Reading time: About 3 minutes
You probably already know to write in active rather than passive voice. But did you also know that an active mindset is better than a passive one?
I grew up in a troubled household.
We were a family of seven, and I was the eldest of five kids.
My parents were poor. And my father had some sort of (undiagnosed) mental illness.
With two strikes against me, and a bunch of younger siblings to help raise, I figured out early on that I couldn’t afford to be passive about anything.
In fact, this was probably the best gift my parents gave me: I learned not to blame anyone else for anything. I just focused on doing what I could to make our difficult situation better.
An active attitude means owning things. It means taking responsibility for what you can control and not getting upset about what you cannot.
School systems, unfortunately, train many of us to be passive. We learn to depend on teachers to tell us what to do, how to learn and how much we’re worth (based on the ridiculous notion that grades can reveal that value).
Here’s what a passive mindset looks like:
- You believe other people are in control: Parents, teachers, bosses, government and society in general have all the power.
- You’re reactive: You wait for something to happen and then you react to it. You don’t take initiative or strike out on your own.
- You fear failure: This anxiety leads to missed opportunities and shying away from trying new things.
- You spend a lot of time saying, “I can’t”: This is because you believe life happens to you and you’re not responsible.
An active mindset, on the other hand, focuses on taking charge and paying attention to what you can control.
For writers, the importance of having an active mindset relates largely to time.
Let’s make this more real by imagining two business owners named Michael and Marie. They’re both engineering consultants who want to write books to promote their businesses.
Trouble is, both Michael and Marie already work 45-hour weeks, and they each have two kids, so they’re busy at home, too.
Michael, the passive one, tells himself that his clients are his top priority, and he can write only after he’s attended to all their needs. But when he gets home at 5:30 p.m., his kids jump all over him, and he wants to play with them — childhood is short, right? After dinner and bath time, he’s too tired to write and, instead, collapses in front of Netflix.
“I can’t do anything about this,” Michael tells himself. “I need to earn a living to support my family, and I can’t work 16 hours a day!”
Marie, the active one, knows she can’t possibly write in the evening. Her house is way too busy for that. She starts off by deciding to write first thing in the morning. Trouble is, she quickly realizes, one of her kids is up at 6 a.m. just about every day, and Marie is all-hands-on-deck after that until the kids are off to school or daycare.
But she doesn’t blame her kids. Nor does she require herself to get up at 5 a.m.
Instead, Marie decides she’s going to take 15 minutes of her lunchtime every weekday to write. She could stay in her office, but then she’d be vulnerable to people wanting to drop in to chat. So, she takes her laptop and ducks into a coffee shop a few blocks away. She’s able to write no more than about 300 words in that time, but those words will add up, she knows.
And she’s right. After a month, Marie has a total of 6,000 words — pretty close to 10 percent of her book.
And she finishes her rough draft in about 11 months, working only at lunchtime.
Yes, of course, she still has plenty of work left to do, rewriting and editing. In fact, it may take her another couple of years to finish the book. But she’s okay with that.
She’s written her rough draft while continuing to run her business and raise her family. Whereas Michael has given up.
Evidence shows that people who adopt an active mindset:
- Have a greater sense of control
- Focus on solutions rather than problems
- Are highly motivated
- Show great resilience
- Have reduced anxiety and stress
- Show improved emotional wellbeing
- Are good at problem solving
- Have stronger relationships
Also, it’s important to understand that Marie is no hard-nosed automaton who’s a drag to be around.
She’s happy and cheerful, probably because she’s smart enough to set realistic goals for herself and is flexible enough to allow the occasional day off without feeling guilty. And she’s certain to celebrate her progress every step of the way.
If you’re a person who’s adopted a passive attitude over the years, start taking charge again. Focus on process-based goals — for example, writing for five to 15 minutes every day — rather than outcomes.
Build small, sustainable habits that are going to make you happy and proud.
Be active rather than passive.
*
Need some help developing a better, more sustainable writing or editing routine? Learn about my three-month accountability program called Get It Done. There is turn-over each month, and priority will go to those who have applied first. You can go directly to the application form and you’ll hear back from me within 24 hours.
*
My video podcast last week addressed where to keep your research diary. You can watch the video or read the transcript, and you can also subscribe to my YouTube channel.
*
How could you work to develop a more active mindset? We can all learn from each other, so please, share your thoughts with my readers and me in the “comments” section, below. If you comment on today’s post (or any others) by Oct. 31/24 , I’ll put you in a draw for a digital copy of my first book, 8 1/2 Steps to Writing Faster, Better. To enter, please scroll down to the “comments,” directly underneath the “related posts” links, below. You don’t have to join Disqus to post! Read my tutorial to learn how to post as a guest. (It’s easy!)
