There is no Step-By-Step Success Plan. Sorry. There is Only You.
The Escape Route is not the Life Raft; it’s the Paddle.
When I feel overwhelmed, I feel the pull to start making a list, a step-by-step, or an extremely colourful google calendar. But, I’ve never much resonated with step-by-step plans to be more productive, motivated, inspired…perfect. Though, I am drawn to them.
I wonder if this is because when I look up “How do I commit to my goals?” “How do I write my book?” or “How do I become more well-rounded?” The articles and videos that come up are always a well-thought-out, detailed, organized list of the things you have to or should do.
And, like most of us, I hit the ground sprinting.
I want to write a book, and the article says to keep a strict schedule, create a comfortable/inspiring space, and hold yourself accountable by creating consequences (i.e. leave $100 on the floor of a public bathroom if you don’t hit your word count). So what do I do? I buy the perfect pens and the perfect notebook, spend days collecting items to cultivate the writing space and read many articles about how to write. I spend a lot of time creating that schedule, taking stock of all the things I don’t have that are probably getting in the way of my success, and subscribing to focus apps that will shut down distracting sites while I work.
I read about other people’s anecdotal accounts of their success or near success. And, I rarely stop to wonder if the articles I’m reading are just a regurgitation of the things we think will resonate with others because that’s what everyone else is writing. Or the writing is the author’s way of convincing themselves that the step-by-step works for them. I’ve written plenty of private and public pieces titled “How-To,” even though a deep, unrelenting part of me tells me it rarely works. At least not long term.
It is extremely difficult to hear your own voice in a sea of drowning writers, clawing at the open air, clinging to each other, desperate to find their life raft. If the guy next to you has the life raft, you try to do what they did, so you get yours too.
It is Extremely Difficult to Hear your Own Voice in a Sea of Drowning Writers.
When you’re drowning, there is absolutely nothing wrong with clinging to a survival plan that seemingly works for everyone else. But, that fire, that endless flame you need to keep the passion alive, the will to live, to keep breathing, will remain sullied as long as you keep thrashing around that water, even on the life raft.
Imagine getting on the life raft and saying, “this is fine. I can just live here forever.” I find myself building rafts and sinking them because the “how-to” only gets me so far. Eventually, I need to either learn to swim or paddle.
The escape route is not the raft, my friend. It’s the paddle.
So, I offer you, dear reader, a different (but likely unoriginal) perspective on motivation, on how to start and how to continue.
I’m sorry if this sucks to hear, but your environment, equipment, and subscriptions will not make you successful. They are a service that aids your deepest desires, but they will not get you where you need to go. They’re vessels that make you feel more comfortable while you never stop rowing.
I am not yet successful. Not in the way I want to be. But, I have had the most success with writing in the last month than ever, and when I look back on my creative endeavours that were the most outwardly successful, I am reminded of how little I relied on the step-by-step and instead, I just did the thing.
When I was 16, my dad emailed me a call for writers for a local theatre’s (still one of the top ten in Canada) PlayWrights Cabaret. I was not a playwright; I had never written a play, only acted in them. The submission deadline was 3 days after he sent me the email. I had no time to think about the “how-to,” if I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity, I had to just do it. The only life raft I had was my Little Mermaid script (as I was in that production then) to give me an outline on how to structure a play. I had no time to make a perfect project plan or outline. I literally had to just start writing.
I submitted it, and it was accepted; it was performed. It was one of the single most remarkable experiences of my life. I learned that I was funnier than I thought I was. Parts of my writing I hadn’t intended to be funny were making the crowd laugh. I didn’t realize I was relatable; I didn’t realize that maybe I was a decent writer.
As someone who notoriously overthinks (I’m serious, I had to do Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to remedy that habit), it feels unnatural for me to suggest that you need to stop thinking so much about the how and instead just do the thing.
Poetry I spent hours, days, and weeks working on was rejected in a heartbeat, while pieces I wrote in the late hours of the night, threw into Grammarly and submitted that morning have been published and praised.
For me, the correlation between writing and success has been a fearless abandonment of the “how-to,” the surface items, the life raft. Instead of all the time spent preparing for success, I focused my energy on working and shifting my mindset. Reminding myself that everything I need to be successful is right here (hand over my heart).
The only “how-to” I can genuinely provide you is how to stop getting in your own damn way by convincing yourself you don’t already have what it takes. If you want to write, go write.
