Writing is not only about motivation, but also about discipline.
I wrote the following 500+ words without any motivation.
Do not wait for the inspiring muse, go find her and force her to stay in your head, she does not rule over you. Be the owner of your inspiration.
The previous sentence just occurred to me right now. The reason for thinking about the muse, that is, about inspiration, is that today I have not had any desire to write, however, I am going to sit down and force myself to fill the paper with at least 300 words. Why? Because I believe that discipline is a much better companion than motivation and here are some of the reasons:
• I will not always feel like writing, however, I need to do so in order to achieve my short and long-term career goals. If I wait for motivation, I won’t get the same results.
• Motivation is overrated, we humans tend to make the least possible effort even when it comes to what we really like and are interested in. My desire to be a writer does not automatically make me a writer, I can only belong to this beautiful profession if I really write, as I expressed in a previous story.
• Discipline and practice generate motivation. For example, at the time I am writing this I have already typed about 180 words of this story and now I feel much more motivated than when the page was completely blank. Also, I have even come up with new ideas to add, which is remarkable considering that when I started writing I felt completely blank.
• Only by writing regularly I can improve my writing skills. Motivation is an extra that can help me in the quality of what I write, however, it is not the definitive factor.
• The motivation that a thousand wonderful ideas can give me in my head will not be enough to sit in front of the keyboard, however, discipline will. I don’t know what use to happen to other people, but I have a lot of ideas that I have not put on paper because I am not disciplined with my writing commitment.
Writing is like getting into cold water: at the beginning, we are a little shaky, but once we have adapted to the temperature we may even enjoy it a lot. The difficult part of every writing journey is the beginning. Then the words come without us waiting for it, and the more we write, the easier they will come.
It is valid to clarify that I recommend discipline over the motivation for people who already have some motivation to write in general, even if it is difficult to find it on certain days. If a person does not love this profession, it is better that he does not dedicate himself to it, life is too short to work on what you don’t like.
In the end, it was not so difficult for me to fill in the 300 words, and even, because I have a lot of things to say, I have written more than 500 words. Not bad for a day when I have zero motivation to write. Don’t you think?
On your side, I hope you have read my unmotivated story with pleasure, the truth is that I really enjoyed writing it. If so, consider following me to read more articles on writing, books, and other thoughts coming to my mind.
