Yes, it's going to happen for you
Even if it seems absurd / Issue 1,443
Oh, hi friends!
We chatted yesterday about this deadly serious question: How long would it actually take you to finish?
Two hours? Three weeks? Four months and two days?
Creating a timeline pulls us from the primordial goo of "later, sometime, whenever."
Now we're moving to the Hype Stage.
These are the rules of the Hype Stage, in which your job is to hype yourself up.
You have to believe it's going to happen for you.
You have to keep believing even when it seems absurd.
I once wrote that to put out anything new in the world, you have to be consumed by self-belief, and also believe everything you do isn't good enough (yet).
Basically, you're a genius and a fraud. At the same time.
But above all, you have to believe it is going to happen for you.
What is "it"?
You'll get the offer. The job, the co-star role, the book deal.
You'll find whoever you want to find in this wild, expansive, disconnected world.
You'll see your project through to a brilliant conclusion.
And so on.
You have to believe it's going to happen for you.
I know this is extremely hard. Our brains are weird places.
But in order to complete a thing, we must do our best to quiet our critics and say:
I believe it's going to happen for me.
I believe it's going to happen for me.
I believe it's going to happen for me.
And keep believing even when it's absurd.
Absurdities may include: internal criticism, external criticism, failure of collaboration, career twists and turns, making poor strategic decisions, doubt that rages when you're hungry or tired, silence instead of rejection, rejection instead of silence, mind-melting high humidity, a bad interaction with a friend, a bad interaction with a nemesis, the rising bile of competition, when the next step is unclear, when the next step is clear but it's impossible — and 45,674 other sneaky and scary speed bumps that can throw you off your game.
Through everything, you have to believe it's going to happen for you.
Because no one else is going to believe it more than you.
This is Part Two.
Read Part One: Are you just two weeks away from your next milestone?
Read Part Three: The practice of picking up the cat.
You're on a roll, Kara! And your enthusiasm is contagious. I WILL finish the memoir proposal, secure an agent, and get a book deal. Right? If I adopt your mantra, maybe I can manifest it;) I need to dismiss the message I keep hearing: memoirs are impossible to sell. And replace it with: I believe it's going to happen for me.
I always seem to find your words at just the right time. Today is the day I'm officially making a plan (if one can do such a thing) to write the second draft of my book, and doubt is trying to get involved. Thank you for your encouragement and positive reminders to keep moving with absurd belief! We can all do it!