How to be invincible
A beginners guide to the impossible
Three years ago, I never would have thought that I could write a novel. Let alone write on in thirty days.
That’s right, it’s almost that time of year again! November is fast becoming one of my favourite months — not just because of Halloween and the fireworks, but the novelling. This year I’ve been particularly fierce in my quest to get people to join me on the mad journey — and have been met with reasonable success. This is another slab in that road.
An impossible goal
Pick something. Anything at all really. But preferably something completely insane.
Something so far out your comfort zone it makes your heartbeat spike slightly just considering it.
Forget exposure therapy, this is shock therapy.¹
There is only one way to truly prove to yourself you are capable of your dreams, and that is to do the impossible. Like, for example — writing 50,000 words in a month.
That’s 1667 words a day. For a whole month. Which to some — nay most — of you probably sounds like a lot. To me? Doesn’t sound like much. Because I’ve done it. Got the T shirt.²
Showing up
The most difficult part of doing the impossible is not starting — but finishing. And finishing entails making steps towards that deliberately far off goal every damn day.
1667 words a day is pretty easy. Sorry³, but it is. It’s repeating that pretty easy 1667 words every day for thirty days straight that’s hard. And it is hard. Showing up every day and writing a couple words is hard, let alone the best part of two thousand.
It’s hard, but it is not impossible. 50,000 words in a month is impossible (or sounds it) but 1667 words a day for thirty days? That sounds a lot more manageable, doesn’t it?
So show up. That’s all the ‘secret’ there is, to writing — and to doing anything else impossible.
Victory
If you commit to your goal, if you grind away at it every day for as long as it takes, you will succeed. I can’t tell you the secrets of how exactly to do that — because truth be told I don’t have a damn clue just yet — but I can promise you success if you do.
Sure, talent helps. But it is a crutch, not a spine.
Perseverance is a solid foundation on which to build anything. Anything at all, including the impossible. Figure that out, in whatever way works for you — and you can write a novel in a month.
Do enough impossible things, and you’ll begin to believe that they aren’t so impossible. That there is no such thing as impossible.⁴
That’s all there is to it. There is no secret sauce, and anyone who tries to sell you any can fuck off. The way to do things is just to do them. Sounds stupid when written like that maybe — but that’s all perseverance really means.
It’s how I wrote a novel in a month, and it is how you can too. Or anything else insane you can set your mind to.
Do enough impossible things and you will be invincible. Simple.⁵
¹ Not the electrical kind, unless you have really odd aspirations…
² Well no, I didn’t actually. Because I’m a cheap bastard…
³ Am I ever.
⁴ Bar, obviously, things that are impossible in physics etc. I’m talking about things that seem impossible to our minds and calling them such for effect. Obviously.
⁵ That is what I promised you after all, isn’t it? How to be invincible? And if you can do the impossible, then you must be invincible…right?⁶
⁶ Don’t tell me you were actually looking for immortality. Because if you were, fuck right off.⁷ You actually thought I’d publish the secret to that on Medium, for free?! Hah.
⁷ But come right back if you find it somewhere else. Please?
