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The Side Effects of Negativity On Your Writing

The Side Effects of Negativity On Your Writing

The Side Effects of Negativity On Your Writing
Photo by Claudio Calvao

The Side Effects of Negativity On Your Writing

Writers are notorious for being negative and pessimistic. We (me included) make excuses for not getting our writing done. We say negative things to ourselves when we're writing (or trying to write). We feed our minds with comments about how writing is hard, how we'll never get our stories finished, how we just can't seem to sit down to write.

And we compare our own writing success (or lack thereof) to the success of others. We wallow in our self-pity and expect others to do the same. It's almost like a competition to see who has it worse, isn't it?

We also, deep down, believe that writers live impoverished lives. There's just something romantic about busting your butt through your writing talent to barely make ends meet.

What we don't realize though is that we are actually the cause of our own destruction. By feeding our minds with negativity and pessimism, we're creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. We're making it harder on ourselves to actually achieve success. In other words, we're standing in our own way.

"Writing is hard work" is just a subjective statement. Writing is only hard work if you believe it's hard work. It takes a lot of studying and practice, but just like any other activity, it can be learned.

The difference between people who have achieved success and those who haven't is the successful group have broken through the resistance, believed in themselves, and taken action toward their dreams. If you don't believe in yourself, why do you expect to succeed?

The trouble is, a lot of people don't realize they have underlying self-doubt and negativity. I had no idea I was as negative as I was. It wasn't until my business coaching with Sandi Krakowski earlier this year that I realized how negative I was and that my negativity was holding me back in business and in life.

Once you realize that you have negative perceptions that are holding you back, you can work toward removing them. Sometimes we just need to be tough with ourselves and make a commitment (and take action) to do what needs to be done to be the success we desire.

God gave each one of us a divine purpose; it's up to us to use it. He doesn't want us to struggle. He wants us to be who we were meant to be and to enjoy life and learn valuable lessons from life's little challenges.

Are you ready to be who you were designed to be?

Jody Calkins
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