A few months back, I received some news that was disconcerting. I went for a physical and found out that my blood pressure was high. Too high. So high that the doctor (or nurse practitioner) had informed me that I was a candidate for a trip to the hospital. However, the blood pressure came down and I went straight to my doctor.
The doctor gave me a prescription. Here’s the thing: I hate medicine. I do not like being dependent on meds in any way. Hate it with an unmitigated passion.
That was the moment for me. Something had to change. Namely, my life. I decided to do what I had been wanting to do for a long time which was work out and bodybuild. I totally changed my diet, worked out six days a week for six weeks. Results? I lost 15 pounds. My blood pressure is normal. My BMI is at about 22%.
I am very happy. But I’m not satisfied.
I just started my new work out program. For me, this is a great beginning.
The question you’re probably asking is what does this have to do with writing? Quite a bit actually.
I have been wanting to write more for some time now. Providence has a way of throwing you a curve ball sometimes. However, my desire to write has not diminished in the least. It has only increased. So, I had to make a decision. I’m either am going to write and get more things done, or I’m going to talk about it and get little to nothing done. I choose the former.
One of the major things about people who are successful at what they do is that they are disciplined with what it is they do. They are driven to do it, warts and all. They set goals, break the goals down into micro-goals (I talked about this is a former post), and concentrate on accomplishing those goals. It’s what I did with getting my blood pressure down. I found a workout plan that was six weeks long and concentrated on each day as it came. I dropped other things that I would do and replaced it with working out. Did I miss out on anything? No, because some of those things were not important. I made some adjustments along the way as well. At first, I was working out after I had gotten home from work. But that was a little bit arduous. So I broke my workout into two, doing one early morning and one at night. That worked out great.
With writing, you may have a goal to write three pages a day. That’s about 90 pages a month. In a little over three months, you’ll have a first draft of a novel. Now, just how will you get those three pages done? All at once? In the morning? Evening? Pick one and start. If it’s not working, adjust and keep going.
I got a wake up call about my health and decided to change. Now, with my writing, I’m doing the same. I have a lot to say and share with my three fans. So, to kickstart this, my goal on my website is about three to four posts a week for at least 90-days to get into the habit. This is in addition to my writing my stories. And my job. How will I do that? I have a plan in mind so I’m going to work it and see what happens. But just like the urgency I had to live healthier, I have that same urge to write. If I hadn’t changed things in my life to live healthier, it may have killed me. If I don’t write, it’s going to do the same.
The moral is simple: discipline yourself. Write.
