People dumber than you are seeing success where you aren’t.
I have a friend who is a smart, talented, hard working, conscientious and good person.
She’s one of my favourite people to be around.
I’ve known her for years.
She went to an amazing university, she’s smart.
And what she really wants to be, is a writer.
I, on the other hand, got a 2:2 from the 98th worst university in England.
The other day another friend of mine joked that in the school year photo, it’s an amazing coincidence that they took the school photo on one of the days I actually turned up to school.
I’m not a good writer – but – I write every single day.
90% of my stuff is ignored.
9% is panned and criticised.
1% might be considered good.
I hardly edit my work.
And that 1% is essentially what’s given me the lifestyle I want.
But my friend struggles to write.
She’s basically too close to it.
She studied English and she reads a LOT.
Having said that, I read too.
But I’m not smart enough to know how stupid I am.
So I think “fuck it, I can write”.
What’s holding her back really, is fear of judgement and failure.
Her identity is wrapped up in being a writer.
She’s fallen into the trap of thinking “I have to make sure the first and only thing I do is great, or at least good.”
“Because if I publish something that’s seen as bad, I’ll be seen as bad.”
“My self worth and value as a human being, and my worthiness of love, is tied to the potential accomplishments of what I produce.”
She admits herself that the first thing she wrote, when she read it back, was awful.
That is literally the job.
That’s the point.
The Beatles wrote something like 5000 songs.
Prince wrote a song every day for decades.
Do the thing you want to do every day, even just a little bit.
Do 1000 words.
Do 500 words.
Do it every single day. Just 1%.
And after a year, you’ll suck a little bit less.
And after 10 years, you’ll suck a lot less.
And then you’ll be close to death.
Because you will die.
And trust me, it’s almost impossible to write after you’re dead.
