Why “I Want To Be A Writer” is a miserable excuse for an adult goal

“I want to be a writer.” THAT was a miserable excuse for an adult goal!

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With your indulgence, I will continue “pressure testing” the “Fractal” I’ve built for Jason. That’s: Three Centers (Body, Emotions, Mind)

Three Gates (True, Kind, Useful) and

Three Questions (What, Why, How)

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Want to focus in on the Questions. I believe they represent the largest “hole” in Jason’s thinking. Specifically a deconstruction of “Executive Focus” if you say that “knowing how to do something includes the ability to get yourself to do it.”

Get that? Its not just having a map and a car to Disneyland, but being able to motivate yourself to save up the money to go, organize the outing, and actually get in the car and drive. Otherwise, no…you don’t know how to get to Disneyland.

This is what Jason needs: not just to have an academic understanding of how to do something, but how to schedule it, break it down into component parts, maintain his motivation over weeks or years, convince potential partners to help him…and so forth.

It was interesting to realize that most of the structures I’ve created are “How” stuff. But the WHAT is the first step, and the WHY comes next. The RPM (Rapid planning, Purpose Driven, Massive action plan) is just excellent, and is a much less “intuitive” form of MAGIC.

M.A.G.I.C. is in essence a “how” that has to do with CREATING LUCK. More recognizing and being ready to take advantage of opportunity, as well as actually increasing synchronicity.

So as I try to grapple with these things, let’s look at the implications. MAGIC came from my interpretation of a book that I read when desperate for a way out of a trap. And it basically said that you need EACH of the following, or “luck” is out the window. You need a

Map or Model. What is your plan for success? And who did you get it from and base it on? If you don’t ground it in the success of others who have walked the path…you are in trouble.

Action. What is your daily action to increase your 1% weekly standard? What are you doing TODAY that fits into a WEEKLY plan that fits into a MONTHLY plan that fits into a YEARLY plan that fits into a LIFE plan? See the fractal there? When you know that a “perfect day” is another link in the chain to a “perfect life” you’ve got it. And it is better to fail on a daily level, where you can make rapid changes as you learn, than wait for New Years and say “oops” when you realize you’ve broken promises to yourself.

Gratitude. If you DELIBERATELY generate the emotion of gratitude daily, you have already won the game before you start, for two reasons: positive emotions lead to positive actions that maximize the odds of results…and all anyone really wants anyway is to feel good. Once you figure out how to strive for your goals WHILE feeling good, you’ve got the secret of winning every single day.

Intention. AH. This is a place where “MAGIC” connects with the “Questions” elegantly. This is the WHAT of your process. And you need to have this CLEARLY. Most don’t. When you ask most people what they want, they will NOT state it clearly and objectively. I rememeber my writing career. I was selling NOTHING. And I realized my goal was “to be a writer.” Oops…I had my goal. It had just been a stupid goal.

A little better was “I want to be a PUBLISHED writer.” That fixes it, right? Nope. I was published in magazines that paid in contributer’s copies. Arrgh. O.K., let’s try again…

I want to be a PAID writer. And I was…getting 1/5 of a cent per word. Damn! See how this works?

I want to make a LIVING as a writer. And I did…just barely. Squeaking from month to month.

It wasn’t until I actually said how much money I wanted to earn from my writing per year that I’d say I really had an ADULT goal. And if my ADULT isn’t functional, my “child” is at risk.

The last letter of the MAGIC formula is “Courage” or “Conviction.” You have to BELIEVE that you CAN and SHOULD take these actions. That they will bring more pleasure than pain into your life. Why? Because if you don’t’ believe that, it will be IMPOSSIBLE to sustain action over time.

M.A.G.I.C.

“What”

The “What” needs to be carefully defined, and the acronym S.M.A.R.T. works for millions of people — it will work for you, too.

Specific. Preferably “photographable”.

Measurable. What gets measured gets managed. The less vague, the easier to achieve.

Action-Based. A goal that suggests basic actions on your part. You aren’t sitting on your thumbs.

Reality-Based. Someone else has achieved it, or something close enough. Before a light bulb has been invented, there were no “inventers of light bulbs” to model. But there were inventers of many other things. Study them and see what they did in common. A healthy attitude is: if anyone has ever accomplished what you desire starting where you started…so can you. And frankly, there is ALWAYS someone who has done better with less. None of us are the sharpest tool in the shed, and if you feel you need to be, that’s sheer fear and ego talking. And they will kill your dreams.

Time-Bound. Goals are dreams with deadlines.

Anytime I post anything about success relating to focus, work, whatever, someone will say: “well yeah, if you’re lucky.” In other words, they are blaming their own lack of success on “luck.”

To which I’d say…ok. If you have all five steps of the MAGIC formula in play, THEN you can rationally complain about “lack of luck.” Otherwise, you simply aren’t fully in the game. You are watching others play.

So looking at the MAGIC formula…yes, it connects to the WHAT of the “Three Questions” very nicely, and frankly, you can use it, and the SMART goals thingie to look at any aspect of your life (the Three Centers) and immediately see if you are really bringing your “A” game, or if you are just letting self-pity stop you from walking a path in alignment with your goals and values.

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So if Jason wants money? Here are questions that would immediately crop up:

1) How much?

2) By when?

3) Why does he want it?

4) What does he propose to offer the world in exchange for it?

5) How will he find he people who need his product or service?

6) Does he need to invest time refining his skills? Is he in the top 20% of his field?

7) How will he convince people what their money is better off in HIS pocket?

Are his goals and intentions in balance with the Three Centers?

9) Are they in balance with the Three Gates?

10) Has he fully applied the Three Questions?

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I honestly don’t know if the “Fractal” covers everything, or would unfold to cover everything, or works as well in states of emergency. And some aspects of life, the Spiritual, for instance, are not directly addressed. That is because it is so difficult to measure, and so easy to get lost: I’ve known countless “spiritual” people who claimed they didn’t care about money, or the physical realm, but then complain about poverty or body aches. They are lying to themselves, to avoid the fear of simply engaging with the material world BEFORE they take that leap for the spiritual. I will never forget what Sri Chinmoy said: you can awaken your Kundalini from the heart out, or the body up, but NEVER from the head down.

Handle your worldly issues, in balance, and spirit will evolve naturally. Handle fear, and the heart opens. When you have handled survival issues, and come from love, you naturally expand your sense of self to include others (in fact, you can use this as a diagnostic: people who do NOT expand their sense of self to include others are trapped in survival fear. Love them, but count your silverware.)

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Anyway..that’s just emptying myself out this morning. And answering readers who want to talk about luck. First show me MAGIC. Then we’ll talk about “luck.”

Namaste

Steve

(Come to our ONLY screenwriting workshop for 2023! Partial scholarships are available. Sept 23, live on ZOOM! Three hours of magic. www.hollywoodloophole.com)