After The Fireworks

According to the Oxford American Dictionary to discipline oneself to do something is to train oneself to do something in a controlled and habitual way. 


Discipline is key when you are creating, whether it is a new novel, a new business or getting in gear to find your next job. But it all disappears like a display of fireworks in the night sky on the 4th of July when you take a break. 


Breaks are important. Critical in fact for any work you are involved in. But if you are like me, as disciplined as I can be, after a few days away, there is a lot of walking in circles before I can focus again.
Like this morning. I treated myself to a long holiday weekend filled not just with company of good friends, lots of sunshine, the beach and yummy food, but to a break from writing and from the addictive world of social networking and the Internet.  Away from it all, I made lists of projects I wanted to start and all those to dos that needed to be done. I felt inspired and fortified and anxious to get back to it. But today I'm sitting here surrounded by those papers watching the morning fade. 


I'm a self starter. I always have been. It is an important attribute in the world of sales, one that I get to make good use of as an authorpreneur and coach. But having that skill and honing it doesn't make days like today disappear. They show up uninvited and torture my reinventor mind.
The trick is to figure out what one little thing you can do to break through the dam that seems to have been built during your break. As a sales person, it was often as simple as making one appointment and getting the hell out of the office. For someone looking for a new job, it might be as simple as picking up the phone and following up on your last three interviews. 

Photo courtesy of Nancy Moon Public Relations

For me this morning, it was opening my morning pages document, the one where I write from a stream of consciousness to see what comes out or as one former writing teacher called it dreck which I believe is Yiddish for garbage. This is what I got this morning. An idea for a post. You might still consider it dreck but for me it was a baby step to get back into the discipline of creating after those fireworks.