Latest / The Daily Writer / Are You Pushing These 3 Boundaries as a Writer?

Transcript

Are You Pushing These 3 Boundaries as a Writer? · The Daily Writer

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: As artists and generally as human beings, it's easy for us to settle into a routine that's really comfortable.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: But our growth as artists doesn't come from comfort, rather it comes from discomfort.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: On this episode, I want to help you think through three boundaries you should be pushing as a writer and as an artist in general.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: These are well beyond our comfort zone, but this growth is necessary if we want to begin reaching our full creative potential.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Hey friends, welcome to the Born to Create podcast.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Kent Sanders and I'm an author and professor.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: This is the show where we explore the mindset, habits, and principles to help you make a bigger impact in your life and creative work.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: In the year 2008, I almost got a Warner Brothers employee fired.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: One day a friend of mine from church called.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: He said a friend of his, John, had a daughter whose name was Becky, who worked for Warner Brothers.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now, John and Becky are not their real names, just FYI.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Becky organized movie screenings for theater reps and asked her father if he knew anybody who might like to see the movie Speed Racer before it was released into theaters.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: So John invited my friend, who in turn invited me.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: So just to be clear, John is the father, Becky is the daughter who worked for Warner Brothers, and then I had my friend who I went with.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: On the day of the movie screening, my friend and I met Becky at a local theater that was part of a regional chain.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: We were escorted through a back door and led through a long hallway that was showcasing all kinds of Hollywood memorabilia.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I was in movie heaven, movie posters, knick-nacks, statues, all kinds of cool stuff.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Becky took us back to a screening room that seated around fifty people.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: And aside from my friend and me, there were only a couple of other people in the room.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: They had notepads, so I assumed they were movie critics.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Becky made sure that we didn't have any recording devices and off she went.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't see her again.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: So when the movie was over, it dawned on me that movie websites sometimes posted anonymous reviews from fans who had seen movies early.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: And this was my first chance to scoop something, quote unquote, so I wrote up a detailed report of my movie screening experience and I sent it to a popular movie news website where it was posted almost immediately.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: The next day, I received a frantic call from my friend at church.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: He said, Hey, I just wanted to let you know that John is furious with you.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Some people at Warner Brothers saw your movie review, and Becky is in big trouble.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: She might get fired.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I was totally confused and didn't understand what the problem was.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Then my friend explained that we were not supposed to talk about the movie or write about it because movie studios want to control when those reviews go public.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: The thing is, big tent pole movies often have reviews embargoed until a week or two before the movie's release.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: So when I wrote my movie review, I went into great detail about the theater that we visited, so it was really easy for the studio to track down the employee who had arranged that movie screening.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I felt horrible for the trouble that I caused, so I shot off a frantic email to the people at the movie website asking for my review to be taken down.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: They complied with my request and as far as I know, Becky was able to keep her job.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Needless to say, Becky never invited me back for another movie screening.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I didn't realize it at the time, but I had crossed a boundary as a writer.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: I had good intentions, but my ignorance about the movie review system almost cost somebody her job.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, things like this make us want to play it safe as writers and artists, and it makes us want to stay well within the boundaries that we feel like that we should stay within.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: But the trick is knowing which boundaries to push and which boundaries not to push.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Some boundaries are made to stay in place.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: They exist for our protection.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: When we push against those boundaries, like ethics or honesty, we suffer the consequences and we end up hurting other people.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: On the flip side, though, other boundaries are made to be expanded.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: We should push against them if we want to grow in our creativity, our influence, and our impact.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: So on this episode, I want to talk about three boundaries that we should be pushing as writers and as artists.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Number one is the boundary of quantity.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: As a college professor, I assign a lot of writing in my courses.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Whether it's reflection papers, research papers, or other written type of projects, students almost always perceive the amount of writing as quote unquote a lot.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: So it could be two or three pages or it could be a hundred pages.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter what it is, students are going to perceive it as a lot of writing.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we all have a certain perception of what constitutes a lot of writing.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: In my experience, writing doesn't actually take that long once you have an outline.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: You can easily write a draft of a thousand word blog post in an hour if you focus and concentrate.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: So whatever you're currently producing, whatever amount of art that you're currently creating, I bet that you can do more.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: If you're not currently writing anything, maybe shoot for 500 words a week.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: If you're writing five hundred words a week, shoot for a thousand words a week.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Then consider having a daily word count of five hundred or maybe even a thousand words.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: I currently write about five hundred words a day and I'm currently working toward a thousand words a day.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, in the end, the actual amount is not that important.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's all about the consistency that will produce results over time.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: So whatever amount that you create, whether it's some type of art or music or writing, I bet that you can increase that quantity of work.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: The second boundary that we should be pushing is the boundary of transparency.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Today in our internet age, we see all kinds of people who share too much about their personal lives, but we can also go to the other extreme of never sharing anything that other people might mistake for a weakness or a vulnerability.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's a balance here.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: On the one hand, we want to be perceived as an authority on our topic, but on the other hand, people want to relate to a real human being, not just some robot who's cranking out content.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I really feel strongly about this, that the more open and honest I am, the more people relate to me as a person.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: When I share personal things from my life, I try to make sure it's in the service of helping someone else.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: For example, I've written very publicly about my personal struggle with depression.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you just search my blog for depression, you'll find several posts dealing with that in a very personal and authentic way.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: But I did that not to just talk about myself.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: I did it for the purpose of trying to help other people instead of just kind of airing my own personal dirty laundry.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I challenge you also to be more vulnerable and to be transparent in your own writing as you try to help others.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the third boundary is the boundary of community.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: I once heard it said that you will be the same person five years from now, except for the books you read and the people you meet.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want to increase your creativity and your influence, you must include more people in your community who can help you grow.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Now this can take a lot of different forms.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: One form that I participate in every single week is a mastermind group, and I have written on my blog about that.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: You can find the link in the show notes.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: I also chat often with several writer friends who challenge me to be better at my craft.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, just this morning I was texting a good friend of mine about some writing stuff and personal stuff, and we communicate all the time, and that really helps me to be better.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Other places and events such as local meetups, networking events, conferences, and even church can be a great place to meet people who can contribute to your success.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: I recently auditioned and was accepted as a drummer for our church worship team.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: But I wasn't doing it just to play drums, I was doing it so that I could spend more time with the creative leaders in our worship ministry.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: And drums were just kind of my way into that.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I challenge you to consider ways that you can be pushing these three boundaries in your life, which are the quantity of output, transparency, and community.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Growth is hard, I totally get it.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard to expand our boundaries because we like to be comfortable.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: But once again, if we're going to grow, we can't stay within the confines of our comfort zone.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: It hurts to stretch, but when we stretch, when we push those boundaries, that's when we can begin growing to our full potential.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: And the result is totally worth it.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: So my question for you is how are you currently pushing and expanding your boundaries?
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: You can join the conversation and find the post and the links that accompany this episode at KentSanders.net slash boundaries.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Well, friends, that wraps up this episode.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed it, please subscribe and leave a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: You can do that by going to KentSanders.net slash iTunes.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: And also if you enjoyed it, please consider sharing it with a friend or a family member who you think would benefit from it.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: You can find lots more resources to help you unlock your creative potential at KentSanders.net.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, remember that you were born to create and designs to make a difference.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Now go create something awesome.