Is this thing on?
We’ve all experienced the same feeling when pressing the power button on a remote or some other battery-operated device we haven’t seen in a while. You know the feeling of uncertainty. Is it going to respond? If it doesn’t, is it just the battery or has the device given up the ghost? (As a good Southerner, I can’t quit buttery biscuits or colorful phrases.)
This is how I feel, opening up a blank document. So much opportunity. So much potential. Also so scary. Seriously, I’ve been afraid of the dark, Jaws in my swimming pool and my mascara running, but nothing scares me more than a blinking cursor on a white background.
You know what else scares me? A challenging workout.
The first time I attempted an Orange Theory workout I was genuinely fearful. Despite working out regularly for over five years, something about participating in a workout regime I didn’t put together in a group with someone else directing me made me anxious. What if I couldn’t do the moves? What if my range of motion wasn’t great? How does one use a rower?
At the encouragement of several friends, I took my first class. Yes, it was challenging. Yes, it was hard. Yes, there were some things I couldn’t do. But I also discovered I could do much more than I believed I could. This was something I found to be true workout after workout for over a year.
As it turns out, writing is a workout, too. Writing requires muscle. In some form or fashion, writing was something I did in my career, as well as personally, for a long time. However, after 17 years of exerting that muscle basically every day, I was burned out.
I changed jobs in May 2018 and writing was no longer a primary task. I thought this was the perfect time to take a short break and then pick it back up as something I did personally. That plan looked good on paper but never took form in my actual life. I haven’t written much more than an Instagram caption in well over a year.
Do you know what happens to your muscles when you quit working out or moving them regularly? They atrophy. They become stiff and lose part of their usability. To regain your muscle, you have to begin to move those muscles again.
Writing muscles are no different. To be a writer, you must write. To become a better writer, you must write. Just write. It seems so simple.
Wrong.
I’ve had really good intentions to write. No lie, it has probably been on my to-do list every week for six out of the last eight months. Again, just like working out, intentions are great but not enough on their own. I can’t count the times I planned to “work out in the morning” or “take a class during lunch” or “get it in done after work.” I’ve had really good intentions to work out, but somehow exercising got sidelined with another opportunity, conflict or just plain laziness. I quickly realized unless I actually scheduled a workout, like actually put it in my calendar, it would never happen.
After months and months filled with well-meaning intentions to write, I finally realized that like my workouts, writing time has to be scheduled. It is an appointment with me. If my best friend wants to meet for happy hour or dinner, I immediately put it into my calendar. Then I show up. It’s funny how that works, huh?
I first heard of making appointments with myself from author and speaker Rachel Hollis. My favorite quote from her is “Don’t break promises to yourself.” I loved it so much I saved it as the wallpaper on my phone for nearly a year. Making an appointment with myself to workout or to meet a friend for dinner or, yes, to write, is a promise to myself.
2020 holds a few pretty audacious goals for me. A couple of those goals actually require me to write on the regular. So as daunting as that blinking cursor is, and as intimidating as actually sharing publicly is, I’m putting it out there now that I am writing weekly. I haven’t planned out exactly what that looks like, but I am literally blocking writing time in my calendar.
Staying committed to working out is much easier with a workout partner, and writing is no different. I have joined a writers’ group and have people in my life holding me accountable to write.
Your ambition/goal/aspiration may not be working out or writing, but all of us have some thing that we want to grow or develop in our lives. Whatever that is for you, consider what working that out would look like. How do you exercise those muscles? Who or what is holding you accountable? Will you resolve to make yourself a priority and not break promises to yourself?
You know what I’m working on this year and now that it’s public, feel free to call me out (with grace and love, of course) when it appears I haven’t written in a while. I’d love to know what you’re working out and how I can support and encourage you.
Dennis Kaufman says
That new book on goals you have been reading seems to have supercharged your life! Sharmon and I are very happy to be your friends and if there is anything we can do to help encourage you to continue on this path, don’t hesitate to reach out. We will throw another party soon and maybe some of the weird stuff that happens will make it into your writing!
Julie says
Dennis-
You and Sharmon are the best! I will take a Kaufman party for inspiration anytime.