Humans are creatures of habit. We learn how to do a thing—such as drive a car—and then put ourselves on autopilot. We don’t have to consciously think about “How do I start this thing? How do I use a turn signal? Am I giving it enough gas?” We just hop in and go.
As a writer, you develop habits, too. You have a certain vocabulary of go-to words that you choose. You have a way of approaching how you will write a scene. And you have your own work habits.
Do you have a habit of writing daily? If so, you’re probably moving along in your career nicely. If you don’t, you need to “install” that habit.
Recently I went to seminar on neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) hosted at Xodai Academy in Saint George. My trainer was Alan Jensen, an NLP coach and hypnotherapist. It turned out to be one of those life-altering experiences, where we learned how to install a new habit. Here are the basic steps.
- Look at your old habits that might get in the way, and break them. For example, let’s say that you want to write first thing in the morning. Well what do you tend to do first thing? Do you turn on the television and watch the news? Do you listen the radio? Do you read the newspaper or email? If so, you may need to break (un-install those habits).
- Next, consider your goals and decide what your new habit will be. Set realistic goals.
- This is kind of advanced, but look into your past and consider if there are any negative experiences that act as blocks for your habit. For example, moments of humiliation or fear in relation to your new goal might form emotional blocks, but by using NLP, we can clear some of those away. (Literally, it takes only moments to do.)
- Consider whether you have any self-limiting beliefs that hinder you from committing to those goals. For example, if you tell yourself “I can’t do that because . . .” then the “because” is a limiting belief. You might tell yourself that you don’t have the time to do it, that you’re not talented enough, and so on. By using NLP techniques, you can travel back into your memories to when you first formed that belief, and basically re-think the situation, and thus recognize how you can reach your goal.
By following a few simple steps, you’ll find that you can create new habits that will help you reach your goals quickly and effortlessly. Unfortunately, I can’t go into this in much more detail. Some of these steps should be taken only if you have a trained counselor with you. But if you’re really interested in this, if you have unrealized goals and dream and are ready to move forward, I’m going to recommend that you contact Alan at Xodai Academy. Look into the “Leadership Bootcamp” training, a two-day workshop that will be held in March. Here is a link to their website.
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Be featured on MyStoryDoctor.com
Hey guys, we are looking for success stories we can share on MyStoryDoctor.com. We want to hear your successful writing story, whether it’s the fact you’ve finally started writing, period; overcome a horrible writing block; finished a book; published a book; hit the bestseller list; got your agent; or became a guest at a writing conference for the first time. We will include links to your website/blog and books, but we are looking for stories that mention how David Farland or MyStoryDoctor helped you realize this success–whether from subscribing to and reading his writing tip newsletter, participating in one of his live or online workshops, watching one of his online lectures, or taking advantage of one of the services he offers.
We will be promoting these stories on Dave’s social media outlets and providing a link to them at the end of his newsletters, so his followers will see your story. We will only be sharing a success story once (maybe twice) a month, so we may not be able to say yes to everyone interested. We are looking for these stories to be in blog post or vlog format, and they must not be online already.
If you would like your story considered, email Kami at kami_marynda[at]yahoo[dot]com, explaining what kind of success story you have (publishing a book, overcoming writer’s block, getting an agent, started writing regularly etc.). A casual, short email is fine. Don’t stress. It might also be helpful to mention what helped you (newsletter, Dave’s writing workshop, etc.) and offer a link to your site (if you have a site), and if this would be in blog or vlog format. We are looking for material from writers of all stages–brand new to established bestsellers. – Kami
