I have a new phrase and a new game for writing: motivational psychology.
When I’m at work I keep pretty busy with things I either have to do or that come up unexpectedly, and I have much less time to do what I love: write.
While that’s OK for now, I find myself reveling in the time I do get to research and brainstorm and read. It’s in these time I remember my creativity has not been sapped away by a 9-5er—it’s just a bit dormant right now.
However, I’ve begun to suspect I’m on the verge of a breakthrough. In other words, perhaps the season of creative hibernation is ending. And why is that?
Motivational Psychology
And no I do not know what that means. But I’m interested.
Basically, I was Googling phrases like, “How to test your motives,” and stumbled across a book called Motivate Your Writing!: Using Motivational Psychology to Energize Your Writing Life. And wouldn’t you know it, the sneak peek was awesome.
It challenges you to identify your motives by using subconscious exercises. This book focuses on how to what type of writer you are, but I can see the principles adapting to many applications.
Anyway, I can’t wait to get started. But I will wait, because I have stuff to do. So I suppose I should have said I look forward to getting started, perhaps next week sometime.
Motivate Your Writing! Synopsis
Aspiring and professional writers alike struggle to stay motivated; in the face of distractions, obligations, and procrastination, the desire to write often fails to become the act of writing. Motivated writers, notes the author, are those who have learned to identify their fundamental emotional drives and who have established a writing routine that satisfies those drives. Kelner draws on the research and insights of motivational psychology to show writers how to harness the energy of these fundamental motivators.
With a degree in motivational psychology, Kelner applies not only his training in the field but also his own original research into the motivational patterns typical of writers. Depending on their motivational profile, different writers will respond best to different kinds of feedback and rewards and will function best in different kinds of environments. Kelner explains the basic drives of power, affiliation, and achievement; he shows how these drives are manifested in a wide variety of behaviors; and he provides self-assessment tools to construct your own motivational profile.
In clear and accessible terms, and with numerous examples and anecdotes, Kelner shows writers how they can identify their own primary drives and use that knowledge to arrange their work habits and energize their writing lives
Other book recommendations
Not motivational psychology but still
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