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Key #1: Decide On A Specific Writing Goal · The Daily Writer

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey my friend, welcome to the Daily Writer, where we help writers become authors of their own lives.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to build a consistent writing habit, I want you to consider a really important question, which is what are you actually trying to accomplish?
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  SPEAKER_00: The reason that this question is so important is that a writing habit is not the goal itself.
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  SPEAKER_00: Rather, a writing habit is a means to an end.
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  SPEAKER_00: The habit is just a structure that helps you accomplish something bigger.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's why the first key to building a writing habit is to decide on a specific goal that's meaningful to you.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now, what is that goal?
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  SPEAKER_00: It could be a variety of things.
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  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you want to write the first draft of a book or publish a weekly email newsletter.
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  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's finishing a poetry collection or writing a series of articles or starting to build a body of work that you can eventually publish.
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  SPEAKER_00: Whatever your goal is, it needs to matter enough to you that the daily work feels worth it.
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  SPEAKER_00: Stephen Pressfield, in his excellent book, The War of Art, one of my favorites, describes what happens when we get to work.
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  SPEAKER_00: He says, The muse takes note of our dedication.
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  SPEAKER_00: She approves.
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  SPEAKER_00: We have earned favor in her sight.
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  SPEAKER_00: When we sit down and work, we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings.
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  SPEAKER_00: Every time you sit down to write, you're collecting a few more of those iron filings, and eventually they grow into a finished project.
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  SPEAKER_00: But you have to know what you're building first.
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  SPEAKER_00: So here's my challenge for you today.
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  SPEAKER_00: Grab a notepad and answer two very simple questions.
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  SPEAKER_00: Number one, what is my most important writing goal right now?
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  SPEAKER_00: And number two, what will it look like when that project is finished?
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  SPEAKER_00: And be as specific as you can when answering those questions.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: When you know what you're working toward and when you know what you're building, it's a lot easier to create a habit that'll help you get there.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, thanks for listening.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Keep writing, keep showing up, and I'll see you tomorrow.