Wednesday, June 6, 2012

WISDOM -- I TAKE IT WHERE I CAN GET IT

I'm attending a non-writer business conference this week. The organization is a consortium of some of the most innovative and successful people in their industry. Yesterday I attended a session where the speaker addressed the challenge of staying motivated over a long and often difficult career. Some of his advice hit home to me as a writer.

  • Visualize what could be and don't let anyone tell you your dreams are impossible.
  • Do what you do well regardless of what everyone else is doing. Following the herd will only lead to mediocrity.
  • Focus on the things that take you closer to your goal and let go of things that merely suck your time and energy.
  • Keep things in perspective. Avoid getting too low when things get rough, it'll get better. On the other hand, don't get carried away celebrating your victories because tomorrow you need to suit up and perform again or lose your momentum. 
No matter what path someone takes, apparently the map to success and happiness are pretty much the same. What's the best advice anyone ever gave you?

7 comments:

Louise Behiel said...

I have to take this advice about social media. just sucking up way too much time and now it's starting to feel like a hamster wheel rather than fun. hmmm...time to get a life again. thanks for the wisdom

Business Advice in Manchester said...

I agree, constantly making assessments of how you work, where your time and energy goes and ammending this is the key to staying focused and driven.

Improving how effectively you work will mean you are constantly evolving your techniques and methods. New challenges bring new energy to whatever you are doing.

Pat O'Dea Rosen said...

Good advice, Lark! Isn't it a kick when our writer lives and non-writer lives collide, er, intersect?

The best bit of writing advice I've ever heard is that we can fix anything but a blank page.

Sarah Andre said...

LOVED the list, thank you! I'll print it out and stick it near my computer.

Lark Howard said...

Good luck, Louise. Social media can be addictive so pulling away isn't all that easy.

Lark Howard said...

Pat, I think the other piece of that advice is give yourself permission to write crap. I sure can do that!

Lark Howard said...

You're welcome, Sarah.