Most people are passive observers to their own lives. They accept the choices that life hands to them. They assume what they see other people doing is what they should be doing also. They go along with the crowd, never rock the boat, and never achieve their dreams.

On the other hand, successful writers know that life is not a multiple-choice test. If they don’t like the options in front of them, they create new ones.

How do we do this? We do this by taking advantage of all the amazing opportunities we have today as writers. There is an almost unlimited number of opportunities for you to get your work in front of readers and make a good living while doing it. In fact, we just finished a series on making money as a writer. I encourage you to go back and listen to it if you want a few tangible ways to start making income with your skills.

Is it hard to strike out on your own pathway while everyone around you is conforming to social norms? While everyone else is doing what other people expect? While everyone else is not writing books or putting in the work to build their own writing business?

Of course, it’s challenging. Nobody said this would be easy. But if you are going to make something happen, this is not the time to be passive. This is not the time to limit your options. The world is a giant buffet of opportunity. Will you take advantage of it?

Question: Are you ready to start making the most of your opportunities and create your own success as a writer?

The post Life is Not a Multiple-Choice Test appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

When it comes to the creative arts, there have always been two roles in society: those who are creators and those who are critics.

The creators are the ones who make things. They make buildings, cars, computers, books, plays, speeches, movies, rockets, and a million other things. The creators are the ones who move culture forward. They invent. They design. They use their creative powers to stick their necks out, add value to others, and risk being criticized by those who don’t like what they do.

Critics, on the other hand, play a limited role in society. Critics are the ones who stay safely in the distance. They spend most of their energy pointing out the flaws in other people’s creative work. There have always been critics, of course, and they have a certain value in culture. We need people to offer intelligent reflection and commentary on culture.

But make no mistake, this is not where the real action is. The real action lies in creating something. Which would you rather be, the creator who makes things for critics to comment on, or the critic who just rides the creator’s coattails?

The French novelist Gustave Flaubert said, “A man is a critic when he cannot be an artist, in the same way that a man becomes an informer when he cannot be a soldier.”

It’s easier and oftentimes more fun to be a critic. And why not? You get to sit back and relax while other people do the work. Then, you get to offer your opinion and commentary… all while never taking one ounce of risk.

This day, choose to be a creator. Choose to be the one who puts in the work and adds value to society. Choose to create with your words and through other means. Don’t fall into the trap of just being a critic.

The post Become a Creator, Not a Critic appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.