Every book project begins with high hopes. Most don’t end in either glory or dramatic frustration. They peter out and end quietly worn down by the friction of life.
My clients are mid-life and mid-career. Somedays, their life is like surviving a drone attack with the demands of work and relationships and the need to get some rest. It’s easy to put off working on the book just for a day. But for many of them, that day becomes two days, then three, and then a week. Progress slows to a crawl, and motivation evaporates.
Don’t succumb to the friction of life if you want to complete your book. Harness an important psychological principle to help you finish the journey you began with such high hopes.
The Progress Principle
Psychologists Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer analyzed nearly 12,000 work diary entries from 238 workers. They found that small wins can significantly boost motivation, creativity, and positive emotions. It doesn’t take much. A little bit of progress every day.
Should You Write Every Day?
You’ve heard the advice to write every day. That’s fine for people whose day job is writing or who can devote an hour or so a day to their book project. Most of my clients aren’t like that, and maybe you aren’t either.
You need the Progress Principle. You don’t need to write every day, but you should make progress every day.
Make It Easy to Make Progress
Put everything you need in one place. On your computer, that means in a single file or directory. Put books and other physical resources in a project box. That way, you won’t have to waste time finding what you need to make a wee bit of progress.
Touch Your Project Every Day
Schedule those large blocks of time when you’re going to write. When they’re on your calendar, you are more likely to get the writing done.
On the days when you don’t write, spend a little time with your project. 15 or 20 minutes will do the trick. Consolidate your notes. Get your insights into a file. Do a little research. It doesn’t have to be much, but it must be progress for you to maintain momentum.
Every now and then, life will intervene, and you won’t make progress. That’s okay. You’ll inevitably miss a day here or there. Don’t make it two.
Don’t let your book project trickle down to nothing. Use the Progress Principle to maintain thrust so you finish with a book you’re proud of in your hands.