How To Stay in the Desk Chair Saddle

I spent years trying to figure out how to keep my butt in my chair and my hands on the keys (also known as BICHOK). Somehow I finally stumbled on the secret—at least for me. If there's a rule in this crazy writing business, it's that nothing works for everybody. This thing I figured out, it wasn't about tricks and self-discipline. What it is about is motivation—and to get myself motivated I had to do some serious self-searching. It wasn't easy, but it worked for me.

The basis of this self-searching toward motivation starts with some questions:

1. For you, is writing a hobby, a part-time job, a career, something else entirely?

2. Looking at your answer to the above, decide how much time, money, effort you are willing/able to put into writing to make it what you want it to be.

3. Depending on your answer to the above, decide what you want to achieve over the next few weeks, months, years. Set a goal that seems reasonable to you, then add more time to that to leave room for things taking longer than you think they will, and for the inevitable delays.

These questions and answers will change over time, so be sure to reevaluate frequently. Now you know if what you're currently doing is too little—or too much—time, money, effort to get you where you want to be.
Now you have what you need for self-motivation. Look at your goals and what you need to do to reach them. Each day you can evaluate how you're doing and if you need to maybe get your BICHOK going. It's much easier to get yourself going if you have a clear goal of what you want to achieve and the time frame in which you want to achieve it.

Have a happy and successful holiday week!
Cheryel
www.cheryelhutton.com