Episode 121
Giving Your Writing Momentum Tip #2: The Power of Consistency and Accountability
Join the Writing Momentum podcast with hosts Christopher and Gena Maselli as they discuss the importance of consistency and accountability in achieving writing goals. Discover how writing a little each day can lead to significant progress and learn about the powerful impact of having an accountability partner. They share intriguing statistics from the American Society of Training and Development, highlighting that sharing your writing goals with someone increases your chances of success to 65%, and having an accountability partner can boost it to 95%. Tune in to gain insights on how to finish your book and meet your writing goals by joining a supportive writing community, either locally or online.
- 00:00 Introduction to Writing Momentum
- 00:41 The Power of Consistency
- 02:13 The Impact of Accountability
- 06:36 Finding Your Writing Buddy
- 08:48 Co-Writing and Online Accountability
- 12:54 Conclusion and Next Steps
LINKS:
- Liz Wilcox's Email Marketing Membership at http://wmdeal.com/liz
- Get your FREE Move the Needle goal-setting for authors ebook at https://www.writingmomentum.com
- Write with us! Join Chris, Gena, and Rene each Wednesday at noon Central and let's get our writing DONE! https://www.writingmoments.com
Transcript
How can you finally get that book done?
Speaker:We can help with that.
Speaker:Hello and welcome to the Writing Momentum podcast.
Speaker:I'm Christopher Maselli.
Speaker:Here with my wife, Gena Maselli.
Speaker:Hi.
Speaker:And I'm stumbling over my words and we haven't even started recording yet.
Speaker:Just barely.
Speaker:Just barely.
Speaker:Um, we are here talking, we, well, we started last week, Chris.
Speaker:We started this series on how to give your writing momentum.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:If you've not listened to that one, go back and listen to that one.
Speaker:It's part one, we're going to do several parts in this one and
Speaker:that one was a really good one..
Speaker:It was really good.
Speaker:It was really good.
Speaker:It was about continuing education.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:But this week we're continuing on with ways to give your writing momentum.
Speaker:Like what Chris said last week is that when we're talking about giving your
Speaker:writing momentum, we're not talking about necessarily writing faster.
Speaker:We're talking about writing better, but we're also talking today we're talking
Speaker:about consistency, writing consistently.
Speaker:And so we're talking about accountability.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:How can we write consistently is through accountability.
Speaker:Consistency is a key to writing, right?
Speaker:If you write just a little bit every day, in the long run,
Speaker:you're going to get so much done.
Speaker:I've had several podcasts where I've shared the numbers.
Speaker:Let me just share some of these again, because this is powerful.
Speaker:If you write just 1000 words a day.
Speaker:That's about maybe an hour of writing, maybe a little more, but
Speaker:get this in 40 days, you'll have a 40, 000 word book completed.
Speaker:I mean, think about that.
Speaker:If you can do anything for 40 days, right?
Speaker:You can, you can sit down and you can say, you know, for 40 days, I'm
Speaker:going to write a thousand words a day.
Speaker:Any of us can do that.
Speaker:Take that, take the power of those numbers and have yourself do that.
Speaker:And you know what?
Speaker:Hey, you say, well, I want weekends off.
Speaker:Fine, take weekends off.
Speaker:It'll still only take you about two months to complete that book
Speaker:that you've had sitting on the back burner for years, right?
Speaker:So consistency is the key.
Speaker:Every time you sit down to write, get those words out and that consistency
Speaker:makes all the difference in the world.
Speaker:In fact, we found this statistic today that we wanted to share with
Speaker:you and it's from the American Society of Training and Development, ASTD.
Speaker:It did a study on accountability and they discovered that your chances
Speaker:of completing a goal increases 6 to 5% if you tell someone
Speaker:65%
Speaker:65.
Speaker:So in other words, your chances of completing a goal increase to
Speaker:65%, there's a 65% chance you're going to meet that goal if.
Speaker:If you tell someone about it.
Speaker:If you tell someone about your commitment to finish it, you're going to do that.
Speaker:So let's, let's
Speaker:That's pretty powerful
Speaker:Let's hold on that a minute before we read you the rest of this.
Speaker:Think about this.
Speaker:Think of any goal that you have right now, especially writing related.
Speaker:What if we were to tell you you can have a 65 percent chance of meeting that goal?
Speaker:That's basically two thirds out of a hundred, right?
Speaker:A chance of meeting that goal if you have accountability.
Speaker:That's, that's kind of amazing.
Speaker:And the accountability is just telling someone else about it.
Speaker:If you just tell someone else about it, there's a 65 percent
Speaker:chance you'll meet that goal.
Speaker:But that number raises or that percentage raises to 95 percent a 95
Speaker:percent chance of completing your goal.
Speaker:If you specifically meet with people.
Speaker:If you meet with an accountability partner, that 65 percent chance
Speaker:raises to 95 percent chance.
Speaker:In other words, you're basically, according to this study, you're
Speaker:nearly guaranteed to meet your goal if you have an accountability partner.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:That blows me away.
Speaker:But this, I mean, this is actually a scientific study they did, right?
Speaker:This is not just Someone making up numbers.
Speaker:This is a corporation that said, well, when I do a study on this and they say,
Speaker:if you share your goal with someone else and then meet with them on a
Speaker:regular basis, there's a 95 percent chance you will finish that goal.
Speaker:If you have a book that you have in mind that you've been wanting to write
Speaker:and you share that with someone and then meet with that accountability
Speaker:partner on a regular basis, You're pretty much guaranteed to finish it.
Speaker:That's, I mean, you can't do much better than that.
Speaker:No, especially when, you know, how many of us have books on our to do list, on
Speaker:our bucket list, that we are dreaming about doing, that we really want to do, or
Speaker:have messages that we know can impact the world, and then it seems like days passed.
Speaker:And here we are, we're saying, and this, and the statistics prove,
Speaker:the studies prove that if you tell somebody about it, that raises to 65%.
Speaker:But if you actually meet with that person, meet with somebody who's in that
Speaker:accountability arena, someone who's part of your Part of your goal, part of that
Speaker:pathway to it, then that raises to 95%.
Speaker:That is powerful.
Speaker:So one of the things we recommend when it comes to accountability is give yourself
Speaker:a deadline and make that deadline the thing that you share with someone, right?
Speaker:That means you'll have a 65 percent chance of actually meeting that deadline.
Speaker:So find someone that you want to be accountable to.
Speaker:Now should it be your spouse?
Speaker:Probably not.
Speaker:Not always.
Speaker:I think it depends on the spouse.
Speaker:But, do you really want your spouse checking up on whether
Speaker:or not you've met your deadline?
Speaker:That may not be the best recipe for a happy marriage.
Speaker:To me, it's more than that.
Speaker:To me, it's more about the fact that it's very easy to fudge
Speaker:things with our spouse, right?
Speaker:Because our spouse knows how much stress we have and how
Speaker:much we're trying to get done.
Speaker:And it's very easy for them to let us off the hook, right?
Speaker:To say, well, give yourself another couple of weeks.
Speaker:But if you're accountable to someone that you, You know, you don't want to
Speaker:disappoint them and they're not going to let you fudge on those numbers.
Speaker:That's where your chances raise to that 65 percent.
Speaker:Well, and when that other person, you know, I think about this.
Speaker:We've heard about accountability so long in the fitness industry, right?
Speaker:We say if you want to start a fitness routine, then you need to get a buddy, you
Speaker:need to get a buddy that you know you're going to meet at the gym or at the walking
Speaker:track or wherever on the hiking trail.
Speaker:You're going to meet with that person because you don't want
Speaker:to disappoint that person.
Speaker:You know that person is counting on you, you're counting on them,
Speaker:you're in this together, and so you're kind of encouraging each
Speaker:other and spurring each other on.
Speaker:It's the same way with writing.
Speaker:You need writing buddies!
Speaker:You need writing buddies.
Speaker:It's true.
Speaker:And so what do writing buddies look like?
Speaker:Well, they kind of look like Gena and I.
Speaker:We love to have a lot of writing buddies and we do at writingmomentum.
Speaker:com.
Speaker:We'd love to have you join us.
Speaker:A lot of times writing buddies though can just be people in your local
Speaker:city that you may get together with, have critiques groups with, right?
Speaker:You sit down every week and you say, Hey, let's share our manuscripts
Speaker:with one another and just kind of talk about a couple of the
Speaker:pages on each person's manuscript.
Speaker:Now, you want to make sure they are buddies, that they're nice, right, and
Speaker:they're supportive, they're encouraging, but as long as they are, that's a
Speaker:great way to have a writing buddy.
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:You can also just meet up somewhere, meet at a local coffee shop, and you
Speaker:know, you're both gonna get there, we're gonna get here together, and
Speaker:we are going to write for an hour, on our manuscripts and or our poetry
Speaker:or our blogs or just whatever it is that you're wanting to write for.
Speaker:Um, yeah, you're just going to meet there together and the, and it's
Speaker:still that same, uh, that same desire that you know that somebody's meeting
Speaker:you, you don't want to let them down, they don't want to let you down.
Speaker:So you're working towards a common goal together.
Speaker:And so often the feedback that we get on this is that, you know, I don't know
Speaker:anyone who can be that person for me.
Speaker:There's no one in my town that can meet together like that.
Speaker:And this is what is so great about the internet today and about webcams and
Speaker:working on computers is because you can find people from anywhere in the
Speaker:world That can be that accountability buddy with you for your writing that
Speaker:you can share your writing with.
Speaker:And actually what we like doing is co-writing online.
Speaker:We like to have some writing time that we actually spend with other people who
Speaker:are accountability buddies, and that's how that, we actually started this at
Speaker:writingmomentum.com where we get together every week with a handful of other
Speaker:writers and we just work on our individual writing together over video camera, right?
Speaker:And there is something about that.
Speaker:We've had multiple people in our group who've said, Hey, I finished my novel
Speaker:now because I get together with you guys and just every week there's this
Speaker:appointment that keeps me accountable.
Speaker:There is something about that that's very, very powerful.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And I think it's, we've said it before.
Speaker:There's something powerful about just putting it on your calendar, making an
Speaker:appointment with yourself that that is the time that I'm going to meet with this
Speaker:group, even though it's by zoom and it's so easy to let other things come in, in
Speaker:the way, but if it's on your calendar and you know, I'm going to be meeting with
Speaker:them, this is, I can make one hour a week.
Speaker:I can make that.
Speaker:And, and Chris mentioned novels, but we've actually had nonfiction.
Speaker:writers who finished their books.
Speaker:We've had a play writer who has finished her book.
Speaker:And so, yeah, we've had a lot of great successes so far.
Speaker:A lot of this started as far as writing online with other people, because
Speaker:I had a huge to do list, didn't I?
Speaker:Of all kinds of things that I needed to complete for clients.
Speaker:And I was finding myself drowning under this feeling of I can't get all
Speaker:this stuff done for all these clients.
Speaker:But I discovered that, you know what, if I go to a coworking space and
Speaker:work in a space with other people on, you know, we're all working on
Speaker:our individual projects, but there's something about sitting there.
Speaker:It keeps me, you from surfing the internet.
Speaker:It keeps you from shopping, right?
Speaker:It keeps you from doing those other things.
Speaker:And I found that, hey, that can be replicated online too.
Speaker:And so that's how that started.
Speaker:I was actually working on things other than my own writing.
Speaker:But then, we thought, hey, wouldn't it be cool if also our own writing
Speaker:could get done because that's the thing all of us want to do, isn't it?
Speaker:We want to complete that novel that we've had on the back burner and
Speaker:it's like, how do I find the time?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And that's how I got really excited about co writing as well, because I
Speaker:write every day for other people and for clients and I've got other things that are
Speaker:pulling at me, but I felt I was dealing with this feeling of feeling guilty
Speaker:if I used my writing time to write for myself, because I have all these other
Speaker:assignments that I needed to get done.
Speaker:And so by being part of a co writing session, I was able to say, no, this,
Speaker:and I put on my calendar, this is my personal project writing time and
Speaker:I'm going to use it for my project.
Speaker:I'm not going to use it to write for clients usually unless I'm really under
Speaker:the gun, but I use it for my clients primary or for myself primarily that
Speaker:that is my time that I save for myself.
Speaker:And then I don't feel guilty about it because it's a, it's on my calendar.
Speaker:It's already preplanned and there's no guilt.
Speaker:There's no feeling of I should be doing something else.
Speaker:No, this is, this is what I planned and this is what is the purpose for this hour.
Speaker:And let me tell you what, if you work hard, you deserve that.
Speaker:You deserve to have time to say this is my time to finish that writing, that
Speaker:novel that I've been wanting to do, that I've had in my heart for so long.
Speaker:So allow yourself to have that time.
Speaker:Set up an accountability appointment.
Speaker:Come and join us at writingmomentum.
Speaker:com.
Speaker:We'd love to have you.
Speaker:We've got room.
Speaker:It's virtual, right?
Speaker:We can fit as many people in there as we want.
Speaker:And come and join us.
Speaker:You'll find us very encouraging.
Speaker:We just, we have a short teaching at the beginning because we like to always spur
Speaker:eachother on with the latest in training.
Speaker:And then we write on our individual projects for about 45 minutes.
Speaker:We get a lot done because we share our goals and then we are
Speaker:accountable every week to meet together and get those things done.
Speaker:And man, do we make some good progress, don't we?
Speaker:We do.
Speaker:We really do.
Speaker:We really do.
Speaker:Well, we hope you've enjoyed this podcast.
Speaker:I hope that you will come back and stick with us for this series that we're doing
Speaker:about how to give your writing momentum.
Speaker:Last week, we talked about continual education.
Speaker:This week we talked about accountability.
Speaker:Stick with us because next week, we've got another great topic.
Speaker:And we also hope that you will rate this, uh, this podcast, that you will review it.
Speaker:That'll help other people find it.
Speaker:That you will also subscribe to it.
Speaker:So you never miss one.
Speaker:And then also you'll share this.
Speaker:If you've got a friend that you've thought we need to be accountability
Speaker:buddies, send it to them.
Speaker:Let them be encouraged and let them know that, uh, just help
Speaker:them achieve their goals as well.
Speaker:That's the thing.
Speaker:It's not just a self serving thing.
Speaker:You're helping somebody else get there.
Speaker:When we meet at writing moments or writingmomentum.
Speaker:com and writing moments, when we meet in that time, we're all helping
Speaker:each other get closer to our goals.
Speaker:That's right, because together
Speaker:We have writing momentum.
Speaker:Bye.
