Becoming a Freelance Writer: My 30-day Experiment

A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quite. – Richard Bach

Not long ago I came across a 3×5 index card in my files dated February 4, 1991. It reads,

“I am joyfully earning and spending $50,000 a year as a freelance writer. I am able to support my family comfortably on the income I earn from my writing so that my wife doesn’t have to work.”

I’m not sure why I kept that index card; it reminds me of a failed attempt at improving my life, my income, and achieving a lifelong dream – being a full-time freelance writer.

I’m still not a freelance writer, my wife is still working, and we’ve added three daughters to our family since then. So why am I writing about this? Because I’m making another 30-day experiment, this time I’m more determined and a little wiser. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in the past 19 years and I plan to use the lessons learned to make this 30-day experiment a success.

I learned about the 30-day experiment from Earl Nightingale’s classic recording The Strangest Secret – I just converted my cassette copy to mp3 so that I can listen to it on my ipod…

The 30-day experiment as explained by Earl Nightingale, begins with “a single, specific goal, clearly defined.” My updated goal is to earn $10,000 per month writing. Yes, this goal is going to stretch my beliefs and abilities, why would I set a goal I know I can easily achieve? Isn’t one of the purposes of a goal to make us stretch and grow?

As Thomas Edison has said, “If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astonish ourselves.” Achieving this goal will definitely “astonish” me (my wife & daughters will be impressed too).

Every goal needs a deadline otherwise it’s just a dream; so, my deadline for achieving this goal is 90-days or October 8, 2010. I need a deadline to motivate myself to action – taking action is vitally important to success – otherwise, I’ll procrastinate and never get started.

In setting my deadline I used Parkinson’s Law: work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion, 30-days seemed too close and a year seemed too distant, 90-days seems just about right – challenging, yet not so far off as to be “out of site, out of mind.”

After deciding what it is I wanted, the next step was to write my goal on one side of an index card. From the Strangest Secret, “Make sure it’s a single goal and clearly defined. You needn’t show it to anyone, but carry it with you so that you can look at it several times a day. Think about it in a cheerful, relaxed, positive way each morning when you get up, and immediately you have something to work for — something to get out of bed for, something to live for. Look at it every chance you get during the day and just before going to bed at night.”

The key to success with this 30-day experiment according to Earl Nightingale lies in the fact that, “we become what we think about.” As you look at your card, remember that you must become what you think about.

Next, according to Earl Nightingale, “stop thinking about what it is you fear. Each time a fearful or negative thought comes into your mind, replace it with a mental picture of your positive and worthwhile goal. And there will come a time when you’ll feel like giving up. It’s easier for a human being to think negatively than positively. No matter what your goal — if you keep your goal before you every day — you’ll wonder and marvel at this new life you’ve found.”

Also, ‘Act as though it were impossible to fail,’ as Dorothea Brande said.

On the other side of the card write these words from the Sermon on the Mount:

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; and he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks it shall be opened. Matthew 7:7-8

(You can replace these words other inspiring words if you like.)

Again, read your goal each morning when you first wake up. Take a few moments before beginning your day to reflect on your goal in a cheerful, positive way. Read it again before going to bed at night. Also, carry your card with you and look at it every chance you get throughout your day. As you read your goal “remember that you become what you think about.”

Do this for the next 30-days until it becomes a habit, commit to taking control of your own thoughts, maintain a positive outlook, do more than you have to do, go the extra mile, know that your results are in direct proportion to your actions.

Taking action is vitally important. From past experience I know that you will receive hunches about what to do and how to achieve your goal. Act on these flashes of inspiration, they are your subconscious mind working to help you achieve your goal.

Don’t worry about how you’ll achieve your goal, as Jack Canfield, author of Chicken Soup for the Soul, points out, “Our job is not to figure out how. The how will show up out of a commitment and a belief in the what.” All you need to do is keep your goal in the forefront of you conscious thoughts and have faith in your own ability to achieve it.

Interested in making your own 30-day experiment? Leave a comment letting me know what your goal is, we can help inspire and motivate each other… Thanks!

As always, never a day without a line!

Bill

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