SISTER WISDOM

This is a reprint of an article I originally wrote for the Writers Unbound blog, which I left quite a few months ago. The ideas are still true, though.

1. Procrastination + Perfectionism = Nothing Gets Done. Imperfect progress realized is better than perfection imagined.
2. No comparing. Comparison is never helpful; it just makes me think I can never achieve what I’m comparing myself or my work or my life to. I don’t see the imperfections of what or whom I am comparing myself with, so it reinforces that perfectionism tendency. Bad, bad, bad.
3. Just do it. Sometimes we really do learn from advertising. Nike is right. (So is Yoda.)
4. “There is a difference between striving for excellence and striving for perfection. The first is attainable, gratifying, and healthy. The second is unattainable, frustrating, and neurotic. It is also a terrible waste of time.” -Edwin Bliss
5. Movement of any kind toward a desired goal is progress, even if it is not the exact movement we have envisioned. We need to set particular goals, detailed goals, and have standards; we also need to have broader points of progress in place, and accept any movement toward them as successes.
6. “Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. BUt it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure – or you can learn form it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember, that’s where you will find success.” -Thomas J. Watson
7. If you keep a journal, try logging both your failures and your successes for a week or so. Compare. (Yes, in this case comparison is okay.) Many times we fail in details but we let that seem so huge that we fail to see how we have succeeded in important things. Perspective matters. Failure teaches. Success follows.
8. Accountability, whether real or imagined, is a powerful motivator. Go public with your goals.
   
9. Some things simply aren’t worth it. Even an overwhelming sense of obligation (where does it come from?) doesn’t change that fact. Let go of the stuff that doesn’t matter.
10. Some days are simply more productive than others, right? Right. Some days are simply more productive because they are better planned, better managed, and better executed. Productivity doesn’t just happen when the Happy Productivity Fairy appears and waves her DayTimer over your head.
11. You can be sure that there are always circumstances that fight productivity, that some days despite your best planning and diligent efforts, forces conspire to prevent anything productive from happening. You can also be sure that the default of any day, left to run its own meandering course through whatever pops up or whatever you feel like, will not result in productivity.
12. The disorder in your life will increase unless you continually add energy to maintain order and productivity. You’ve got to push that ball to keep it rolling, or else it will run out of energy and sit there and the moss will grow over it and soon you won’t even be able to find it anymore.
13. Keep moving forward.
14. Keep writing (or designing, or calling, or consulting, or whatever it is you need to be doing).