Sunday’s seem to be my favorite time to sit down with my cup of coffee and write to you. I don’t know why that is – it just is. I think its because the kids are still sleeping and the house is quiet and I can think about what I want to share with you for the week.
Today I’m going to do a little boasting and bragging for no other reason than I’m so freaking proud of myself. Yesterday at about 2pm Pacific I was able to text a friend to say:
Guess what I just did?
I won NaNoWriMo!!
If you’ve been following along with me the last month on Facebook you know I entered a self-imposed writing competition to write 50,000 words of a novel in 30 days.
Quite an insane thing for someone as busy as me to take on. However, this competitioncomes around only once a year. It’s called: National Novel Writing Month and its sponsored by a non-profit called NaNoWriMo.org.
Well, I started off strong, then I petered out along the way mid stream and I had to then spend the last week writing my fingers off to make the 50,000 word deadline by last night.
I could have stopped and still been ahead of the game.
Thing is….I REALLY wanted the sponsor prizes because I know they will help my books get published. THAT is the goal that kept me going. That’s what drives me…going after something I want. To someone else, the prize may be stupid. To me, its something I really really wanted.
I get that way. Like a dog with a bone. Well….drum roll….ready…
I DID IT!
I WON NANOWRIMO! And I still can’t believe it. Someone needs to pinch me.
You see, last Sunday I was at 19,000 words and change.
It was a crazy thought that I could write 31,000 words in a week, especially since it was Thanksgiving week. See the average is 800-1000 words in an hour when your plotting story and structure and dialogue.
It was a STRETCH. That meant an average of 5 writing hours a day.
5 hours of doing NOTHING else but writing. Where was I going to find that time? I had no idea.
But I did. And it is done. You see, I get teased about this by my mentors.
When I want something and I want it bad enough, there is NOTHING that is going to get in my way. I become like a dog with a bone that I’m going to gnaw on until its done. I took bite size chunks out of a BIG elephant to end up eating the whole thing.
(Have you heard the best way to eat an elephant? Yup…one bite at a time.)
Daily actions are what I took, and sometimes it was 30 minutes and 500 words here and there, other times I was able to sit for 3 hours and write a ton.
There are 31 days left in December. It’s a new month.
Where can you stretch, JUST THIS MONTH.
Here’s the thing. When you challenge yourself in measurable ways and you push to get the results you are looking for your mind begins to expand its potential. This can be in business or life.
What can you do in the next 30 days to take the bites out of the elephant that you need to eventually eat the whole thing? You don’t go 0 to 100MPH without hitting 10, 20, 30, 40 etc miles per hour.
Set yourself up to stretch yourself.
Here’s the thing. I get obsessed. I won’t stop when I’m after something that matters to me. However, if somewhere along the way I decided to stop writing, I still would have had more words than if I never started.
A famous writer once said: You can’t edit a blank page. The same goes in your life and business. You can’t adjust and tweak what you haven’t started. Anyway, I’m off to get my Sunday rolling.
I learned a valuable lesson this month. One that I always knew in the back of my mind.
Our potential is limitless. We expand into more of our potential when we push past our barriers.
I knew I could do it, I didn’t know how I was going to do it. I had enough belief in myself and my ability.
It starts with a solid Belief.
Napoleon Hill said:
“What the mind of Man can Conceive and Believe, it can Achieve.”
I believe in you.
It’s time to finish the year strong. You have to want it bad enough. Figure out WHAT you want bad enough. I know you can do it. Do you believe in yourself enough to get it done?
Things that make you go hmmm….
I’m out. Find me if you need me.
