"" Rob Parnell's Writing Academy Blog: You Already Know What To Do

Thursday, April 18, 2013

You Already Know What To Do


Dear Fellow Writer,

Take a look at my new channel trailer on YouTube:



It's just a short 'hello' kind of thing. YT only let you have a minute or less, so it's hard to know what to say and what to leave out.

Anyway, I'd love to know what you think.



Keep writing!


THIS WEEK'S ARTICLE:

 

You Already Know What To Do


Rob Parnell
 

lap top girlPeople are always asking me if there's a surefire road to success.

And, if one exists, can I please email it to them!

The fact is there as many roads to success as there are people.

Everyone one of us is different. Therefore every path will be different. 

Plus, we all have different definitions of success.

Whilst having a blockbuster novel at the top of the NY Times bestseller list may be a lot of authors idea of success, this is often a nebulous, unexamined goal with little chance of actually happening.

It's right and proper to have big dreams. They keep us going.

But when a dream becomes a specific goal, we need to get real.

The more you research your own potential success path, the more important the smaller goals along the way become - and the more in touch with reality you are as a result. 

But no amount of research and advice can help you when it comes to motivation.

You either want to do something or you don't.

It's pointless going after a long term goal if you don't feel a daily compulsion to complete the intermediary steps.

And I would suggest that if you don't want to do the little things that will take you towards your big goal, then you should examine whether you really want the big goal at all!

Jettisoning big unwanted goals from your life can be liberating.

It can help you focus on what you really want.

And it may prevent you from being depressed about not having what you actually don't really need in your life!

The human mind is a marvelous thing.

We have the ability to attach emotion to objects, images and even words. We use these emotional triggers to dictate our actions all the time - because this is how we give meaning to our decisions.

If something feels right, that is, if a decision creates a positive emotion in us, we tend to follow through.

Conversely when something feels wrong, we back away.

If we didn't have these innate emotional responses, we wouldn't know which paths to take.

The intellect, like a machine, is a crap decision maker.

Sometimes our emotional response is so slight we deliberately override it. Often this results from the intellect overwhelming our intuition.

Intuition is such a tiny voice in the mind sometimes that it's easy to ignore.

But we shouldn't.

Your intuition is a very handy little tool. It's basically the voice of the subconscious - which has carefully weighed up all the pros and cons of options from its vast reservoir of knowledge and data - and handed you its verdict.

It's up to you to listen to that verdict.

It's more potent than an intellectual rationalization.

Intuition is guidance from within.

And when you're on the road to achieving whatever you regard as success, you need all the right guidance you can get.

Sometimes you'll think you want something and you'll seek out advice, from friends, family or from information online or in a library.

(A library... what's that these days? They're all closing round here!)

But sometimes you get so overloaded with information and advice, you don't know what to think anymore. You mistake tiredness for frustration. You get confused.

Because you're looking too hard.

Because you're seeking all the answers from outside. 

When all along the correct course of action for YOU is inside, and already known to you.

The individual steps towards a goal may be small and seemingly trivial but over time will amass into your particular yellow brick road.

Yes, many people may have gotten there before you. But they weren't specifically you.

YOU must find your own way.

And you don't need other people to tell you how to get there.

You already know.

Your subconscious already knows what your next step should be.

So listen to your intuition - the small voice inside your mind that is really your secret weapon.

Because when you act on your intuition you'll find that your life will begin to change.

You do what you're meant to do.

You reject what strikes you as dull or worthless.

You become more focused - and your mind becomes clear.

You become more productive - and more involved in what you do.

You care more - which improves your creativity.

You intuition keeps you on target - and ensures you have integrity.

It can be very hard to live up to impossible goals - especially if you're not sure they are right for you.

Give yourself a break.

Drop everything from your mind that you don't feel is absolutely crucial to who you are, what you do and what makes you happy.

Anything that doesn't make you happy is destroying your energy and sapping the lifeblood from you.

Let go.

Follow your instincts.

Listen to other people, sure, but don't let them rule you.

You know best.

But then - you already knew that, right?

Keep Writing!

 rob at home




THIS WEEK'S WRITER'S QUOTE:


"Literature flourishes best when it is half a trade and half an art." William Ralph Inge

 
Previous Newsletter includes:
Article: "Don't Limit Yourself
"

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