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Transcript

On Being a Finisher · The Daily Writer

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Rider Podcast, where we bring you tips and inspiration each day to help you build habits for writing success.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: For more resources, including your free Daily Rider starter kit, visit DailyRiderLife.com.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Hey my friend, it's just you and me here today, so we can be honest with each other, right?
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if we're going to be honest with each other, let's just admit something right off the bat, which is that it's really scary to start a writing project.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of fear involved with it.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of trepidation, there's a lot of pressure that we put on ourselves.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: All that being said, though, you know what's even scarier than starting a book project?
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: That is finishing a book project.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: To finish means to publish, to put your work out there in the world for other people to potentially judge and critique it.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: And the thought of people judging your work sometimes is just too much for us writers to handle.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: So we accumulate lots of half-finished books and articles and projects and other content that takes up space on a hard drive or in a desk drawer somewhere.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, sometimes we think that being a writer means to be constantly gaining new ideas and exploring creative possibilities.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: And all that's true.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, those things are important, but those ideas and possibilities, they have to live somewhere.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: They need some kind of an outlet.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: You can't always be gaining knowledge and gaining ideas and reading books and gaining wisdom and then not have that be an outlet somewhere.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: So here's a challenge that's going to help you develop confidence and momentum.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: And that is simply to finish something and publish it.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to finish something and be done with it.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Set it out into the world to help readers, no matter how many readers it is or how few readers it is.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: The author Neil Gaiman said, you have to finish things.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's what you learn from.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: You learn by finishing things.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: And man, that is some great advice.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've always seen yourself as a perfectionist who never finishes things, but you can change that perception by taking back control of your writing life and just finishing the darn thing.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Doesn't matter what it is.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's a blog post or could even be a little social media post that you've been thinking about for a while, but you've never actually written and put it out there.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's uh an article, or maybe it's starting a podcast, or maybe it's actually just finishing that book that you've got halfway finished and you've been thinking about it for a long time and feeling guilty, but you just haven't finished it.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: So today I want you to start changing how you see yourself and how you talk to yourself.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Lots of people start, but far fewer people actually finish things.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I want you to be part of that elite group who finishes what you started.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: So here's today's challenge is ask yourself, what do I need to finish?
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: And what steps can I take to move the ball down the field just a little bit today so I can finish this darn thing, get it out there into the world, and feel really, really good about it.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, those are my thoughts for today.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that's helpful to you.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: As always, thanks for listening, and I'll see you next time.