My client looked at me yesterday and offered an excuse. He’s rinsing his OPUS and CORE writings. He’s not quite there and yet he wants to be. He’s a busy CEO with lots going on. Normal.
Write now, I responded and I told him I would do the same. He opened his laptop as I began to tickle the ivories. Not a word was spoken for ten to fifteen minutes. He broke the silence with three words. “This is hard.” I kept writing and smiled toward him without offering a comment. Another twenty minutes transpired. Again, he broke the silence with four words this time. “I’m not feeling it.” Keep writing, I instructed him without so much as a glance. He sighed with some resignation in his gasp and offered some more resistance. “This is much easier to do at night. I’m just not inspired at the moment.”
Figuring he was about at his limit, I decided to offer him some encouragement. Writing is like being a ditch digger, I told him. “What are you talking about,” he barked with more than a little exasperation in his demanding tone.
“Ditch diggers dig,” I began. They show up for work at the appointed time and dig. They dig when it’s hard. They dig when they’re not feeling it. They dig when they are uninspired. Ditch diggers dig.
Writers follow the same recipe. Writers show up and write. You aren’t going to author your masterpiece by waiting around until inspiration shows up. You are going to write. You are going to make your writing a part of your daily discipline. Someday, someway, and sometime NOT of your choosing, inspiration will simply arrive. Your job is to keep showing up and write.
I showed him the rant I had written. It was yesterdays rant about confluence of thought and creative thinking. We laughed as he read my rant out loud. Together, we had found some clarity.
Mastering anything is more about Y.O.U. making a decision to simply show up. Waiting is what normal folks decide. Don’t wait. Instead, choose some kinda productive action and remember to smile as you grab your shovel. We’ve got some digging to do…
BUILT TO LEAD 