreams of traveling the world and being involved in what he perceives as a more successful career.

One day, it all comes crashing down when his Uncle Henry misplaces $8,000, which sends the business’s finances into a downward spiral. The only way George sees out of the mess is to take his own life by jumping into the river. Clarence the Angel saves George and gives him the priceless gift of seeing what the world would be like without him. As a result, George comes to realize what a difference he’s truly made in countless people’s lives.

The final scene shows the townspeople coming to George’s rescue, donating more than enough to make up the $8,000 loss. On the pile of money, George finds a copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, miraculously placed there by Clarence. The inscription reads, “Dear George, Remember no man is a failure who has friends.”

What a powerful reminder during this season when so many people struggle with depression and sadness. Although Christmas is a time of joy and giving, the honest truth is that many people listening to this episode are struggling just to make it through this season.

Maybe this year, your expectations have been dashed or you’ve experienced failure of some kind. Maybe you’re struggling to get out of bed each morning, wondering why you should continue putting in the effort. Maybe you, like George Bailey, mistakenly think the world would be a better place without you.

I’m here to tell you that you can’t begin to imagine all the good you’ve done in the world.

Book sales, business, client contracts, social media metrics, podcast downloads, and income can all go up and down. But if you have friends, you’re indeed a rich man or woman. Don’t ever believe for one second that you’re a failure. We need your gifts, your talent, and your writing in the world.

So, if you’re going through a hard time, keep your chin up. Keep pressing on. Even on your worst day, remember that your friend Kent Sanders is here on the Daily Writer Podcast, cheering for your success and rooting you on!

Question: If you had the same chance George Bailey did, to see what the world would be like without you, would you take it?

The post No One is a Failure Who Has Friends appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

We can all think of times when we have shrunk back and didn’t work toward those goals. Why not? Is it laziness? Lack of discipline? A lack of talent?

No, it’s usually just self-doubt. Even if the logical side of our brains tells us we can achieve it, self-doubt creeps in and we hold back. The novelist Sylvia Plath once said, “And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”

Self-doubt seems like a relatively mild concept, but let’s call a spade a spade. Self-doubt is just fear in disguise. We don’t doubt ourselves because of any rational thought process. We’re just plain old scared of failing.

So, take courage. If you’re working on a big goal and you have a good plan for achieving it, don’t get sidetracked by negative emotions.

That fear you’re feeling is just a ghost, a mirage, a phantom. There’s nothing it can do to hurt you, and if you ignore it, it will eventually go away and haunt somebody else.

Question: Are you holding back from accomplishing a goal that’s important to you? What would it feel like to start moving toward it even though you’re afraid?

The post Self-Doubt is Just Fear in Disguise appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

In the previous two entries in this series, we have taken a look at the destructive nature of jealousy, and why you should focus on what you can do to make yourself successful rather than spending your emotional energy being envious.

Let’s dive into three questions that will help you focus on attitudes and actions that will spur your writing success. We’ll tackle the first one here today. Also, notice that each one begins with “what.”

The first question is: What can I learn from this person?

When you think of another writer who is successful, and if you’re honest, you’re jealous of them, they have something you want. They might have better name recognition, more income, more people’s attention, or more of something else. I can easily tick off two dozen writers in my own orbit who fit this category.

When we’re jealous of someone, we begin to think of them in a negative light. At our worst, we wish they weren’t so successful. That’s why jealousy is so insidious and destructive. At its worst, jealousy is less about wanting someone’s success and more about wanting their failure.

We need to flip this scenario around. Instead of wanting to take away someone else’s success, we should figure out how we can get to their level. What people, books, habits, and experiences helped them be successful?

If they have a blog, subscribe to it. If they wrote a book, read it. If they have a Facebook group, join it. If they are on Twitter, ask them questions.

That person has done some things that can help you be more successful. So set aside your own ego for a moment and humbly ask, “What can I learn from this person?” It will change your own attitude and also help you focus on tangible activities that produce results for you.

Daily Question: Think of another writer more successful than you. What are three things they have done that you can start doing in your own writing or business as well?

The post What Can You Learn from a Successful Writer? appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Have you ever felt like you live in a room with invisible walls that have you trapped? You’re trapped by questions like this:

Why does that so-and-so writer get all the attention?

Why do they have more book sales?

Why is my blog traffic so stagnant?

Why isn’t anyone paying attention to me?

Sound familiar?

If you have ever had these kinds of questions, stop and realize that there is no connection between another person’s success and yours. The invisible walls aren’t real. They only exist in your mind, and there is nothing—and no one—that stands in the way of your success.

When you engage in this kind of comparison thinking, it’s because of a poverty mentality. This type of thinking says: There’s only so much success to go around. You must horde everything for yourself.

The opposite of a poverty mentality is an abundance mentality. This line of thinking goes: There is more than enough to go around. Success breeds success. We can help each other.

How do you move from a poverty mentality to an abundance mentality? How do you stop playing the zero-sum game? How do you vanquish the spirit of jealousy and cultivate a spirit of generosity?

The secret is to shift your vocabulary and begin asking the right questions.

In his classic business book QBQ! The Question Behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability at Work and in Life, John G. Miller says that we need to change our questions in order to move away from a blame and victim mentality. Instead of focusing on “why” questions, focus on “what” or “how” questions.

The question that spurs our jealousy is, “Why do they have ______, and I don’t?” The problem with “why” questions is that they shift the responsibility away from ourselves and onto others. The only way to create the success you desire is to take 100% responsibility for your life.

“Why” questions keep us focused on external things we can’t control, such as other people’s actions and motivations. It’s much better to ask questions focused on “what”—what you can do, what you can control, what you can learn. After all, the only thing you can truly control is yourself and your actions.

All the emotional energy we spend on being jealous of other people and their success is much better invested in activities that help us be successful.

Daily Question: What is one single activity, that if you practiced it consistently, could help you be more successful as a writer?

The post Ask What, Not Why appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

If you’re alive and breathing, you have struggled with jealousy. It’s part of the human condition.

But for most writers, jealousy is more than an occasional struggle. It’s a daily battle that threatens our very souls. It’s nearly impossible for us to separate ourselves from our creative work. It’s part of who we are.

When we see other writers who we perceive as more successful, or who have something we want, it’s difficult not to feel jealous. The question foremost in our minds is, “Why do they have ______, and I don’t?” (Fill in the blank with success, fame, money, social media followers, downloads, a book contract, or a million other things.)

But this is the wrong question, and here’s why: It’s based on a destructive lie about success. The lie goes something like this: When someone else succeeds, it means I have failed.

When we see other people enjoying their fame, money, accolades, or other types of success, we interpret it as a reflection on ourselves. Why do they get to enjoy success? Am I not worthy of the same success? Why do they get to have something that I don’t?

This is called a “zero-sum game.” When one person wins, another person loses. A positive balance in someone’s ledger means a negative balance in mine.

But it’s a myth. We know it isn’t true on an intellectual level, but our creative egos are fragile. The result? We emotionally interpret their success as a judgment against our own perceived lack of success.

Don’t buy the lie. One writer’s success doesn’t have anything to do with yours. The two things are not related. In fact, you can use that person’s success to help yourself be more successful.

Daily Question: Who is another writer you feel jealous about? How does it make you feel to know their success is not related to yours?

The post Their Success Doesn’t Mean Your Failure appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

If someone gave you the assignment to write a sentence without the letter E, how would you respond? Would you think it’s too difficult, or that it can’t be done?

What about a whole paragraph, a scene, or even a whole chapter? And ultimately, an entire book?

It sounds impossible, doesn’t it? After all, the letter E is the most common letter in the English language. How could you possibly write a book without the letter E? It simply can’t be done.

At least, that’s what people kept telling a writer named Ernest Vincent Wright in the early years of the 20^th century. He got so tired of hearing people tell him it couldn’t be done that he decided to prove them wrong. The result was a 50,000-word novel called Gadsby, which, in fact, doesn’t contain the letter E.

To accomplish this feat, he had to tie down the letter E on his typewriter so he couldn’t use it. Yet, he met his goal. As you can imagine, a whole novel without the letter E is fairly clunky to read, but you have to respect Mr. Wright’s determination and persistence in the face of everyone telling him it couldn’t be done.

So, the next time you have a big writing goal and people keep telling you all the reasons you can’t do it, why you will fail, or how they tried something and failed, remember good old Mr. Wright banging away at his typewriter.

Unfortunately, he died in 1939, the same year his novel was published, so he didn’t get to enjoy his success for long. But he died knowing he reached his goal.

Not a bad way to go.

Daily Question: What goal do you have that others doubt can be done? Does it motivate you to prove them wrong?

The post It Can’t Be Done… or Can It? appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

This is the fourth entry in our series on dealing with rejection.

One of the biggest paradoxes of feeling hurt is that everyone experiences it, but when you’re going through it, you feel totally alone.

This happens to every great writer, leader, and artist. Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Walt Disney, and Steve Jobs all faced rejection or failure at some point. But they persisted. They were resilient. They had the right attitude. They kept at it until their dreams became reality.

Did you really think success was going to come so easily? Not a chance. The trials you are going through are shaping and molding you for something greater down the road. But you won’t be able to handle that success unless you are ready for it.

If you can’t properly handle the times you feel down, you won’t be able to handle the times when you are on top. Both experiences call for disciple, focus, and persistence.

Lincoln would have never been able to handle the pressure of being President if he hadn’t gone through all the trials and rejection in his younger years. In the same way, your today is preparing you for your tomorrow. So, pay attention and get focused because your big day is coming.

Daily Question: Think about a trial or some rejection you are experiencing right now. How might it be preparing you for what is ahead?

The post You’re Being Prepared for Something Great appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

“You need courage. Fear of failure is the saddest reason on earth not to do what you were meant to do. I finally found the courage to start submitting my first book to agents and publishers at a time when I felt a conspicuous failure. Only then did I decide that I was going to try this one thing that always suspected I could do, and, if it didn’t work out, well, I’d faced worse and survived. Ultimately, wouldn’t you rather be the person who actually finished the project you’re dreaming about, rather than the one who talks about ‘always having wanted to?’”

There are a lot of writers who fit into this category. I call them “someday” writers. They always talk about how they are going to start that blog or write that book “someday.” But without a clear sense of direction and a firm commitment to doing it, “someday” gets pushed further and further into the distance.

Instead, commit to being a “today” writer. You are going to take action TODAY. Even if it’s just writing a hundred words. Every little step forward gets you closer to your dream. Don’t be one of those sad “someday” writers, who uses fear as an excuse for doing the work and putting yourself out there.

Even if things don’t work out like you hoped, you’ll know for sure and you will learn lessons you can apply to the next project. But more than likely, beautiful and wonderful things will happen that you could have never imagined. Why? Because that’s what happens when you look fear in the eye and start writing anyway.

Daily Question: Are you letting fear hold you back from writing? If so, what are you so afraid of?

The post The Saddest Reason to Avoid Writing appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Do you struggle with being a perfectionist? If so, here is a strategy that can help you overcome it immediately.

But first, what is perfectionism? It is the tendency to get paralyzed by the idea that your work is never good enough. Perfectionists imagine there is a standard out there and they can never reach it. They have convinced themselves that they will be an utter failure unless they reach that unreachable standard. Therefore, they never take action and instead live in a perpetual state of frustration.

Now, for the strategy. If you think of yourself as a perfectionist, you are always shooting for A-level work. The problem is that your definition of an A is so far above everyone else’s that it’s unreachable.

The key is to downgrade your standards a bit so that you are shooting for B-level work, maybe a B+ at best. You may think of this as lowering your standards, but remember that your standards are so unrealistically elevated, that your B is everyone else’s A.

So, make it your goal to do B-level writing. Most of us don’t have the capacity to be objective about our work anyway, so you must trust that your B is truly an A in everyone else’s eyes.

When you shoot for a B, you can get work done much more quickly, move on, and still be considered excellent in everyone else’s eyes.

The post Bring Your ‘B’ Game appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.