“Having a low opinion of yourself is not ‘modesty.’ It’s self-destruction. Holding your uniqueness in high regard is not ‘egotism.’ It’s a necessary precondition to happiness and success.”
― Bobbe Sommer
This is the short version of believing in yourself.
The truth of the matter is, if you don’t believe in yourself, how can anyone else be expected to believe in you?
They can’t.
You must approach each day with determination to succeed. During NANO, you make a commitment to do 50,000 words in thirty days.
So now we’re three weeks in and I need to ask, are you on target? Are you struggling? Or are you committed to seeing it through to the bitter end? No! NO! Don’t look back at the words already written. Just don’t do it. This is one of the worst things you can do. More important than trusting your self, you must keep the self talk positive.
Just look at the word count. Are you keeping your word count handy so you can feel expansive and generous if you exceeded your daily word goal? Or are you agonizing over missing a writing day? If so, it’s not too late to make up for it. If you only missed one day, you still have eleven days left, so if you write a mere 170 words extra for the next eleven days, your missed day disappears.
Yes, it is magic.
Like self talk. Work with me now, and say it “I can do this” followed by, “It’s a piece of cake”, which ends with, “No more cake until we’ve double our writing goal for today”. You don’t want to get fat, but you do want a big, thick, juicy novel to edit at the end of the month, right?
Just remember the little engine writer that could!