R&D: Mindset as An Artist

 

Often it doesn’t come from simply studying and practice, but from having the right attitude going in. Most athletes rely heavily on mindset; we saw evidence of this in the recent Olympic Games as incredible feats of skill and style were displayed. It’s not just about practicing those styles and skills over and over. That’s actually the work.

The attitude comes first. If I believe that I can’t do something, my studying and practice won’t help me much. I will be studying and practicing but still putting off the tough decisions: actually rewriting, actually painting the blank canvas, actually turning on the digital camera and focusing on something.

A quick reminder today that what you focus on will stalk you. Are you focusing on how you can’t rather than how you can? And lest this sounds a bit woo-woo, I’m talking about things you already know you should be doing, not things you are still deciding if you should be doing. You took a new job, started a new business, put everything on the line, and suddenly find yourself withering on the vine.

Be constant. You can move forward while you ask for guidance from God, the universe (whatever works for you), but you have to do the nitty gritty with the mindset that you are going to succeed. It’s a fine line.

For me this spring, I’m attempting to rewrite a novel, something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time, but always found myself to be not constant with the nitty-gritty of it. I’ve tried it a half a dozen times in the last decades, but always fell short. I always had an excuse for it not working out: not enough time, too much work, too many distractions, office wasn’t clean, too much laundry, but recently, it has been made quite apparent to me that what’s blocking this effort is my constancy. My decision not to give it the mindset it deserves.

It’s back to that fine line. How many other folks decide to write a novel and put everything they have into it and it doesn’t work out? A lot. I know many of them. But I know more folks who actually did the nitty gritty and it worked. They sold their first book, their second book, and and just sold their ninth or tenth book. They had the same decision as I do to make. “Is this what I want?” And then for me, I check to see if it’s what God wants. And then there is nothing left in the way.

Many novelists wrote their first novels early in the morning or late at night on their own time while working full-time jobs. Many novelists wrote their first novels multiple times, shelved their first novels, and then started new novels and sold those instead. My first three novels are still sitting on shelves. My fourth novel I am going to do something with this year. And then I may go back to those first three and see what I can do. Oh and finish the fifth and sixth novels I started in 2008. Yes, I really have started and stopped.

That ends right now. With the help of a novelist buddy also revising her first draft (not her first novel either; she just sold it last week to Random House), I’m going to be constant. No more excuses.

So, what do you really want to do that you have started and stopped and still find yourself longing to return to? Is there really anything in your way or is it you? Could you trust yourself with this dream and just commit to seeing it through?

Tagged as: overcoming resistance, R&D, writing