Motivation: Stuff that gets you going when the going gets tough.
I’m losing my will to write. I’m losing my will to design. In fact, I’m losing my will.
And I should have seen it coming.
I’ve learned some things about myself, things that I can’t seem to change. First off, I’m a carrot type of guy. I work best when I’m motivated by positive feelings. Negative motivation, stress, and pushes don’t work for me. And I know that I’m not alone. Read More
There is one in every gathering. The friend-of-a-friend who says “Oh, I’m going to write a novel, too, when I’ve got the time.”
Sometimes they use variations “I’m going to write when I retire.” “When the kids are older.” “When this project at work is finished.” If only they’d have the time.
Well, friend-of-a-friend, since I don’t have the courage to take you by the ear and shake you, I’ll do the second best thing. I’m going to lampoon you on the Interwebz. I’m going to prove to you that you’ve got the time to write, using cold, hard math. Read More
You have to begin.
You have to begin, over, and over, and over again. A new story, a new chapter, a new sentence.
You have to begin. That’s all there is to it.
For me, beginning is always hard. I know of people who look at the page and don’t know what to write. I don’t. If I look at the page, I start to write. It’s the moment before, right as I start the computer, think about what I need to do, that’s the hardest.
I know I should begin. I know that as soon as I begin I’ll be able to write, I’ll be getting somewhere, anywhere. But the moment before I start, that’s pure fear.
I’ve been writing professionally for over fifteen years now, and I still have trouble beginning. I still feel the fear. Read More
I’ve got this problem: I’m lazy.
Or, I’m not lazy as such. I’m more of a work avoider.
Ok, I’m not really a work avoider. I love to do stuff. I just have a bit of trouble getting started.
A-ha!
Folks, my name is Filip and I’ve got procrastinitis. I procrastinate. Not because I want to. Not because I need to. Not even because I don’t want to do the work. I procrastinate because it’s hard getting started.
There are a lot of reasons why you can’t get started. Perhaps you don’t know what you want to do. Perhaps you don’t have the skills. Perhaps you don’t have the time[note]No, you aren’t going to get more time by waiting. That way lies madness, I tell you, maaaaadness.[/note].
But perhaps all you’re missing is the right hook. Read More
You can plug away at your dream, hoping for that big break, struggling with motivation, with time, with everything, and do it alone. You might make it. It is possible.
But it’s not bloody likely.
I know. I’ve been there. Sometimes I’m still there. But I’m struggling like a worm at an angler’s convention to find support for my dreams. Having support for your dreams can be the difference between making it and giving up. Having support for your dreams can be the difference between burning bright and burning out. Having support makes things easier[note]Not to mention more fun – you get to follow your dreams without losing your energy.[/note].
And it’s damned hard to get it sometimes. Read More
Flash fiction, micro-fiction, short-short fiction, call it whatever you want. It’s fiction that’s shorter than 1000 words. Or 1500 words. Or between 500 and 1000 to separate it from the Drabble. Whatever, Flash is short, flash is fun. Which is the first reason. Read More
How would you like to change your life in only 5 minutes per day? Get confident, go for your dreams, and become all you can be?
Impossible? Not at all. I’ve done it, and it took me only a few minutes a day. Here’s how I did it.
Two years ago I was pretty broken. Imagine a dog that’s been beaten too often, slinking along with his head hanging. Or a kid that’s been bullied, folding in on himself. I was like that, and I didn’t like it.
But I couldn’t do anything about it. I tried, oh, how I tried. Willpower! Motivation! Goal setting! Just freaking do it!
Bogus dude. Just doing it only works if you’ve got the foundation for it, and I didn’t. That’s when I discovered biological feedback loops. Read More
There’s this mouse, see, and he finds this cracker, this giant, humongous, big-ass cracker. Huge.
And he tries to haul it home. And fails.
Here’s Mr. Mouseman, finding the chow of his life, and he fails to bring it home. What’s he gonna do?
He tries again. And again. And again.
And he fails. Read More
I’m not an expert on happiness. If anything I’m an expert on being miserable. If I look back on my adult life, the amount of time I’ve spent miserable has been magnitudes greater than the amount of time I’ve spent happy.
And yet here I am, happy.
So I’ll give credit where credit’s due: Prof. Martin Seligman, the inventor of positive psychology, on whose ideas I’m shamelessly piggybacking. According to Seligman there are only three ways to become happy:
Here’s his short (23 minute) TED presentation on the subject (there’s quite a lot more to his research but this is a good starting point). Read More
I’ve started to realize when I’m afraid.
That’s a big step, really. It lets me deal with my creativity problems in a completely new light. See, there’s this moment when I’m thinking that I would like to sit down and write. And I feel this lethargy suffuse me, like I’m being slowly dipped in a pool of warm chocolate. It would be so much nicer to just read a bit. Check my email. And there’s this thingamajig I’ve been looking for all week.
But when I scratch below the surface I feel something else. I feel this suction in my gut, as if I’m about to crest the first ridge on a roller coaster. It’s faint, but it’s there and if I scratch at it I can pull it up for my conscious inspection. And I see fear. Read More