The One Who Wins Against Nine Others

Let’s suppose you go to a party. You’re all dressed up, and you wear a new dress, a new hairstyle, a pair of new shoes, whatever it may be, something that you’re proud of. And in fact, nine people and that party give you compliments about it. Makes you feel good, right?

But there is one person who says something like, “What is it with your shoes?”. That person may not even say something negative. But the reaction is not as positive as from the others. Or maybe there is even one person who doesn’t like your shoes at all and comments about it.

What, do you think, are you going to remember most from that party? The nine people that complimented you or the one person that said something negative?

Applied to writing:

Let’s suppose in your writing session you can solve 9 out of 10 problems but you find one new problem. What is your take away going to be? Are you going to be proud because you solve nine problems or are you going to be worried because you found one problem?

The mind has a tendency to keep us occupied with things that most of us would consider negative. That doesn’t even mean that there is a real problem. It only means that the mind extrapolates into the future and creates an imaginative problem. And the more attention you give that imaginary problem, the bigger it gets.

But if you practice to focus on the positive things, if you bring your attention to all the things you already have accomplished, it’s much easier to imagine oneself accomplishing future “problems” too.

Stay creative by focusing on the positive: