When you decided to become a writer…
Okay, let’s be honest, you might not have decided to become a writer, so much as realized you couldn’t resist the allure of working with words…
But, when you made that decision to pursue writing as a career…
To study other writers…
To hone your skills…
To make words how you earn your living…
You cracked open a door you might not have known was there.
It’s a powerful thing you do. Writing.
Your words have the potential to uplift. Through your writing you can teach and motivate. You can inspire and reveal. You can persuade and entertain.
Whether you realize it or not, your gift with words gives you the power to change lives.
When you write, and you put your work out into the world, you never know when your words will meet someone at just the right time with just the right message…
You could send them on a new journey… spark a new idea… give them hope… or change their mind.
For your clients, your words can mean the difference between success and failure.
But, you may not realize what a gift your words can also be for yourself.
As a Writer, You Enjoy Life-Changing Advantages
Being a writer gives you the opportunity to enjoy more scheduling freedom and more financial freedom than many other professions.
But, it also benefits you in more personal ways.
You Enjoy More Clarity
Writing can do a lot of things. One of the best is to help us think.
When you write about something — especially when you enter the flow state as you’re writing — you tend to combine reflection, analysis, connections, and reason. Taken together, all these things help you think more clearly about a topic, to understand it better, and to uncover new, related ideas.
You can apply this to yourself, to problems you face, and to goals you want to achieve. When you write about them, you create the possibility of coming to a better understanding of your own motivations and desires, strengths and weaknesses, and even your own behaviors.
When you know what you want and why, it’s much easier to chart a path to get there…
And, when you know what you possess that will help you and what will likely hinder you, it’s much easier to stay on the right path and actually reach your goals.
You Understand Your Thought Process Better
You aren’t your thoughts, but your thoughts can have a big effect on how you feel and on the actions you choose to take.
You can use writing to explore your own thought processes to gain more clarity about why you think what you do.
Ultimately, this makes it a little easier to alter how you think, if you need to, so you can be more productive, more creative, and more fulfilled.
When you write often about your thoughts in a reflective-not-reactive way, you make it more likely you’ll notice when you enter into thought patterns that don’t serve you or your goals. So you can nip those thoughts in the bud and turn your mind to more productive things.
Again… powerful stuff.
Taking Your Words Into the World
You already know your way with words gives you the opportunity to build a business and be your own boss.
But, even in this regard, it’s easy to overlook how amazing it is to be able to help other people sell their products and services.
It means you can help businesses with products that change lives connect those products with the people who need them most.
It means you can help causes you believe in to raise money and get the resources they need to do their good work.
It means, if you have a friend or family member with an entrepreneurial spirit, you can help them achieve their dreams.
And yes, you get paid for this work. But even so, what a gift to be able to bring to your clients and to the people and causes you care about.
Also, don’t forget you can apply your writing skills to your own entrepreneurial aims.
Sometimes the Little Things Mean the Most
It’s a big gift, being able to write clearly and well.
But often, the way your gift manifests best is in the little things.
You can use your writing skills to say thank you in a way that really conveys how much something meant to you. Those kinds of thank-you messages can resonate far into the future for the person on the receiving end.
You can use your writing skills to ask for help… and, because you’re able to get clarity on what you’re thinking and what you need, you’ll have an easier time deciding who to reach out to and just what to say.
You can make people laugh… one of the best gifts I can imagine.
Or, you can lift someone’s spirits, when they’re feeling low.
It’s Christmas Day today, when gift giving is a tradition here in the States and elsewhere. It’s not wrapped up and waiting under the tree, but I hope you’ll take a moment to treasure your gift with words.
