Odds are in your favor
And a new way of looking at "productivity" / Issue 1,138
Oh, hi friends!
So I didn't get accepted into this fellowship thing, which actually makes sense, because when you do the math…if there's 500 applications for 10 spots, that's a 2% acceptance rate, which is a 98% rejection rate. That is very high!
And yet, it's so easy to hold up pass/fail scenarios as markers of success. If you get it, you succeed. If you don't get it, you fail.
But since we're thinking about percentages, let's consider some examples that have a foolproof success rate.
Set a goal to write 500 words daily, and then you do it = 100% success
Tell yourself to reach out to one new or old contact every day, and then you do it = 100% success
Record and post one new song a week online = 100% success
Book a rehearsal space for the first Tuesday of every month, and show up with friends = 100% success
Start a weekly newsletter, and write one, and then another = 100% success
These are many scenarios in which you can find validation, a positive feedback loop, and boost of confidence simply by showing up.
And showing up is something in your control.
Don't wait.
Create the odds that are in your favor.
To be more productive, just do a little bit of your art, when you feel like you can. Don’t beat yourself up. Make your goals tiny. And I really am saying, write three hundred words a day. Fill up ONE index card a day with chicken scratch. That’s all it takes. Retype the things that pile up. All of a sudden you have something. Have no hierarchy of importance when it comes to your work. Make whatever. Be at play, always. Get comfortable doing sloppy work, malformed, phoned in, wonky work—believe you can fix it later. Because you can.
Great Creative Independent interview with the writer Bud Smith.
Don’t beat yourself up!
Do You Know Someone Who…?
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Are you part of a writing group in San Francisco, or do you know someone who is? Open to all types of writing, with a preference for fiction.
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Drop your own requests into “Do you know someone who” here.
This was a really good one, thank you!