Judith Ashley is the author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series, romantic fiction that honors spiritual traditions that nurture the soul.
Matt Buchman had an interesting post up at
Romancing The Genres on 02/28/2018 But I Had A Plan.
Matt references Napoleon Hill’s work specifically
+ Have a clear and specific goal
+ Have a passion to reach that goal
+ Have an unshakable belief in being able to
reach the goal
As I read Matt’s post I was reminded of Garrett Gunderson’s point about 100% commitment. What I see Matt and other successful authors
have is that 100% commitment. And that is a part of the “unshakable belief”
they can reach that clear and specific goal for which they have a passion.
These authors put 30 - 40 – 60 hours a week into their writing (research,
writing, publishing, promotion).
Others of us (and I include myself in this
category), have a clear and specific goal, we have the passion to reach that
goal and we have a belief we will reach the goal – in time. We have commitment but
it’s not the same 100% commitment Napoleon Hill talked about or these
successful authors display. Our commitment isn’t 100%. Our lives do not revolve
around our goal.
I’m pointing this out not to say One way is Right
and the Other way Wrong.
They are both valid.
I’m pointing this out to say don’t expect the same results unless you are putting forth the same level of commitment.
My 75% commitment is not going to give me the same results as someone who puts
in 100%. It will, more than likely, give me better results than someone at the 50%
level.
The following is what I shared with some writer
friends:
I’m not in the 100% commitment place either. It’s
helpful to me to see commitment as a continuum of sorts and look at those
things that I work on – as altogether they are a 100% commitment of my time and
energy.
I also reminded them about a friend who, this past year,
had my 100% commitment for periods of time. This year not so much. I may commit
a morning or part of a day to him and his affairs but I am not
100% committed to him. On a three hour round trip drive to visit him, I listened to Dr. Joe Vitale’s “The Missing Secret” CDs. Listening
to that CDs was all about me. And as it turned out, listening to the CDs ended
up being about my writing.
So instead of saying “I didn’t get any writing
done yesterday” the reality is I got a couple of hours (more like 4 - 5 when I
add in other things I did) on my writing.
 |
| Judith and Sarah Raplee with poster of first published book |
Each of us are living our own lives in accordance to our core values and priorities. Acknowledging what
our commitment is to various aspects of our lives is important. Not just our
commitment level but also our priorities.
All of the authors I know that I see
at the 100% commitment level to their writing, do stop and focus on other
priorities in their lives. The ones I know have done this because of people in
their lives needing them. Writing goes on the back burner for the time needed
to resolve, solve whatever was going on.
Looking at your life as 100%, what are your priorities?
Where is writing? Or if not an author, your career/job? What about re-creation?
Family? It might be helpful to look at this as a pie chart with the various
aspects of your life having varying size slices.
However, look at your life another way – prioritize your
life.
Relationships (family, friends, etc.);
Recreation (what you do for
fun/relaxation);
Career/Hobby (activity that you have fun doing and get lost in
the process so time just slips by);
Survival (Health and things like bill paying activity – you’d put
your job here if the purpose for working that job was only to pay the bills).
You can share your thoughts about commitment in the comment section below.
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© 2018 Judith Ashley
1 comment:
Very interesting post, Judith! As always, you've got me thinking. I will give this some thought and then add another comment.
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