One of the many challenges you’ll encounter as a newbie writer is how to overcome your struggles with self-development and hone your craft as a writer.
Self-development is important to your success and enhanced growth builds your confidence, develops your writing skills, and improves your informed knowledge on every aspect of the writing process.
Before I dive into what self-development is, here is my favorite quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson on self-improvement.
He says, “Unless you tried to do something above what you already mastered, you can never grow.”
What is self-development?
Self-development is the process of learning new things and developing new skills. These skill sets will improve your chances of success, attain your goals, and manifest your ambitions.
As an aspiring writer, you don’t need to overwhelm yourself with severe exercises to improve your writing. You are already practicing self-development and consistency if you write every day.
One thing you should remember is that you cannot improve in a single day. Personal development occurs throughout an individual’s entire lifespan and is not limited to one stage of a person’s life.
Are you still struggling to understand how to practice self-development? Here are some activities that will help. Engage in activities that will improve your personal capabilities and potential, improve the quality of your life, and help in the actualization of goals and aspirations as a new writer.
Importance Of Self-Development
As a new writer, self-development is essential. You must constantly develop yourself personally and professionally as a writer to become successful at it. Here are a few reasons why practicing self-development is important.
- You become a better reader and communicator
- You become more confident in yourself
- You become adept with time management
- You have clarity purpose
- You become unafraid to seek new possibilities and expand your horizon.
Six Reasons Why You Struggle With Self-Development as A New Writer
As a budding writer, practicing self-development becomes a struggle because of the following factors.
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Distraction
Distraction is a big challenge to development, especially when you lack direction.
In the age of social media, it is easy to get lost in the sea of information without actually creating time to practice any of what you’ve learned.
Distractions cause you to expend energy and quality time that could serve other useful purposes.
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Lack of direction
You probably have come across this saying that says, “he is like a lost ship on the sea, who is without a direction.” As a writer, if you lack direction, you will be all over the place, with no particular focus. Y
ou will find it hard to understand your strengths or what areas need development. This isn’t particularly good for your growth or writing journey.
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Lack of self-discipline
Indiscipline makes you lose focus as a writer. It causes a writer to stray off the purpose path. If you lack self-discipline, development may be a little bit hard for you.
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Fear of the unknown
This is one of the biggest challenges to self-development. I experience this when I was just starting.
The fear of not knowing what lies ahead for you as a writer can hold you back and keep you glued to your comfort zone, and you become unable to take bold steps toward improvement.
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Procrastination
Procrastination is a thief of time they say.
Procrastination becomes a problem when you consistently put off what you should do now for a later time. It makes you redundant and affects your skills.
One thing you should know is that writing consistently is a good way to develop and hone your skill as a new writer.
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Lack of personal conviction
When you doubt yourself, not much can be accomplished.
Self-belief is important in life because if you think you can do it, you can and if you think you cannot, you can’t. Possibility and impossibility all start with you.
How To Overcome Your Struggles with Self-Development as A New Writer
Hence you fully understand some of the factors that may affect your self-improvement plans as a writer, it is imperative to understand how to overcome your struggles with self-development as a new writer.
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Set specific goals
This should be your first line of action. Set SMART goals. When you have goals, you have laser focus.
Setting goals and creating action plans to achieve them make you less susceptible to getting distracted.
Therefore, set actionable and objective goals from a writer’s POV and measure them from time to time.
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Face your fear
It is normal for anyone to entertain fear especially when you are new to something but you should never let your fear become a barrier to your growth.
You are capable enough. Push through your fear and focus on your growth.
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Believe in yourself
Of course, writing sounds like a lot. In fact, let’s be honest. It is a lot but when you do not entertain any thought or doubt about what you can or cannot do; you’d realized that writing is in fact very easy.
Have a strong belief in your abilities. Tell yourself often, that you can do it. Make it a daily mantra to encourage yourself to believe in yourself.
Once you have this belief, you have successfully eliminated one of your struggles with self-development.
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Be disciplined
Self-discipline is important if you do not want to derail off track of your writing journey.
Self-discipline is the ability to work hard, control yourself and behave in an accepted way without needing anyone to tell you what to do.
As a budding writer, make sure you stick to your set aim and objectives, and no matter what you do, always stay on course.
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Avoid distraction
Distraction makes you lose focus and also causes you to lose sight of your goals. You need to be wary and very careful of this.
Manage how you use social media. Of course, it serves as a great tool for cultivating knowledge but it can become distracting if not properly managed.
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Practice time management
Time management is very important. I don’t know how and why writers often get the narrative that they have the whole time in the world because they don’t.
Create a daily routine and stick to it. This way you learn to manage your time effectively.
End notes
Self-development isn’t only important to you because you are a writer. It is important to you as an individual.
If you are the ambitious type, then it is only normal that you find out what can be the challenges for you on the path of achieving your dream.
Once you identify it, coming up with a solution becomes an easy-peasy thing.
