As a kid, I used to have this recurring nightmare.
In this nightmare I’m alone in a car.
The car’s windows are rolled up and the doors are locked. I’m trapped. And this car is racing down the highway, recklessly weaving in and out of traffic, with no way for me to control it, slow it down, or escape.
It was an awful nightmare.
The scariest part was the feeling that I had no control over what was happening.
I haven’t had that nightmare in years. But, for a long time I struggled with the stress and anxiety of feeling like I had no control over my life.
I was like a kid trapped in a runaway car; a passenger at the mercy of the economy, my boss, my limited skills, and other external forces.
That is no way to live.
For one thing, it sucks. (And if you’ve ever dealt with anxiety or feelings of powerlessness then you know what I’m talking about.)
For another thing, it cripples your potential.
When you’re living in a fearful, reactive, and scarcity-mindset state, there’s a very low ceiling on what you can experience and accomplish professionally, personally, financially, relationally -- in all dimensions of your life.
You’re stuffing yourself into a small, cramped box.
So why I am I writing you about this?
Because in my experience, we writers often struggle mightily with feelings of anxiety and powerlessness.
We wonder and worry about things like:
- My writing is hot garbage and I should just quit…
- How am I going to earn enough from my writing to support a family/pay the bills/restock my cupboard with Top Ramen…
- I’m too scared to cold call/cold email clients, or…
- I’m too scared to fire this client even though we're a bad fit…
And so on until your gut is a whirlpool of anxiety and indigestion that keeps you awake at night, tossing and turning in your bed.
That was me for a lot of years.
Fortunately, it’s not me anymore.
Sure, I still get hit with waves of anxiety. (It happened last night as I was falling asleep, in fact.)
But now those waves mostly wash over me instead of carrying me out into an ocean of dread.
What made the difference?
Simple:
I was able to ease my anxiety and reassert control over my life by shifting my focus from outcome goals to process goals.
Here’s an example:
Let’s say you want to earn five thousand bucks a month with your writing business.
That’s an outcome goal.
And the bad thing about outcome goals is that you can’t directly control them. Think about it: you can’t magically make that five thousand bucks appear in your PayPal or bank account.
You have no control over that.
What you do have control over are your processes.
Sticking with our example, you might look at your writing services and determine that every client you partner with is worth $2,500/month to your writing business.
So you’d need to work with two clients per month to hit your financial goal.
You might also determine (based on past experience or research) that for every 100 prospects you contact through outbound efforts (cold emails, cold calling, etc.) approximately five will show interest and one will sign on to work with you.
Based on that, you know you’d need to contact 200 prospects to hit your goal of generating five thousand a month with your writing business.
You know your process.
You control your process.
And if you work your process, the sky’s the limit for what you can accomplish.
Anything you want to accomplish -- building a profitable (or more profitable) writing business, publishing a book, doubling traffic to your blog, whatever -- all of that has already been done by other people.
Find these people.
Reverse engineer their processes.
Apply those processes to your own life.
Tweak, test, monitor, and revise your processes based on the results they’re generating.
Do that and not only will you feel more (much more) in control of your life, but you’ll also achieve success on a scale that you can scarcely dream of today.
Stay hungry and keep hustling,
--Paul
P.S. -- Have you ever dreamed of writing a book? Who hasn’t, right?
That’s why I invite you to listen to my chat with writing coach and best-selling author Honoree Corder:
>> Honoree Corder on why you must write a book (click to listen)
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