How to get out of your own way

I finished a new novel last week, and it was one of the easiest—and, I suspect, best—I’ve ever written. Not because it was my eighth book (or if you want to get technical, my twelfth; there are four in a digital drawer that’ll probably stay there). In fact, when I started it, I was wondering if I even had it in me to write it. But then my coach posed a question that changed everything: “How can this be easy for you?"

That question sounds so simple—and it is. But that was all it took for me to double (and sometimes triple) the number of words I was writing each day. It also helped me identify a plot hole and quickly fix it, and to finish my draft with time to spare.

But wait, you’re probably thinking. Writing is hard! After all, that’s what everyone says.

Is it really, though?

Sure, you can immediately think of a dozen other activities that are easier than writing a book. Reading someone else’s novel. Watching Netflix. Sleeping. And so on. But you can probably think of just as many endeavors that would be far more difficult. For example, I wouldn’t want to figure out how to fix carbon emissions. Nor would I want to be responsible for, say, educating twenty preschoolers or running a restaurant. It’s all relative.

This matters because your brain goes in the direction in which you point it. If I tell you there are more purple cars in your town than in most other places, guess what you’re suddenly going to start seeing while you’re out driving? A whole bunch of violet vehicles. So when you say, think, or believe that writing is hard, you’re giving your brain a green light to look for difficulty—and even to create problems. Your sentences won’t sparkle, your plot will feel flabby, and it’ll take you twice as long to write a paragraph. What’s more, that thought—this is hard—leads to feelings like frustration, stress, and weariness. And you don't need me to tell you that those aren’t ideal emotional states for creating great work.

But when you ask yourself how it’s easy—or enjoyable, fun, fulfilling, etc.—you’ll discover all kinds of evidence to prove that's exactly the case. Hey, I'm actually great at writing dialogue. I can't stop thinking about this story, which means I must really believe in it. I've been telling stories since I was a kid and this is just an opportunity to do that in a different way. Before you know it, you’re reinforcing new, better thoughts that trigger positive emotions, which prompt you to produce at a higher level.

This is all to say: you’re a writer. Choose your words carefully.