Why Writing Brings You No Joy
A lesson from the tennis court
Last week I was prancing around on Reddit to figure out the problems that new writers often encounter.
The problem that resurfaced was the inability to enjoy the process of writing.
To become a writer, you’ve to feel a pull towards writing. You’ve to feel the pain of not being able to bring the words together on some days. You’ve to grapple with the disturbing and unhelpful thoughts.
But, these aren’t news to you.
You had signed up for the discomfort when you decided to become a writer.
Sadly, new writers spend more time finding shortcuts to success and less on practicing the craft.
This is where the problem germinates.
The success stories might spur you to start writing but that won’t suffice in the long run. You’d ultimately hate the process, the constraints, and the alternate cycles of ebbs and flows.
Because you are desperate about the outcomes.
When Novak Djokovic suffered a loss in the quarterfinal in the 2010 French Open, he decided to quit the sport.
His coach, Marian Vajda, sensed the real problem. He asked him, “Do you still love holding the racket in your hand?”
And Djokovic instantly became excited.
He realised that he was focusing too much on the rankings, records, titles, and external expectations. But he still loved playing tennis for the sake of playing.
After that, he went on to win three Grand Slams including his first Wimbledon title.
“Talent is around. I see people with talent but the one thing they don’t have is that they just don’t love doing it for the sake of it.” — Novak Djokovic
This got me thinking about how we kill the possibility of maximizing our potential by trying to control what’s beyond.
True love for writing emerges when you:
- care about the problems
- become proactive while searching for the solutions
- don’t go down the route of lazy research
- are not afraid of failures that dominate your actions.
Your job is to focus on the output (the parameters you can control) and put aside what you want to achieve.
That alone will make you fall head over heels in love with writing.
