Free The 7 Secrets of the Prolific Writer's Block by Writing

ultimately falls short, she’ll have plenty of other chances to succeed.
    • She can’t perform superhuman feats, such as suddenly writing twenty pages in a day when her previous record is ten. She also knows she’s not a robot who can work 24/7, or when ill or seriously troubled.
    • She’s not precognitive. Therefore, she won’t second-guess or punish herself for having made reasonable choices that didn’t work out as well as planned.
    Finally, she knows she’s not just a writer but a human being, and that she needs to take care of the broad range of her human needs (health, safety, material comfort, relationships, etc.), not just because that’s the sane and humane thing to do, but because ignoring those needs is antiproductive. She also knows that progress in other areas of her life will support her writing success—and that, conversely, her writing success will feed her success in other important areas.
    The CO person also knows important stuff about “failure” and “success” that I’ll discuss in Section 2.12.
    The fundamental work of overcoming perfectionism is that of “switching” your mindset from perfectionism to CO. There’s no magic to doing this: you just catch yourself thinking perfectionistically (i.e., the self-abusive litany) and GENTLY interrupt and correct yourself:
Instead of: “I can’t believe I’m behind on submitting my chapter to my thesis advisor. Whatever made me think I was a scholar? I’m just a fraud. I haven’t written anything in two months—and what I wrote before that is crap. And look at Mary—she’s a real scholar. She’s already submitted five chapters, and hers are all great. I’m just lazy, that’s all.”
The CO person thinks (and maybe journals, for extra impact and clarity): “Okay, let’s calm down. I actually have done some writing in the last two months. It wasn’t very much, and honestly it wasn’t very good, but there’s a big difference between that and not writing anything. The big problem is that I’ve been stuck on my analysis ... I guess I’ll submit what I have to my advisor so he at least knows I’m working. And I’ll talk to him and my other mentors about the analysis. As for Mary, well, her partner supports them both, so she gets to stay home and write all day. I still have my teaching job and we also have the kids—and if I can get three hours in of writing a day, I’m lucky. I guess I’ll talk to my partner to see if I can cut down on my work hours for a while, and also to see if he’ll do more of the housework and childcare. But mostly, I’ll stop comparing myself to her because when I do it drives me crazy.”
    Note how in the CO response the writer isn’t letting herself off the hook: she admits that her writing hasn’t been very good. It is possible to acknowledge mistakes without taking on a mantle of shame—and you must absolutely learn to do so. Notice also how a shame-free examination of the causes of her underproductivity enables her to easily problem-solve.
    Here’s another example of substituting CO for perfectionism:
Instead of: “Even though I’m sick, I should still be able carry out my normal schedule and commitments, including writing. I’m not that sick, anyway: I’m just using a few sniffles as an excuse for being lazy.” (A formulation that is not only self-contradictory—are you sick or not sick, which is it?—but will lead to a poor workday, resentment, a lingering illness, and perhaps infecting others.)
The CO person thinks: “I’m sick, and I’m going to spend the day focused on getting better. I’m going back to bed and will take some Vitamin C. Oh, and there’s no food in the house, so I will call Frank and ask him to bring me some.”
    And a third example:
Instead of (after dropping a dish): “Oh, what a klutz I am.”
The CO person thinks: “Oh well, I dropped a dish. It’s no big deal—I’ll just be more careful in the future.” (Practicing CO in other areas of your life