February 22

What You Put Into Something is What You’ll Get Out of It

For the last seven weeks, we've been teaching the Fearless Writer's Workshop to roughly 30 students. While I've imparted my knowledge from 10 years of writing, they've been the ones to do the work. They've gotten a lot out of it because they've put a lot into it.

Showing Up

Seth Godin says that showing up is underrated. He's exemplary of what happens when you get in the habit of showing up. 6000 + blog posts, 19 books, and a thriving career.

In 2009, my dad gave me $500 to enroll in an online course about how to build a blog. I'd get a lesson in my inbox every week. The lessons each took less than an hour and built on top of each other. I completed all of the lessons, and that course planted a seed for my career. Unmistakable Creative exists because of that course. I met the first person I ever interviewed because of that course.

Our students in the Fearless writer's workshop have developed a posture of showing up. They come to class having reviewed the material. Most of them have shown up for every session for all seven weeks. They even let us know when they can't show up. They understand the power of honoring their commitments.

Active Participation

You can be a passive consumer/spectator, or you can be an active participant. The Fearless Writer's brought our online forum to life by helping each other with their writing. They show up for every class with questions, volunteer to share their work, and share their challenges. They've probably helped each other far more than we've helped them.

Sticking With It

It's easy to show up when you've got a group of people waiting for you and a meeting on your calendar every week. Accountability has power because we feel much more compelled to honor our public commitments. But, if you're not careful accountability can become a dependency.

One thing I've emphasized with students in our workshop and my coaching clients is that I want to give them tools, so they aren't dependent on me. What they do after our work together is just as important if not more important than what they do during our work together.

Tags

You may also like

>