The past few months in this community have been incredibly successful. Writers are entering writing rooms, aligning with powerful agencies, signing exciting deals and overall Getting More Sh*t Done.
Why is this? I ponder. Because I ponder way to much.
My first pondering led me to believe that it is because we have been cultivating this community very carefully over the years. Not only do I care about you, you care about each other. There's a sense of having people you can turn to.
My second pondering was I have an obsession with helping writers. It's a curse. A plague. A Blessing. But let's just say that sometimes you can catch me way after my uber driver has brought me to my destination trying to unblock him, and get his script written and see if he's ready to join the lab.
But then I realized that over the past year, and more specifically the past six months I have become obsessed with habits and behavior. This past lab in particular we have done a deep dive into what behaviors create success.
The rebels in the group will most likely think something hilarious and contrary about this above statement. To find out which one of the four personality types you can take the quiz here:
I am going to be talking a lot more about habits. For now I will say that this week I had a big aha moment on the habit of "letting go of the finish line". Also known as "there is no there there". It is in Gretchen Rubin's wonderful book:
That she talks about the reward being in the habit itself. So rather then rewarding yourself for finishing- or torturing yourself while writing the draft- trust that the habit you are forming through writing is what matters most.
And give yourself treats for no reason at all.
We think once we reach a goal, or finish a screenplay that we are done. But the truth is we are never done. We are always writers. And we are always ourselves on either side of a goal.
So how kind can you be to yourself, before during and after?