Thursday, September 5, 2013

Losing Motivation? Write Yourself Fan Mail. Really.


Sometimes we’re lacking the motivation to meet a deadline and put the finishing touches on the project, crushed by the potential of failing. Even worse, we release work we know isn’t our best. Bestselling author and internet marketer Seth Godin writes about the remedy to this problem: Will your book get a great testimonial? Write it out. Will your talk move someone in the audience to change and to let you know about it? What did they say? Will this new product gain shelf space at the local market? Take a picture. Writing yourself fan mail in advance and picturing the change you’ve announced you’re trying to make is an effective way to push yourself to build something that actually generates that action. One reason this is difficult is that we’ve got a false humility that pushes us to avoid it. The other is that when we’re confronted with this possible success, we have to confront the fact that our current plan just isn’t that good (yet), that this site or that menu item really isn’t as good as we need it to be. If you expect rejection, it’s a lot easier to ship lousy stuff. Said that way, it’s clear that this is a ridiculous strategy. Better to make it great now rather than mourn failure later. Prepare for the possibility failure and rejection, but don’t expect it. Writing this “fan mail” out will help you envision what success will look and feel like, and will motivate you to put more into your art.

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