Goals: On Setting the Bar Low
By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
I mentioned a couple of months ago that I’d been going to physical therapy since July for a back issue I’d been having (from sitting. Don’t believe that writing isn’t dangerous).
I’ve been an extremely good patient, if I do say so myself. I’ve done my daily stretches and other exercises. I attended all of my PT appointments.
The only time I balked was early last month when my physical therapist asked me to start going to the gym to use the weight machines. As soon as Carol finished her sentence, I was ready with excuses. I have no time. I’m on a deadline. I don’t enjoy being around large groups of people. I don’t enjoy exercising. I don’t understand the exercise machines. I’m a clumsy person. I don’t have an appropriate workout wardrobe.
Carol, to her credit, steadily watched and listened as I explained my obstacles. Then she asked, “Do you have a gym membership?”
“Yes,” I answered miserably.
“The staff will be happy to explain how the machines work,” she said.
“I know they will. I have to ask them every time I go in there,” I admitted. “I can’t ever seem to get the knack of it.”
And here was the key: “Elizabeth, I only want you to go one day a week. For twenty minutes.”
Oh, the relief. I’d thought she was going to ask me to go three days a week. Surely I could manage one day, even on a busy week. And twenty minutes wasn’t very long.
So I took my husband with me and he showed me how to use the weight machines again. I took pictures of the machines that my therapist had asked me to use. My husband took pictures of me using them so that I could remember how to correctly exercise. I made a small investment in some workout clothes and tennis shoes since my casual clothes were really just for yard work.
And I found that by setting the bar really low, I did go to the gym once a week. I discovered that doing the exercises only took 15 minutes, not even the 20 that Carol indicated. The exercises helped my back so much that I started going twice a week (most weeks). I still didn’t like it. I still didn’t want to drive over there, wait for the machines, deal with crowds, or exercise. But I liked the results.
Whenever I’m asked in any kind of interview or panel what advice I have for new writers, I say “set the bar low.” If I’m at a panel, this makes the audience laugh. But I’m not going for laughs, I’m totally serious.
Set a completely accessible goal. I’ve set a temporary one as low as 5 minutes a day before when life escalated out of control on the busy scale. You can do more in 5 minutes than you think…especially if you make a note at the end of each session explaining where you left off and what you want to accomplish for the next session. The point is that you’re setting aside time for your story. You’re keeping a habit. In many ways I think the habit becomes more important than the word count. I read an interesting post on the importance of the writing habit a couple of years ago on writer Karen Woodward’s blog: “How To Write Every Day: Jerry Seinfeld And The Chain Method.” This is a method where you self-motivate by marking an X on the calendar for each day you meet your goal.
In the past several years, I’ve found that 3 double-spaced pages was workable. But my writing goal originally started out as a page a day back when I had a toddler in the house and only about 15 minutes to write.
Whatever we put down on paper can be fixed later. A series of “wins” where we meet daily goals can motivate us to continue our writing habit.
It may be difficult to find that time. We may not like it. But we’ll like the results.
How do you stay motivated to write? What’s been your approach to developing a writing habit?
Image: MorgueFile: Madlyn
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