Recently I took part in a survey for writers and the result was really surprising.
The survey was about what holds people back from writing and earning more.
The answers were there to choose from, and all we had to do was put them in order of what we had the most trouble with, down to what we had the least trouble with.
And I was stunned because I thought that what gave people the most trouble was marketing or not getting enough people to their websites/blogs or even wanting to write better books.
But the number one problem that most writers were having was the same as me.
And that is struggling with mindset and self-discipline.
This really did come as a real surprise because I thought that others who write for a living must have an abundance of ideas and the ability to sit and write every day.
But it seems that they don't.
Luckily, I've been reading a book lately deals with this exact topic.
I borrowed this book from the library because I'd heard great things about it and even read some interesting reviews.
The book is called Deep Work and it's written by Cal Newport and in it he talks about deep work being not just the ability to sit and work deeply without distraction, but working on things that are important to you, and doing less shallow work.
He says deep work is hard and shallow work (checking emails, looking at Facebook, surfing the web, texting,) is easy which is why we distract ourselves with shallow work.
And he gives some brilliant advice and insights into how to do more deep work and how it can not only improve your productivity and the quality of your work, but it can also have a positive impact on the rest of your life.
I don't want to go into too much detail here, but I do want to tell you that this is an excellent book if you want to write more, write better and enjoy it.
If you get a chance to read a copy of this amazing book, I recommend you go for it.
It's full of insights and looks at working in a way that I've never thought of before including how to structure your work so that you know exactly when you are done for the day so that your brain can downshift and recharge properly, instead of always having that nagging feeling that you haven't finished what you started, or haven't done enough work.
http://viewbook.at/deepwork
The survey was about what holds people back from writing and earning more.
The answers were there to choose from, and all we had to do was put them in order of what we had the most trouble with, down to what we had the least trouble with.
And I was stunned because I thought that what gave people the most trouble was marketing or not getting enough people to their websites/blogs or even wanting to write better books.
But the number one problem that most writers were having was the same as me.
And that is struggling with mindset and self-discipline.
This really did come as a real surprise because I thought that others who write for a living must have an abundance of ideas and the ability to sit and write every day.
But it seems that they don't.
Luckily, I've been reading a book lately deals with this exact topic.
I borrowed this book from the library because I'd heard great things about it and even read some interesting reviews.
The book is called Deep Work and it's written by Cal Newport and in it he talks about deep work being not just the ability to sit and work deeply without distraction, but working on things that are important to you, and doing less shallow work.
He says deep work is hard and shallow work (checking emails, looking at Facebook, surfing the web, texting,) is easy which is why we distract ourselves with shallow work.
And he gives some brilliant advice and insights into how to do more deep work and how it can not only improve your productivity and the quality of your work, but it can also have a positive impact on the rest of your life.
I don't want to go into too much detail here, but I do want to tell you that this is an excellent book if you want to write more, write better and enjoy it.
If you get a chance to read a copy of this amazing book, I recommend you go for it.
It's full of insights and looks at working in a way that I've never thought of before including how to structure your work so that you know exactly when you are done for the day so that your brain can downshift and recharge properly, instead of always having that nagging feeling that you haven't finished what you started, or haven't done enough work.
http://viewbook.at/deepwork
