Your creative mind works the same way. It can’t just receive ideas and then cause those ideas to sprout. Your mind must be prepared. So how do you “till” your mind, so to speak? How do you prepare your mind not only to receive ideas, but also create an environment for them to grow and flourish?

There are perhaps many answers, but the most important one is getting into an environment that encourages growth and creativity. Join a mastermind. Create a community. Go out with some positive and creative people for coffee. Start a club. Make social media posts about creative ideas and ask for feedback. Write blog posts and make videos and engage with people who comment.

It is impossible to prepare the soil of your mind by yourself. It is essential to be in an environment that encourages new ideas and creative thinking.

When you consistently do this, the seeds of great ideas and effective writing will have an opportunity to grow into something meaningful.

Question: How are you preparing your mind to receive new ideas?

The post Preparing: Till the Soil of Your Mind appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Years before he was known as the star of the beloved sitcom Seinfeld, Jerry Seinfeld was a successful stand-up comedian. For comedians of his era in the 1970s and 1980s, the golden key to success was appearing on The Tonight Show, hosted by Johnny Carson.

Carson ruled the late-night airwaves for thirty years. He was the most important Kingmaker in American culture. If you were invited to do a 5-minute set on The Tonight Show, and Johnny liked you, your career was set.

In 1981, Seinfeld was scheduled for his first appearance on the show. A few years later, he reflected on the experience when he sat for an interview with Larry Wilde, a comedian and author.

Larry asked, “How did you prepare for that?”

Seinfeld deadpanned, “Rigorously.” Then he continued, “Every comedian knows that his first appearance on the Tonight Show is his Olympics, his World Series, and his Superbowl all rolled into one. This is his chance to become an A player, the A team.”

Then, Seinfeld went on to explain that as soon as he constructed his 5-minute set of material, he practiced in relentlessly. In the weeks before his Tonight Show appearance, he would go from club to club, performing it. He would do it up to five or six times a night. Seinfeld said that he probably rehearsed that single 5-minute set two hundred times during that period to make sure it was perfect. It was an opportunity he was not going to blow.

And, in fact, he made the most of that appearance because Seinfeld became one of the most famous comedians in America, even before the enormous success of the Seinfeld TV show.

All because he saw an opportunity he was not going to waste. He put in the reps, he did the work, and it paid off in spades.

Daily Question: When you consider the success you want to achieve and the opportunities you want as a writer, how many reps are you willing to do in order to be the best?

Note: If you’d like to listen to Larry Wilde’s full interview with Jerry Seinfeld, you can do so by listening to the album, “Jerry Seinfeld on Comedy.”

The post Jerry Seinfeld’s 200-Round Practice Routine appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

A common problem among writers is that we often do not prepare. We tend to look at writing as a mainly creative endeavor, instead of viewing it as a project that should be managed.  

In practical terms, this means you need to plan in three different ways if you are going to be successful in writing. 

First, you must prepare by having a great mindset. This means expecting that you will be successful and anticipating that people will benefit from your content. So many times, we lose the battle even before we begin, because we have a negative mindset. 

Second, you must prepare by outlining your writing. If you have an idea of the flow of your writing before you get started, it will go much, much faster. This doesn’t mean you can’t change your outline along the way. That is to be expected. But if you sit down without any clue what you’re going to write about, it will typically take much longer to finish. 

Third, you must prepare by saying “no” to distractions. This means shutting off your phone notifications, going somewhere quiet, if possible, and blocking out time on your calendar to write. 

Benjamin Franklin said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” 

Success in writing is not complicated. We just need to take these few steps to help ensure that we will be successful. When we do that, we will be preparing to succeed, instead of preparing to fail. 

The post Are You Prepared to Succeed? appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.