Another "P" Word = Persistence

A few months I did a blog on the P word – procrastination.

Today, I’m back to talk about a different P word, the one that determines the possibility of success – Persistence.

I have two quotations that have guided my writing career for as long as I can remember.

The first is:

  

A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit. (Often attributed to Richard Bach, bus he supposedly disavowed saying it.)

I have read a lot of differing opinions about that quote ranging from arguments about what constitutes a professional writer to what determines the level of success required to claim writer status. I’m not really interested in any of those arguments. In my mind, it comes down to this – writers write. So whether you do it for a lot of money or none, if you haven’t quit yet (or have and came back to it), then you’re on the right/write track.

The second quote follows naturally from that. 

She wrote what she loved, until she loved what she wrote, and she sent it out one more time.

I have no idea where this quote came from. I have it on a scrap of paper that is so old it’s turned yellow and brittle.

When I tried to Google the source of that quote, I got a bunch of links to Taylor Swift’s new album. It’s really tempting to tag Taylor in this post and see our views skyrocket. I have no idea why that quote triggered Taylor's name, but when I thought about it, I was glad it had.

 A lesson in procrastination vs. persistence

The other day, I was supposed to be writing, but when I signed on to Twitter to join my #1k1hr group, #TaylorSwiftonGMA was trending. I very easily got sucked down a rabbit hole of Taylor Swift videos. 

Avoiding that kind of rabbit hole is a constant struggle for me. My husband used to drive me crazy flipping channels on the television. It seemed he’d stay on something just long enough for me to get hooked. He would move on, but by that time, I would be begging him to turn it back (to some show I'd probably be embarrassed to admit watching), because once I'm hooked, I need to find out what happens.

Which is what happened last Thursday on Twitter. First there was a video about Taylor's father handing out pizza to the people who waited on line overnight. Then there was Taylor singing a song from her new album. Then... and so on.

It's important to note here, I've never particularly been a Taylor Swift fan. I was just curious about what all the fuss on Good Morning America was about. My interest had been piqued. 

Am I alone in this? I know we joke about going to Facebook to check one thing and discovering we've spent an hour instead of the scheduled 5 minutes.

As it turns out though, watching Taylor Swift videos for an hour wasn’t without some benefit. One of the clips on GMA gave a history of her career starting as an 11 year-old girl determined to make it in Nashville. She explained that her mother and little brother waited in the car while she delivered karaoke demos she’d made. She talked about walking up and down Music Row knocking on doors.

"I would say, 'Hi, I'm Taylor. I'm 11; I want a record deal. Call me."

I cannot imagine having that kind of dedication at my age, let alone at 11. 

But the story didn't end there.

I found an article on ENews that included this:

"She came back from that trip to Nashville and realized she needed to be different, and part of that would be to learn the guitar," Andrea told EW. "Now, at 12, she saw a 12-string guitar and thought it was the coolest thing. And of course we immediately said, 'Oh no, absolutely not, your fingers are too small—not till you're much older will you be able to play the 12-string guitar.'
"Well, that was all it took. Don't ever say never or can't do to Taylor. She started playing it four hours a day—six on the weekends. She would get calluses on her fingers and they would crack and bleed, and we would tape them up and she'd just keep on playing.  ENews

What intrigues me is how someone has that kind of drive to succeed - especially at such a young age. 

Taylor is not unique in her work ethic. We hear stories all the time about athletes and their superior dedication to their sport, practicing endless hours until they can sink that three-point shot flawlessly, or lead a team to another Super Bowl victory.  

What can we, as writers, learn from this mindset?

That question has really been on my mind a lot lately. Writing is not a career for the faint of heart. It requires a lot of hard work, is often solitary, and you can go many years honing your craft before you manage to snag that contract.

And when you do, you just get to do it all over again.

Some writers succeed brilliantly, and others, as in my quote above, never rise to that professional level for one reason or another.

Why?

I found some interesting thoughts on that topic in an article at a teaching workshop I attended this week. I'm going to link the article. Take a minute and go look - it's short.

Three Reasons You Aren't Reaching Your Full Potential

The article states: The question, then, is why some people are better at developing their potential than others. 

What intrigued me about the answer was the psychological analysis. I'm just going to share a couple of key quotes that intrigued me. They will all make more sense if you read the article.

The trouble is that most people don’t seriously want what they say they want.
’I want’ means, ‘if I want it enough I will get it.’ Getting what you want means making the decisions you need to make to get what you want.”

In other words, few of us are willing to do what it takes to achieve what we desire.

Some aspirations are simply superficial desires for status, not declarations of will followed up by action.

Real motivation is the key ingredient. Those who actually succeed at getting better are obsessed with their goals, turning that motivation into genuine talent over time.

These thoughts hit home with me, because throughout my life, whenever I was working on something that I cared passionately about, I was unstoppable. My energy was boundless, nothing could stand in my way.

When I find myself faltering, it's usually because some little voice in my head is whispering, Do you really want it enough to work this hard?

Obviously adolescent Taylor Swift did.

Do you?

Is writing something you feel passionately about and are you ready to make the decisions you need to succeed. Are you willing to put in the time to develop the talent? Are you ready to bloody those fingers?

If you’re not a writer, is there something else that you are passionate about to this level?

Let's chat.