Mindset is one of the hardest elements of your business to get right. When I reached the end of my first year of self-employment and reviewed the lessons I’d learned, I was shocked to find that half of them were mindset related.

Thinking about it, it makes sense. You have to get your mindset right in order to work through the grueling “day job,” but of your journey. But once you’ve quit, the work on your mindset doesn’t stop because you’ve achieved full-time status. If anything, the opposite is true. Working on your mindset becomes even more important. Vital even.

When you’re going solo, it’s so easy to let the insidious doubt-devil creep into the corners of your mind. It’s a parasite, a persistent virus that will eat you up from the inside out. The only way to combat it is to constantly work on your mindset. A career author knows this.

Carol Dweck is famed for her work on fixed and growth mindset. She explains that a person will have one mindset or the other: fixed or growth. Those with a fixed mindset view intelligence as static. They tend to avoid challenges, give up easily, see putting in the effort as pointless and ignore useful, but critical feedback. The result of this mindset is that many people plateau or fail to achieve their full potential. Another result is that they will often see the world from a deterministic bent.

For an author with a fixed mindset, reading a bad review first thing in the morning could ruin their day and knock them off course. Having a bad sales day could result in them not bothering to write for the rest of the week because, “What’s the point if I can’t sell books anyway?”

A growth mindset then, is the exact opposite. They see intelligence as flexible, something to be grown. They embrace challenges and persist despite the setbacks. They see effort as a mechanism to aid them in their goals, they learn from criticism, and I’m sure you can see where this is going. The result is that they achieve or even overachieve their goals, and they also have a greater sense of free will.

For an author with a growth mindset, reading that same bad review might spur them on to prove the reviewer wrong, or to write a better book next time, or they may just view the reviewer as one person with one opinion. That bad sales day? No bother, they choose to work harder on their ads. They research a new type of ad and examine the ads they have running to see if they can make them more effective.

Having read both of those, I’m sure you recognize which mindset a career author has.

The successful leaders in the world all have growth mindsets, they embrace the challenges life throws at them and happily put in the effort to grow and learn and get better.

No one’s saying this is easy, no one is expecting you to crack this mindset from day one. And I’m certainly not expecting you to have your mindset mastered day in, day out. We all have bad days, it’s okay to have them. And just because you do have it mastered most of the time, that doesn’t mean that a bad review won’t punch you in the feels and knock you off course for a few days. It will, and you’ll have to pull yourself back up again.

Career authors aren’t cyborgs. It’s okay to feel like poop on occasion, and hey, if you need a day to wallow, fill your boots.

What matters is how you pick yourself back up and soldier on. What matters are the choices you make following those setbacks. That’s the difference between having a fixed mindset and a growth mindset; it’s the difference between career authors and amateurs. Career authors might allow themselves a bad day or two, but they don’t let bad reviews take over their lives or stop them from writing. They rebel against the wallowing, they stand up to their fixed mindset, and they fight on.

It’s easy to look at the successful indie authors and think their success came overnight. It didn’t.

Okay, everyone can name the odd lightning flash who wrote a book in a month and earned six figures. But 99% of indies didn’t.

For the rest of the world, they wrote crappy books and edited them, edited them again, and published, published, published. They had bad days, bad reviews, bad launches, and bad series, and they carried on anyway. They faced plot problems, financial difficulties, and a lack of support from loved ones, and guess what? They carried on anyway.

Career authors look at their weaknesses and embrace them, choosing not to be crushed by problems but to seek help, learn more, and improve. Career authors don’t seek approval from others, they prioritize growth and learning instead. They also focus on the process and not the end result. Yes, we want to hold the physical book in our hands, but once you’ve got it, that’s it, the project is over and finishing one book doesn’t create an author career.

The process is your foundation. A solid process that you can repeat enables you to write book after book, and that creates an author career.

This mindset stuff is hard. None of us get it right 100% of the time. Even industry giants like Stephen King and Judy Blume, who are decades into their writing careers, still talk about doubt and the fear of editorial criticism. It’s natural.

But as you face these obstacles, you have a choice. Career authors choose to embrace the criticism, embrace the hard slog of editing, and use it to improve their craft and business. That’s what builds sustainability in your writing business.

Being a career author isn’t easy, and as much as I hate to say it, it will continue to be challenging. But that’s why having a growth mindset is so essential, because when you have one, you carry on despite the obstacles.

The only person in the way of your goals is you.

A career author knows this and gets out of their own way. They choose to have a growth mindset because as much as they know the hard days will come, they also know they’ll fight through them. They see the obstacles, setbacks, and mistakes as lessons learned and opportunities for growth.

Which mindset are you going to choose?

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Lesson 1 – Lonely is Relative

I assumed – having spent eight long years as a corporate rat – that I would be lonely when I left a building filled with 10,000 people every day. I mean, being a writer is tantamount to the same four walls and staring at a blank screen talking to invisible people for a living. If that didn’t get me banged up in an institution, I’d have bagged myself a role in Hollywood’s next horror flick.

But here’s the thing. I’m FAR too busy to get lonely.

• Choose a local coffee shop. Go there and work at least once a week
• Start a new sport (don’t raise that eyebrow at me. Writer’s spread is a real thing, it will mutilate your ass cheeks and cellulite the crap outta your thighs). Ideally start a team sport or at least one where you train with real, squishy humans. I started Tae Kwon Do.

Lesson 2 – Work is Shit, Writing is Fun

If you’re anything like me, you’ve spent a long time in a corporate nightmare dreaming about getting out. You conditioned your brain to hate work because the act of hating it drove you on harder and faster to leave. But here’s the thing. That kinda thinking wires your brain. It cements in a nice thick myelin sheath of a mindset that ‘work is shit.’

So when you finally leave your job and write full-time, as, you know… your JOB… it messes with your head.

I got blocked. HARD. I thought I had to write for others, write what was expected of me. I thought I had to write as a job.

What a load of bollocks. YOU GUYS, I DON’T HAVE A JOB. I tell lies that sound like the truth, and fuck about with words all day long. Don’t tell me that’s a job. It’s playing, it’s fun. It’s living the fucking dream.

It just took me a minute to realize it.

Lesson 3 – Time is Actually Money

This was a helluva revelation.

We’ve all heard old adage ‘time is money’, but I don’t think I (or any of us for that matter) are really aware of what it means until every second counts. When you’re in a day job, if you have an off day, if you go for a coffee, you’re still going to bring home the same paycheck. Not so much when you’re self-employed. Sure, I have some passive income, but I still need to do freelance work until the passive income grows large enough it covers all my bills. Until then, every second my ass is out of the writing seat I’m hemorrhaging money faster than I can but, but, but, my accountant.

What’s the solution?

There are so many ways to skin a cat.

Write hard.

Write faster.

Create multiple streams of income like your life depends on it.

And split your working day. It sounds terrifying, but after six weeks of no words and only working on freelance work, something had to break. So after some extremely valuable advice, I cut my working day in half (even though I’m not sure I can afford to).

Have faith. Let the universe know you believe you can make the money from your words, and the money will come.

Lesson 4 – Decision Fatigue is Real

I understand why Obama went into the White House saying he never wanted to choose clothes or what he was eating. Decision fatigue is a real thing. Trying to choose what to eat has led me to just not eat. I’m quite literally that exhausted by the end of the day. Choosing a uniform for clothes no longer seems like a silly idea. The fewer decisions I have to make outside of business and creative ones, the better.

Anyone have the whole:

“What do you want for dinner?”

“Dunno, what do you want?”

“Dunno, what do…”

Yeah.

Work for yourself and you’ll make a shit load of decisions everyday which means the simple ones suddenly become indescribably difficult.

Automate as much as you can. Choose a set of clothes for the week days and stick to them. Choose one coffee shop and always go there.

Lesson 6 – Expect a Dip

I didn’t expect a dip. I thought I’d leave my job and suddenly have all this miraculous time in which I’d smash the living daylights out of novels and all things wordery. It didn’t happen that way.

In fact, what proceeded to happen is one of the worst word-droughts I’ve ever experienced. Truly. I was more barren than Death Valley in a heat wave. It was bad.

The conclusion I’ve come to is that just because you get what you want, doesn’t mean there won’t be a transition. I transitioned hard. I think I needed to go through a process of mental healing. I mean, guys… I’d spent every day crying in trees for fucks sake. You don’t miraculously wake up fixed just because you’re out of a toxic environment.

Sure, some people transition immediately. But some people are also assholes… You know who you are you delightful beasts, you. Most of us need time to heal.

Honestly, I think my heart left months prior, but my head – well, it’s slow as fuck and took a while to catch up.

I have no tips. Only the wise words from a mentor:

“The first year is a rollercoaster. Grip hard.”

Lesson 7 – Expect Random Moments of Joy

I’m sat in Costco as I write this. Shoveling a tasty jacket potato in my belly and waiting for my car tyres to be changed. It’s the middle of the day, and no one is going to demand I do overtime to make up for this. I’m also listening to some banging tunes. But above all of that, I’m trying not to collapse on the floor and sob with joy.

Joy is real, people. I took a break from it for a while there. But believe me, it’s the most overwhelmingly delightful little bit of fuckery I’ve ever experienced. It’s like bubbles and electricity and glittery lavender sprinkled on unicorn cupcakes.

It’s also a tricky little bastard because it pops up at the most inopportune moments. Usually when I’m in obscenely public places, like the supermarket immediately after school when every local mum possible is in the vicinity. Or, you know, in Costco surrounded by people trying to eat their food while some hysterical lesbian curls into a ball on the floor and weeps with sheer joy.

I think I’ve fallen in love with joy. It’s the most wonderful thing in the world. It really exists and I want you all to experience it and hold it in your hands and cuddle it for dear life.

Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, no matter how far you are in your journey, LISTEN…

You can make it. You will. Never ever give up.

Lesson 8 – Rebel

This one came from the lovely JA Clement. I suffer with imposter syndrome and doubt. Something I’m sure you all do too. But she said something that hit home.

If you’re not aware of Gretchin Rubin’s four tendencies, she wrote a book about personality types. I’m a rebel. Obviously. 

Which essentially means, no one (including myself) can tell me anything. I’ve always had this innate impulse to do the complete opposite of what someone tells me.

So, Ms. Clement said, why was I listening to imposter syndrome?

Can you hear my mind exploding?

Listening to imposter syndrome stops today. It’s the big birdie shaped fuck you for Mr. Imposter.

I’m out. Game over.

I hit a home run of fuck yous.

If I don’t listen to myself, then there’s shit all chance I’m listening to Mr. Imposter syndrome.

***

So there you have it. The first 8 lessons I’ve learned being full time. I’ll post again when I hit 6 months.

I’d love to hear what lessons you’ve learned on your journey to your dreams.

Full-Time Writing: 3 Months in What Have I Learned? #indieauthor #selfpublishing #IARTG #ASMRG #writingcommunity
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If you enjoyed this post, you might like these from the archive:

I Quit My Job – Lessons in Perseverance: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Author Earnings – How Do You Write Full-Time?

The post Full-Time Writing: 3 Months in appeared first on Sacha Black.