Small Steps to Success
I had to renew my membership with the Ontario College of Teachers. Usually it renews automatically, but both my email and phone number had changed so I had to do it myself. First, I had to go hunting for my registration number, then I had to call a real person, who was helpful, but the connection was bad so she was hard to understand. Of course their system crashed, so I had to wait, then try the renewal again. Finally, I got it done.
Isn’t that a fitting analogy for anything in our writing life? What we think should be simple and straightforward never is? What we think won’t take us very long always does?
Except I discovered three things about this renewal experience that also applies to my writing life:
- Objectively speaking it didn’t take nearly as long as it felt. I was actually done in about 15 minutes.
- I felt an unusual sense of satisfaction that I’d persevered and succeeded!
- I crossed off something on my to-do list, freeing up more time for other things—like writing.
Yes, writing takes a long time, even objectively, but, like my renewal, it was time well spent. The effort was worth the result. And when we face challenges, the taste of victory is often sweeter. And while a to-do list for writing a book can be long and daunting, completing one small thing (writing one sentence!) can feel freeing.
Now, back to my to-do list. With a smile. 🙂