What's Your Plan

I want to go faster.

I want success tomorrow.

I want to write as good as that person.

I want ...

We all know those kinds of thoughts. They come to us on a constant basis.

And usually, or at least very often, they make us feel bad, like a fraud, like we should accomplish more than we are right now.

They give us the feeling we should go faster, put in more work, create a better strategy, and other things.

And most of the time, at least in my case, it takes a while until I realize, wait a second, this is just unrest that I have inside of me that might or might not be connected to my writing goals.

And even if it were connected to my writing goals, it would still just be nothing more than an emotion that may or may not reflect the truth.

Maybe I should put in more work. Take bigger risks. Demand more of myself. Or maybe not.

How would I know?

This is where having a plan comes in quite handy.

It doesn’t have a super elaborate plan, but it helps me to have some broad writing goals (and one very clearly defined, big goal) and milestones if you want, so that I know where to go.

If I have no plan at all, how do I know in which direction to turn. How do I know that I’m off course?

So, what I do when these thoughts of unrest and unworthiness turn up is, I go back to my plan.

It’s what they say in Football. If a game doesn’t go well, stick to the game plan. The game plan is good. Trust it. You made it like this for a reason.

So, go and check your plan. Do you fulfill it?

If yes, relax and go back to work.

Don’t you fulfill it? If so, do you know why? is there a specific reason?

If you find out your plan doesn’t work anymore, create a new one. But be sure not to create a new plan every day just out of a mood. Create long term plans for longterm success.

And when you have your new plan, ...

Relax and go back to work.

Usually what happens in my case is that unrest that I feel has nothing to do with the writing. It comes from some other place, some other circumstances in my life, but it influences my writing if I’m not conscious about it.

And unrest while you’re writing can be a big inspiration killer.

More on writing plans and how they can help you deal with unrest:

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