157If you continue to think of yourself as a great paint-
ing you are going to paint, then wanting to instantly
change is like wanting to finish your portrait in 10 min-
utes and then put it up in the art gallery.
If you see yourself as a masterpiece-in-progress, then
you will relish small change. A tiny thing you did dif-
ferently today will excite you. If you want a stronger
body, and you took the stairs instead of the elevator,
celebrate. You are moving in the direction of change.
If you want to change yourself, try making the
changes as small as they can be. If you want to create
yourself, like a great painting, don’t be afraid to use tiny
brush strokes.
74. Do something badly
Sometimes we don’t do things because we’re not sure
we can do them well. We feel that we’re not in the mood
or at the right energy level to do the task we have to do,
so we put it off, or wait for inspiration to arrive.
The most commonly known example of this phenom-
enon is what writers call “writer’s block.” A mental
barrier seems to set in that prevents a writer from writ-
ing. Sometimes it gets so severe that writers go to psy-
chotherapists to get help for it. Many writers’ means of
earning a living depends on its cure.
The “block” (or lack of self-motivation) occurs not
because the writer can’t write, but because the writer
thinks he can’t write well. In other words, the writer
thinks he doesn’t have the proper energy or inspiration
to write something, right now, that’s good enough to
submit. So the pessimistic voice inside the writer says,
“You can’t think of anything to write, can you?” This
happens to many of us, even with something as small as
a postcard to send, or an overdue e-mail to answer.
Do something badly