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?

Find out more about the book by clicking the button below.

read rebel mindset here

The post Growth Mindset for Indie Authors in 2021 appeared first on Sacha Black.

In this episode we cover: 

• How to set effective writing goals
• Mistakes to avoid when goal setting 
• The best methods for goal setting
• Making big goals more manageable 
• How to track your goals
• A discussion on if there’s a right or wrong time to set goals

This week’s question: how do you set, manage, track and record your writing goals?

Book recommendation of the week is the NaNoWriMo StoryBundle which you can find here:The NaNo StoryBundle

Mentioned Links

The Senses Course sachablack.thinkific.com/courses/senses   

Janet Murray conference https://www.janetmurray.co.uk/ref/55/

Find out more about our guest:

Instagram, Facebook, websites: www.hblyne.com and www.greatwesternwoods.com.

Read her book on goals here: www.books2read.com/goals

Listener Rebel of the Week is: Yanni Jade

If you’d like to be a Rebel of the week please do send in your story, it can be any kind of rebellion. You can email your rebel story to rebelauthorpodcast@gmail.com or tweet me @rebelauthorpod

Welcome and a big thank you to new patron Harley Christensen. A huge thank you to all my current patrons who help to keep the podcast running and give me a warm squishy feeling in my belly!

If you’d like to support the show, and get early access to all the episodes as well as bonus content you can from as little as $2 a month by visiting: www.patreon.com/sachablack 

The post 056 How to Set and Achieve Author Goals with H.B Lyne appeared first on Sacha Black.

I am terribly ‘un-present.’

I roll from one project to the next, never stopping to appreciate the mountain peak I’ve just climbed. I finish and move on. It’s unhealthy and it’s probably one of the reasons I’ve spent most of this year either burnt out or close to a burnout. Shelley Wilson, Bloggers Bash committee member and fellow non-fiction and YA Fantasy writer is here today to tell us a thing or two about why we need to stop and admire the view from the top.

Listen up folks, don’t be a dufus like me. Shelley knows her shit!

To buy How I Motivated Myself to Succeed

AmazonCOM

AmazonUK

Thank you so much to my lovely host, Sacha, for being a part of my blog tour for the release of my latest non-fiction book, How I Motivated Myself to Succeed.

Here’s a guest post I’ve written about celebrating your achievements.

We set goals, and we work hard to make them happen, and then we arrive at that wondrous day where it all pays off and we achieve a dream. That dream could be losing weight for a special occasion, publishing a book, running a marathon, or something as simple as getting to the bottom of the ironing pile!

As children, we were often rewarded with a small treat when we achieved something wonderful. Celebrating achievements is not a new phenomenon and yet we shy away from congratulating ourselves on a job well done. I often blog about self-sabotage and comparing ourselves to others on my motivational blog (http://www.motivatemenow.co.uk) and the common thread running through the comments often turns to the theme of limiting beliefs.

‘I can’t possibly tell anyone I’ve lost four stone in weight because my other friends who struggle with their weight might not speak to me.’

‘If I tell my friends about that two book deal with Penguin Random House they might think I’m bragging.’

Releasing these thoughts can be tricky as we have conditioned ourselves over many years of watching, listening, and learning. However, it’s relatively easy to rethink how we handle certain situations, and I believe that learning to celebrate your achievements is the best place to begin.

Here’s a brief excerpt from my new release, How I Motivated Myself to Succeed:

“One of the most important discoveries I made during my year-long journey was the value of celebrating my achievements – however small they might be. I always took a moment at the end of every month to write a summary post and absorb the implications of what I’d just achieved. In my first month’s challenge, I lost ten pounds in weight, for month four I gave up alcohol for thirty days. These aren’t massive accomplishments, but they were important to me and meaningful for the voyage I was on. Observing the progress you make daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly keeps you focused on your destination, but allows you to enjoy the journey.”

Think about some of the things you’ve achieved recently. Perhaps you’ve made progress with a writing project, or survived your first day at university! Have you finished knitting that scarf, or completed a jigsaw that was thwarting you? Celebrations can take many forms, from sharing a coffee with friends to buying something special. It’s your choice how you celebrate but never skip this step in your personal development. You’ve worked hard, and now it’s time to celebrate!

No matter what you hope to achieve, recognizing that you are making progress is an important step. There were many times when I wanted to throw my manuscript in the bin but I’m proud of myself for powering through the self-doubt until I arrived at the finish line.

I’d like to end with another thank you to my delightful host, Sacha. Thank you for reading and be sure to check out the other host spots for more inspiration, motivation, and a sprinkle of fun.

If you would like to read more about Shelley’s celebration techniques then take a look at her new release, How I Motivated Myself to Succeed, out now in paperback and eBook, and packed full of information on self-care, freeing yourself from fear, organizing your life, and much more.

To buy How I Motivated Myself to Succeed

AmazonCOM

AmazonUK

More About Shelley:

Shelley is a multi-genre author of non-fiction self-help and young adult fantasy fiction. Her latest release, How I Motivated Myself to Succeed is being dubbed as the sequel-that’s-not-a-sequel to her bestselling book, How I Changed My Life in a Year. She writes a personal development blog (www.motivatemenow.co.uk) as well as an author blog (www.shelleywilsonauthor.com) where she shares book reviews, author interviews, and random musings about writing. Shelley was thrilled to win the Most Inspirational Blogger Award at the Bloggers Bash in 2016, and to scoop second place in the same category in 2017. She is a single mum to three teenagers and a black cat, loves pizza, vampires, and The Walking Dead, and has a slight obsession with list writing.

You can find Shelley here:

Website, Writing Blog , Motivational Blog, Twitter, Facebook YA, Non-Fiction 

You can also see more of Shelley’s fab tips on her blog tour here:

So, are you a celebrator or an ignorer like me? Let Shelley know in the comments below.

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The post Celebrating Your Achievements with Self-Help Author, Shelley Wilson (@ShelleyWilson72) #BlogTour appeared first on Sacha Black.

Does anyone else struggle to celebrate success? Maybe you ran a marathon, got a new job, published your first book, or even your third? Did you celebrate? Or like me, did you brush your last achievement under the carpet? And no,  sending a text to tell a friend, sitting down to have a cupper or casually dropping into conversation you latest accomplishments does not constitute a celebration.

So why do we do it? Why are so many of us completely incapable of accepting praise, or internalising our achievements and attributing them to hard work and a bit of sweat rather than ‘luck’ or external factors?

I spoke about this a little when I finished the first draft of my first novel because for once, I was determined to celebrate and take stock… and I did… for five minutes, and then I started writing Adultland! Seriously, what the hell is wrong with me? I took almost a year to write my first novel. It was an achievement of a life time because it took me one step closer to my dream. But did I go out for dinner? Did I crack open a bottle of champers? No. I wrote a blog post instead. Sigh.

This little mindset is an actual thing. It’s called Imposter Syndrome, and quite frankly it needs banishing to room 101.

Imposter syndrome as described by wiki is:

“…a term coined in the 1970’s by psychologists and researchers to informally describe people who are unable to internalize their accomplishments. Despite external evidence of their competence, those exhibiting the syndrome remain convinced that they are frauds and do not deserve the success they have achieved. Proof of success is dismissed as luck, timing, or as a result of deceiving others into thinking they are more intelligent and competent than they believe themselves to be. Notably, impostor syndrome is particularly common among high-achieving women,^[1] although both genders are affected in equal numbers.^[2]“

It is said that 70% of people will at some point in their lives suffer with imposter syndrome.

Almost every writer I know suffers from imposter syndrome. Lots of writers I know (myself included) can’t seem to call themselves writers let alone authors. Yet, they spend all their free time writing, and most, have published books. If you have a book published then you’re a goddamn author. Arguably, if you have written a book but it is not yet published you are also an author.

Where have these self imposed, self depreciating standards come from? And why can’t we seem to acknowledge that our successes no matter how big or small come from our own sheer bloody hard work?

The thing is those with the syndrome actually self perpetuate the problem. I’m using writing as an example, but this is replicable across a multitude of situations including work.

ONE

We work harder and writer longer to avoid being discovered as an imposter, which leads to praise because practice makes perfect, and the praise leads to more imposter feelings and fear of being found out.

TWO

Sometimes we write or engage in fads – like writing about writing, or writing in a certain genre or even using hashtags because we think thats the right thing to do and what people want to see, but if thats not what your passionate about that can lead to feeling like a fake – or an imposter

THREE

We seek out others, make writerly friends and build our blogging communities, but when you get praise you end up feeling that its because you’re friends or supportive of each other rather than being based on your skills and ability as a writer.

FOUR

The last way people with imposter syndrome self perpetuate is through avoidance. Its the one I find the saddest. Writers avoid displaying any confidence in their abilities. They believe if they actually believe in their abilities they will be rejected by others. So they convince themselves they aren’t intelligent and do not deserve the success in order to avoid rejection.

***

I’m not sure I have the answer to this. What I do know is that when you are aware of something, behaviours in particular we are more able to control them. It’s like a habit, if you pick your lip, bite your nails or have a phrase you repeat and no one has ever told you about it, then the behavioural action is unconscious. When you are consciously aware of the behaviour you can modify it.

I really think it’s about time we writers, acknowledge our work as our own achievement. We need to recognise our skills but more than anything the enormous effort we go to, to produce the work we do.

I for one am going to try and celebrate the small things in life. Maybe I scheduled an entire weeks worth of posts which freed up enough time to focus on writing my novel for a week. Next time I finish a chapter I’ll slap myself on the back. Next time I submit to a comp I’ll toast to myself.

I’m going to be kind to myself, appreciate and celebrate the work I do.

I think you should too.

Let me know in the comments whether you celebrate the big and small things in life, and if you do, how?

The post Feel Like A Fraud? Give Imposter Syndrome The Middle Finger! appeared first on Sacha Black.