Mental strength and courage are the first things I learned about working as writer for a small weekly newspaper. These two writing skills taught me that I was not near as great or as helpless as I thought. When I first started every submission I turned in seemed to be hacked to death by the editor before he sent the corpse back to me to be revitalized. It was a process that improved me as a writer.
Over time I realized that I already had many of the skills but they just needed time and practice to become more habituated. That realization helped my confidence a lot. Other skills needed some work or had to be learned. One of the key points many newbie writers miss is that writing is a never ending work in progress. Every writer spends a great deal of time learning to write better.
My fears that there was something wrong with me were totally unfounded, just that mental voice going to extremes.
My problems were not cured some mystical voodoo or some magic hack. Most of the solution was either just realizing I what I already had and how to tweak it or that the problem was develop a little more humility so I could learn some skill I did not have and needed to learn. I had to learn to ask for help. This is something that every professional writer knows to do. It’s also one of the many times a writer will need to use their mental strength and courage to help them selves develop as committed writers.
I would not have improved without developing that sense of self-awareness. You have this skill too. A little self awareness with a commitment to write better will help you to push your writing forward. Over time other mental skills will come on line as well.
Mental strength and courage are writing skills
So what are these mental writing skills? There are many but chances are you already have some of these traits to some degree. What is lacking is the understanding of what traits are useful for a writer, why they are so important and, if you happen to think you don’t have them are that they are weak, that you can develop them. No one comes to writing with all the knowledge. In fact we are more often a blank slate than anything else.
This list is only a base line to help you know what mental strengths to look at as you start out. So while this list may not cover absolutely every mental or psychological thing every write could need, it is enough to help any aspiring writer in any writing field build their writer’s confidence. That’s the key here. I want you to gain confidence where it counts, in your head instead of just an acceptance of the word of some teacher or other person. The writer’s important skill is self-confidence. You will need mental strength and courage to face the challenges you will need to over come to gain that self-confidence.
Have a Why
Let’s start with our why. The why is easy. It comes down to our beliefs. What we believe about ourselves is what we are and will do. Becoming aware that we have a given skill or even that we can learn it is often enough to help us make the seemingly giant leaps of faith that a writer needs to do to actually get stuff written and published or on the business side sold to a client. The great thing here is that we choose both our beliefs and our whys.
Have Courage
Courage has never been about being fearless. It is really about overcoming our own innate fears. That’s what marks the courageous soul. We all have it, but for many they don’t’ know they have it. Much like the cowardly lion of the Wizard of Oz, they lack any proof of it in their lives.
My greatest example of courage was a Marine Staff Sergeant I served with. A courageous man in so many way, not the least of which included swimming. All Marines must pass swim qualifications based on their MOS. (military occupation skill) The first thing we are required to do is step off a tall tower to practice abandoning a ship fully clothed. The hitch here for the Staff Sergeant was a serious fear of heights.
How did he deal with this?
Simple. He waited for the rest of us to go through that part so he would not hold anyone up. Then he would ascend to the platform. There he would wait a bit and let himself adjust at every step. At no time did he allow himself to step back. Eventually he made it to the edge. I still remember the determined face as he looked down into the water, directly into his fear, then stepped off. That is courage.
A writer’s lesson on mental strength and courage
Becoming aware of you thinking and emotions is critical to know how you deal with things. This awareness allows us to develop a plan or strategy for dealing with those critical emotions and still attaining our goals.
When working with our fears they may be irrational. They may be rational. But, the committed writer must still face them. The process is simple. Give yourself time to adjust. Take steps forward. Commit to never stepping back or quitting. When you come to any step that freezes you, let yourself adjust. Then step out into the air and let the water catch you.
Have Confidence
Often in life we deal with things that are dangerous like knives in the kitchen or a car on the road. What we don’t do is over think about them. Yet when we first took the family car out on the road we likely were very nervous. We lacked any confidence. A few weeks of driving about with our parents and we lost that fear. One drive test later and the fear disappeared with a driver’s license in our hands.
Writing works the same way. We have to write things and ship them. There are a thousand places along the way that we can slip and fall. These range from the inner critic, who is an idiot that wants only to run away from our greatness to worry over what people will say about our work.
My take on mental strength and courage
Mental strength and courage are what propels us forward. They are what put our butts in the chair to pick up that finished manuscript then drops it in the mail slot or email it. Mental strength and courage are needed to create and promote our portfolio, closes a contract deal, do the work, and then submits it to the client. Of these often it is to ship it. We have this strength and courage. You just have to be aware of this, then commit to using it just one step at a time. Eventually you are going to make it.
Take the slow path with Going Slow Makes Mastery
Photo by Bekir Dönmez on Unsplash