You just never know… I mean I never imagined when I put a video on YouTube about this time last year that it would get so many views! So far over 2,400. Woohoo!!

I initially did it as a test – to see whether I could create a half decent video and get it up on YouTube. And I must confess it took me a couple of goes and the help of a friend, but I did it.

At first, I would login and look at the statistics and then over time I forgot about it. Like all things, life moves on and although I had good intentions to make another video – well you know what happens…

Then, the other week I was looking through my Google accounts and on impulse logged into YouTube to have a quick look. Imagine my surprise and absolute delight when I saw the numbers and the fact that people had bothered to rate and refer it.

I must admit it’s motivated me to do another one, I’m not sure about the topic but when I’ve done it I’ll let you know. I’m learning that if you don’t ‘toot your own horn’ then nobody will. Firstly because they don’t know about it, and secondly if you’re not interested in celebrating your achievements why would they?

What does all this mean? To me I’ve learnt three key lessons:

Be bold and give it a go

You never know unless you try. It’s an old adage and frequently cited and it is very true. We (take that as an I) worry about what people will think, what happens if no-one likes it, think to myself if only I didn’t stutter here or stumble there.

So what? What is the worse that could happen? And is that a bad thing? Doing anything creative always has an element of risk about it. It’s what you learn from it that counts. It’s the picking yourself up, dusting yourself off and moving on to the next creative endeavour that counts.

It’s not usually personal

None of us are the same. We think and feel differently. So how we interpret what’s before us is very much a personal thing.  It’s our life experiences and how we are feeling at that moment in time that colours our thoughts.

If I’m having a bad hair day or had a disagreement with someone, chances are I’m going to look at something with a more critical eye than if I was in a happy and generous mood. And so any comments, ratings or leaving before the finish is more about the person who is viewing than you.

I learnt this lesson from my video being used as a class exercise to comment on and give thoughts on the content. Once I realised it wasn’t personal (I mean get over yourself Jan), I was able to enjoy the fact someone thought enough of it to use it in a class lesson.

You just need to remind yourself of this when you start to tie yourself in knots about it.

It’s OK to be yourself

In fact it’s better than OK, it’s a must. Trying to be who you think others want you to be is hard work. And if you’re anything like me (basically lazy), it’s much easier to be yourself. It’s more fun and the rewards, I think, are greater.

Creativity is about you. Who you are, what you feel and think. How you see things. And that’s what brings colour into both our own and others lives.

What now? I don’t know about you but I’m going to continue to be bold and give whatever takes my fancy a go,  not worry about what other people think and most importantly of all, be myself.

If you’re interest and have a spare 9 or so minutes (lesson learnt – make the video shorter,  4-5 minutes seems to be best) click here to view the YouTube video. It’s called the ‘Seven Key Skills of Facilitation’ and I originally did it for my Team Coaching website www.simplesynergy.com.au

photo credit: Jonathan Shield

When Olympic athletes go out onto the field, it’s the culmination of many years of hard work, endurance, dreaming, and working to build up the appropriate muscles to win at the chosen sport.

Those who want to succeed at creative writing will need the same dedication, persistence, and hard work. Athletes always stretch and warm up the physical muscles before attempting to win the race, throw the javelin, or complete the highest jump in the world.

You too, can stretch and warm up your brain in order to encourage the creative juices to start flowing.

There are many ways you can stretch your skills as a creative writer. You can practice your craft, accept new challenges, give yourself time to dream, put in the hard yards, persist even when it is difficult, create games that stretch your creativity, create unnecessary or ‘fun’ writing, and work to perfect your trade skills. All of these activities will encourage your creativity and will help you to stretch your creative habits to become a better writer.

Here are some of my favourite ways to stretch and warm up my mental muscles, before I sit down to write:

• Complete some physical exercise. This gets the body and mind energised because of the increased blood flow and circulation to the brain.

• Find a new word in the dictionary and practice using it in three different sentences. This helps to get my mind focused on the art of writing, and gives me a quick warm up activity that also increases my vocabulary.

• Read an interesting article in a newspaper or magazine and spend a few minutes thinking about I would have written a similar article.

• Play a word game that gets me thinking about how words go together.

• Write something just for fun. For example, a writer friend and I are currently writing a short story, one paragraph at a time. She writes a paragraph and sends it to me, and then I write one. Joining a writing group and doing similar activities can be a great way to flex and warm up your mental muscles. It also makes you remember that writing is meant to be a fun, creative activity.

Besides stretching to warm up before sitting down to write, I also like to stretch my creative habits in general by:

• Being willing to accept new challenges from clients, by writing on topics I either don’t know much about or may find difficult to write about.  Accepting challenges helps to develop writing skills in different ways and stretches your ability, so that next time it is not nearly so difficult. I love to work to improve as a writer.

• Work to develop my writing skills, by constant proofreading, checking, and editing. Finding a variety of synonyms to use, so that the same words are not used every paragraph can develop my writing skills. I challenge myself to make every piece of writing interesting for the intended audience.

• Spend time practicing the art of creative writing. Although you may not quite forget how to ride a bike, you find you are able to ride further, quicker, and enjoy it more when you ride regularly. The same thing happens with creative writers, the more you write, the better you get at perfecting your craft.

There are so many ways to stretch and expand your writing abilities and your skill in tapping into the creative aspect of writing. See what ideas work best for you, and then work to stretch your creative habits. Enjoy your creative writing!

This is the last article in the CREATIVE HABITS series, as we have explored S=Stretch Yourself.  I hope you have enjoyed it and been able to use some of my tips in your infopreneurial and writing endeavours.

I’m not sure what I’ll be writing about next – I might just write randomly about my thoughts and experiences as I continue down the creativity path. A bit like a cork bobbing about in the water letting the currents take me on some exciting new adventure. Or maybe not. You’ll just have to stayed tuned….

Be Interested: Be Creative

Are you sick of sitting in front of a blank computer screen, waiting for inspiration to hit? Want some fresh ideas, and to tap into a greater level of creativity than you’ve reached before? Want to get those creative juices flowing?

If the answer is a resounding yes to all these questions, read on!

One of the best things you can do when looking for artistic inspiration in your writing is to delve into the depths of your personal experience and write about what you know. However, no one author can have the time to personally experience everything in the world. That’s why good writers will seek to broaden their horizons by developing interest in many different things and people.

No two individuals have exactly the same experiences, thoughts, feelings and ideas, which means that the study of people is endlessly fascinating. Whenever you engage in conservation with another human being, you are opening your mind to receiving new ideas and sharing in their experiences. This means you have a greater depth of knowledge available to you when you need to write.

Develop relationships with as many different people as you can to open your mind to new ideas leading to increased inspiration. You can even use online chat groups and writers’ forums to get to know other writers overseas, and gain international perspectives on the creative process that drives authors to write creatively.

Whenever you meet someone new show more interest in them than in talking about yourself. Strive to encourage your new acquaintance to share their ideas and experiences with yourself by asking questions and leading to dynamic conversation. Don’t just limit yourself to chatting about the weather. Allow yourself to discover the wonder of the individual in front of you and what experience defines them as a person by being interested in them.

Don’t just sit there and stress about a mental blank, start talking online or get out and about and relate to people to free your mind and start the creative juices flowing again.

If you are struggling for inspiration and are missing your creative genius, try visiting a local café and watch the people in the street passing by. Listen to conversations and allow your mind to wander as it processes ideas that are generating by being interested in what is going on around you.

I’ve watched the barista pour the coffee, and started to think about how strange it is that we have people trained just to make coffee in our specialised, industrial world and suddenly I found that inspiration had struck and my writing was back on track after my coffee.

Be observant and notice the little details in how people relate to each other and their environment around them. Sometimes just sitting on a crowded bus or train and watching others will generate new ideas and creative thoughts. Start dreaming about where they are going, who they will meet, and what they will do, and suddenly your mind is open to your creative muse.

New ideas will help your creative muse, and new ideas come from meeting, discussing, and relating with other people.

Become fascinated by the endless experience of different people and your creativity will certainly increase.

Develop your sense of curiosity and start to think about the objects around you. Thinking about who made them, why and how will encourage thoughts to start to flow again in your mind.

Be interested in people around you, people you can contact through the wonder of the world wide web, and the variety of things and man-made objects around you.

Allow your mind to tap into creativity by developing your sense of curiosity about everything and everyone you meet and your creative writing will be amazingly different.

Well as you may have noticed, I’ve been writing three posts on each topic and this has been the third one for I=Interested not interesting. I hope you have found some ideas to help you stay creative and fresh in your writing.

Next time I’ll be looking at the letter T in HABITS. T is about time and until then…

photo credit: Elsie esq.

Having an open mind about other people and allowing yourself to be interested in the people around you will actually increase your own creativity in writing.

Cultivate an endless fascination for understanding how other people live, think, create, enjoy, laugh, and cry, and you will find you can open your mind to expressing more emotions and can tap into the creative world of writing far easier than before.

Authors of all styles of writing need to tap into their creativity and write from a depth and breadth of experiences. Of course, no single person can personally experience everything in the world, but actively being interested in other people’s experiences can open up worlds of excitement, emotion, and enjoyment that you may not otherwise have known.

Here are some ideas on how to cultivate a real interest in other people and move into dynamic conversations that cover more than the weather or superficial differences between you.

1 – Actively Listen

Most people do not actually listen actively, they are too busy trying to interject their own experiences into the conversation. If you want to open your mind and tap into creativity, learn to listen actively to other people.

Active listening is about focusing your whole attention on what the other person is saying. It’s about thinking about what the person is saying, considering their body language and focusing your thoughts on what is going on in front of you, not worrying about when you get to talk.

2 – Ask Questions

One of the easiest ways of getting to know people is to ask questions.

Generally, people will respond with more in-depth answers if you ask questions that show an interest in what they are saying.

A good trick is to respond with a brief statement of your own experience (so that the other person doesn’t just think they are being interviewed or interrogated), and then follow up with a leading question for more information about the subject. Try something like, “I had a similar experience two years ago and found no-one really understood what was happening. Did you find it difficult to talk to other people about it at the time?”

Whenever you attend a party or a social event try to get into more dynamic conversations than about the weather. Ask people what they do for an occupation, and be interested in the answers.

Don’t just stop at “Oh, you’re a policeman” but continue the conversation with questions about how difficult the job is, the worst arrest they have made, or what it is like to carry a gun or have the social responsibility of the police. Ask about their favorite experience as a child, best holiday, preferred pet, cultural experiences, or how they used to celebrate Christmas, New Year, or birthdays in the past (whatever the party is about!).

3 – Do not Interrupt

You want to learn more about other people, so the less you are talking yourself, the more you will learn. Whenever there is a pause in the conversation, by all means share something about yourself then, and encourage the dynamic conversation to continue. However, interrupting a person will always prevent you getting to know them well.

4 – Keep an Open Mind

One of the most important things you can do is to keep an open mind about other people. Making quick judgments about someone on how they look, or because you think they fit into a stereotype is not conducive to creatively discovering who they really are.

Keep an open mind and allow the possibility of new thoughts and experiences to seep in through your dynamic conversations with others.

Follow these four tips at your next social function, and see if you have more in depth, dynamic and fascinating conversations with people, even if you have known them for years.

Explore the unknown facets of other people and enjoy the benefits of increased creativity in your writing.

Most writers and infopreneurs think of talking as a form of procrastination, something that actually prevents you from sitting down and writing and working.

In one way, this can be true. However, the right sort of talk can actually encourage persistence and build on your creativity in your writing.

If you are looking for motivation to overcome obstacles, or encouragement to keep going, there is nothing better than talking with like-minded individuals.

Joining a writing group, or online forum discussion can be extremely helpful. Whenever you are struggling to write, jump online or arrange to meet someone from your writing group. Sharing what you are feeling and the difficulties can help you to regain perspective about writing.

Like any trade, writing has its ups and downs. It can be difficult to pick yourself from a down when you work by yourself. Human interaction is the key to finding yourself and your motivation when things get tough. Finding like-minded individuals who have similar struggles can help you get through the tough times and regain your focus and concentration.

I’ve had writer friends suggest article ideas when I’ve had a mental blank, or suggest websites that provide mental stimulation that encourage creativity again.

I’ve also had writer friends ask for advice and have enjoyed the benefits of experienced writers who share their own experiences of getting through the depression and frustrations which can be as much of the lot of writers, as can the joys of achievement.

Indulge in a short break from looking at the blank computer screen to send an email to a friend or chat in a writer’s forum, and you will frequently find that you are better equipped to persist through the tough times.

Writers must generally write alone for the best creativity, but that doesn’t mean we have to battle through the hard times alone.

Understanding yourself and how your mind thinks can also help you to persist in hard times. Many sociologists have completed studies on the impact of self-talk and mind chatter. Basically, the general theory is that we believe, enact on, and propagate the same information we send our brains.

If the mind chatter is negative, you will generally struggle and find everything hard. If your self talk is positive, you will generally find the tasks easier. Sometimes it can be as simple as changing the refrain from “I’m having a bad day” to “I can do this”. Think of the children’s story of the Little Red Engine (“I think I can”, “I know I can”, etc).

If you find you are having a difficult day in writing, give yourself a short mental break. You may find exercising beneficial too, as it releases endorphins and the ‘feel good’ hormones.

Come back to your computer refreshed and reinforce every positive message to yourself you can. Break the cycle of negative mind chatter and you will definitely succeed.

The other thing you can do to encourage yourself to be persistent in your writing is to give yourself incentives to work hard on your writing or creativity. Give yourself a mini-challenge of completing a particular task within an hour, and give yourself a small treat as a reward when the task is complete. Share your joys with your writing friends, as well as your struggles, as this will encourage others within your group on tough days too.

Start the right sort of talking to help yourself break free from the doldrums and come into the light of creativity in your writing. You can do this!

My next post is the start of the I in HABITS. Make sure you don’t miss it…

In a way, the very meaning of being persistent is to strive to overcome difficulties, so this post is really debating a moot point.

However, the reality is that when obstacles arise, or when you find it difficult to concentrate, or are lacking your creative muse, it can be very difficult to continue writing.

Here are five things I like to do to encourage and motivate myself to persist during the hard times whether it’s as a writer, creative consultant or infopreneur.

1 – Believe in what you are doing

When it gets hard as a creative writer, like when you haven’t made a sale for a while, or you have a mental block and can’t figure out what to write, or you have suffered a rejection from a publisher, you need to go back to basics and remind yourself why you are writing in the first place. You undertook the work because you believed in yourself, and that hasn’t really changed deep down.

2 – Prioritise your work

I find this an easy way to overcome the mental blocks and encourage myself to continue to persist with my writing. Whenever I get stuck, I make a list of the tasks I want to achieve within a certain time frame. Then I select the most important task to do next. Listing out the jobs on my whiteboard helps too. Often I’ll even put down a time next to each task, and give myself a mini-challenge to complete the task in the allotted time. This helps me to focus and persist with my writing.

3 – Identify the roadblock

If you can identify what the problem is, and why you are having difficulty in pursuing your creative writing, you are one step closer to overcoming the obstacle in your path. One day I found I just couldn’t focus, and after a few minutes of wondering why, I realized I was just very hot and the room was stuffy. I turned on a fan, went and had a cold drink from the kitchen and when I returned to the computer, I found my writing muse again.  Identify whatever is really blocking your road and then work out how to remove the roadblock to your creativity.

4 – Identify what you do NOT need to do

Sometimes as a writer you can have so many different projects or tasks to complete. Having different deadline days for different clients helps me to prioritize what I have to do when, and more importantly, what I do not have to complete that day. This is part of time management and prioritizing, only working on the essential work first.

5 – Forget perfection paralysis

One of the common obstacles writers will face is what I like to call “perfection paralysis”. Sometimes you can spend hours trying to research a particular point, or an hour trying to perfect one single sentence. Instead of spending so long on one point when you are stuck, move on to the next item or task to complete. Come back to it later when your mind is fresh and you can be creative again.

Don’t try to write the perfect article or story first time around. Every writer needs to rework a first draft, before sending it to the client. If you get stuck on a particular sentence or paragraph it often helps if you write the next one anyway. Then you can come back and rephrase the sentence that was troubling you, once you have got back into the flow of writing again.

Being persistent in your creative writing will certainly pay dividends. It is worth struggling through the hard times to make your achievements even sweeter in the end.

B = Be Persistent

Putting the ‘B’ in HABITS in the CREATIVE HABITS series.

If you have had an article, novel, short story, or book rejected by a publisher, don’t worry you are in very good company. Legendary authors like J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, Clive Cussler, Dean Koontz, George Orwell, Enid Blyton and Sylvia Plath all have had work rejected by publishers before going on to become world famous serial best selling authors.

The key to becoming successful as an author and infopreneur is learning how to be persistent.

Creative writers need to be persistent in so many ways.

You need to be persistent in actually doing the hard work of writing. You need to be persistent in crafting your words, and editing or proofreading your own work to improve and reduce errors.

You need to be persistent in aiming for publication of your work when it is completed, and that includes picking yourself up after a rejection letter, and starting the process again. You need to be persistent in believing in yourself, your craft, and your ideas, or you will take every rejection letter to heart.

The payoffs of persistency are high.

If every author stopped writing after the first rejection received, there would be no books in the world. Believing in yourself, and knowing you can write well, will help you to remain encouraged, even in the face of a rejection. The trait of persistency will help you to overcome these obstacles and taste the sweeter nectar of success in the end.

Writers who patiently work at perfecting their craft will enjoy greater success than those who settle for writing mediocrity.

You can dream big, and succeed, if you have the trait of persistency that won’t let you give up when things get tough. Writing is a craft that can be continually developed, as you learn new techniques, words, and tricks of the trade to use in your work. The harder you work at perfecting your skills as a writer, by reviewing and editing your own writing, the more you can drink from the cup of success.

If you give up easily after a rejection, or even constructive criticism, you will not learn from the experience. There is great joy in improving your work, and paying attention to constructive criticism can help you to achieve this. Persistence in striving for continuous improvement will pay off.

Being persistent can actually help you to achieve more writing.

If you want regular clients or customers who will finance your  writing work, you will need to persistently achieve results for them. This means producing the work in the format, time, and word length requested or wanted by them. You need to be persistent in putting in the hard yards to meet your deadlines, if you want to retain your paying clients.

This means that you also need to persistently make a commitment to your writing, and dedicate enough time to practice your art. As you steadily work away at perfecting your craft, you will find the proofreading and editing gets much easier, as the first draft will be closer to the desired final product than when you first started writing. You will also find yourself writing faster, and generating more creative ideas to write about, with practice and persistency.

The payoffs of developing the quality of persistency are high.

It will mean you won’t become dejected if a rejection slip comes your way, you will work faster, and more efficiently, and you will enjoy the crafting of your words. Doggedly working at becoming a successful creative writer is not always easy, but it is worth it in the end.

photo credit: Ashnikov

Successful writers and infopreneurs who acknowledge their skills and achievements will become even more successful in the future.

A big statement, I know. However, acknowledging achievements in any field tends to create a cycle of success, and writing is certainly no different.

Creative writing is a skill, and an art form, and should be acknowledged as such.

Although the majority of the population can string sentences and even paragraphs together, it is a rarer skill to be able to engage the reader’s attention, to allow the reader to delve into the world of imagination, and to imply tone of voice by the words used.

Whenever you find the exact phrase that has been haunting you, it is a real thrill. You get a sense of achievement when you see your work published, or when someone compliments your writing. However, much of the writing world does not have close contact with the people actually reading the work. Some writing in itself is boring, or unimaginative, like ghost writing, but it can pay the bills.

Whatever you write, you should spend some time reviewing, and acknowledging your achievements. This helps you in many ways to become a better writer, creative consultant and infopreneur and to remain motivated and focused for your next writing project.

Success breeds success, and that is why you should celebrate your successes and achievements.

Giving yourself a simple pat on the back, or a small treat for a job well done, can help you to enjoy what you are doing more. Each time you review your writing, and get excited by a turn of phrase, or the way the sentences just flowed, you not only celebrate the art and creativity of writing, you reinforce the skills required for first-rate writing practices.

Celebrating your achievements, no matter how small they are, can really motivate you to continue writing. If you are having a particularly difficult day, and are finding it tricky to concentrate, even writing one page can be an achievement. Give yourself a sign of approbation for the success of that one page, and you may suddenly find the motivation to write a second page.

Success is a wonderful feeling.

Cultivate a sensation of success by rejoicing when you achieve small things, as well as large goals. Enhance your enjoyment of the art of writing by learning how to acknowledge your own achievements. If you meet a client’s deadline, you should feel proud. It was hard work to achieve that, and you will be more likely to put in the hard work to meet deadlines in the future, if you can allow yourself to feel good about meeting this one.

I often find that as a writer and consultant, I move from one project to the next, with little break in between. However, when I do stop to congratulate myself on achieving a project, I find that the next project is easier and tends to flow faster and better. This is because I feel good in myself and confident in my writing ability, and am therefore able to concentrate better.

Create a cycle of success with your creative writing and make time to acknowledge and celebrate your achievements, both large and small. This is something many writers forget to do, waiting only for a publisher’s approval, or a sale to feel good about their work. However, you do have the choice to celebrate and acknowledge your achievements every day.

Try it, and see if it leads to greater success as an author.

In my next post, I’ll be tackling B in HABITS. B represents ‘Be persistent’ which can be hard to be at times. I look forward to chatting with you then.

There are many ways you can acknowledge your writing achievements. This section of CREATIVE HABITS is all about being nice to yourself, and giving yourself encouragement and a  job well done.

It’s  really important as infopreneurs, creative consultants and writers to have ways of celebrating our achievements. It’s often a solitary process, and no-one else will really understand what you went through to create your writing.

Acknowledging your achievements gives you a chance to be grateful for your creative muse, your skills as a writer and creator, and your enjoyment in writing. It also gives you a chance to enjoy a mental break before moving on to the next project.

Depending on the size and length of time of the writing project, you will have different treats or ways of acknowledging your achievement.

photo credit: Life in LDN

Sometimes, it can be as simple as a rewarding cup of tea or coffee, as a break. I often will do this when I am on a deadline. I tell myself, “I’ll have that cuppa I’m craving, after I finish the first article of the day!” That way, it becomes a reward for hard work, rather than a way of procrastinating and putting off the work of writing.

If I have sold many articles or other infopreneurial products recently, I’ll buy myself a treat like a massage, pedicure, or a new item of clothing. If you put just 5 or ten per cent of your earnings aside for fun money, it won’t take long to earn a new shirt, or enough to pay for a lovely dinner out.  It’s a great idea to put a proportion of your writing earnings aside to give yourself treats and acknowledgement of your achievements.

After writing for several hours in a day, you may like to acknowledge your productivity by going for a refreshing walk outside. This is especially good on a lovely day, and will refresh your body and mind for more writing later.

Giving yourself mini treats and breaks along the way, will make it far easier to reach your goals. It is sometimes difficult to keep your attention focused on the task of writing, especially when you are writing for a large project, like a novel. Set yourself a mini-goal with a reasonable treat at the end of it. For example, you might write three pages in an hour. At the end of the hour, get up from the computer, stretch and get yourself a drink or a piece of fruit.

If you don’t want to eat or drink, at least tick off the work you have achieved and give yourself a five minute mental (and physical break) by walking around or doing another task around the house that is not related to writing. This way, you will come back to the writing project refreshed and will probably be even more productive.

My other favorite way of refreshing my mind and giving myself a treat is to read a bit of my current novel. I am a voracious reader, and love to lose myself in books, so what I do is whenever I finish a major task for the day, or have been writing productively for a while, I’ll give myself 10 to 20 minutes to lose myself in my book.

You will have to find ways of acknowledging your achievements that suit you.

Remember it can serve two purposes; it enables you to stay focused and motivated to continue to achieve your writing goals, and it gives you a well-deserved rest and mental break that refreshes your spirit and excites your creative muse.

Find ways of acknowledging your achievements that accomplishes these dual purposes, and you will continue to succeed as a writer and creative infopreneur!

A = Acknowledge Achievements

We are now up to A in HABITS in the CREATIVE HABITS series. I hope you are continuing to find the posts give you food for thought on how to keep the spark in your creativity as a writer and infopreneur.

Acknowledgement for achievements is what everyone wants. I know an aknowledging  ‘pat on the back’ spurs me on to be more creative and to put more into my writing.

A victory won though, is nothing without someone to share it with or some kind of celebration for the victory.  Infopreneurs and writers, especially those who work from home, will not always have someone around to celebrate milestones with. That’s why we should rejoice in our own achievements as authors.

Giving yourself a simple treat, or a pat on the back, can give you even more encouragement to continue the writing.  Recognizing achievements does two things. It gives you further enjoyment to reach more goals, and it gives you a chance to celebrate and recognie how far you have come.

Especially if you are working on a large project, such as a novel, you should break the task up into smaller sections, so that you can have some celebratory milestones along the way. Reaching a milestone, such as the end of a chapter, is an achievement, and should be acknowledged. Obviously, the publisher is only going to want to celebrate when the entire book is finished, but there is no reason why you can’t go and have a piece of your favorite cake at your local café to celebrate finishing the chapter.

Acknowledging achievements, even the small ones, can give you the energy and renewed enthusiasm for the whole project. It is worthwhile setting small goals for each day, and giving yourself the treat of acknowledging what you have achieved. Personally, I love to do lists. On days when I have a lot of writing to achieve, I’ll break it up into smaller tasks, each article, group of pages, chapter, or research section goes on my to do list, usually on my whiteboard.

Then, as I achieve each item, I either cross it off or rub the task off the whiteboard. I might tell myself that at the end of two tasks, I’ll treat myself to a coffee, a piece of fruit, or a break for a short time. This not only helps keep me focused and motivated to achieve each task, but helps me to remember to celebrate my achievements.

When you finish a large project, such as a novel, make sure your achievement is acknowledged by your whole family. Take the time out to go out for a special dinner, or even a large treat like a night in a hotel or a holiday, depending on the size of the project. If the project has taken you 18 months to achieve, a little piece of cake won’t feel like a celebration.

Celebrating achievements, even throughout the working day, gives you a mental break.  Often we don’t take time to celebrate because we are so focused on the next task, the next page, the next chapter. But taking just a couple of minutes to acknowledge an achievement can help you focus better on the next task, giving you time to breath and not rush from task to task.

Be nice to yourself as an author, and acknowledge your own achievements. Celebrate your creative art, your work, and your life to be happier and content with what you are doing. Acknowledging your achievements is important, and gives you many mental benefits. So what are you waiting for? Achieve a goal today and celebrate it accordingly!