As someone who gets sucked into motivational writing a lot, I really appreciate your post. The truth is I like having reminders of “how to live a better life, be a more productive writer, stop procrastinating, etc.,” but at some point I need to minimize the amount of advice I seek out and just be, live, do, and write. That’s the hard part, though, because the preparation (i.e., the motivational reading) is easy to do, inspires me, and makes me feel like I’m doing something. Even writing this response is triggering a reward center in my brain that I’m taking a baby step towards my goal of having a bigger online writing presence.

What truly motivates me, however, is the idea that I might miss my opportunity because I wasn’t prepared. In the words of Seneca, “luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” When I do meet that publisher, editor, or entrepreneur, I want to have a manuscript I’m proud of that represents my best work. Those chances don’t happen very often and I don’t want to waste them.

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