Power of Five Your Way to Success with Passion, Patience, Perseverance

The Writer, after accepting my “Power of Five” article in Quill, asked me to cut down the original from 1100 words to 700 words so it'd fit on one page, initially a chore but once I started chopping, the article vastly improved.  It’s punchier, to the point and a timely “action” reminder for Leap Year.  This idea came out of another Quill article "Small Increments, Big Results" that I wrote back in 2009, a good example of how one article can lead to another and then lead to another.

More importantly, the moment I sent this revised article off, I sent out five other articles/ideas to other editors and I plan to submit five more today after this blog.  As I wrote in the article “Enthusiasm . . . breeds discipline, and discipline—results.”   For me, as a writer, results are publications and paychecks.  But even a non-writer can benefit from the advice.  Just apply it to your own needs.  Good luck.   

Power of Five Your Way to Success with Passion, Patience, Perseverance  

 

"I'd rather be a failure at something I enjoy,” George Burns once said, “than be a success at something I hate."  This most definitely applies to writing.  To increase my chances of success, I’ve been putting into practice what I call The Power of Five, adapted from Jack Canfield’s Rule of Five, whereby each workday, I try to send out at least five submissions—short stories, articles, or query letters to editors and agents.

I’m creating a new habit of marketing what I’ve written on a consistent, persistent basis.  Five is all I ask.  By thinking small, those Power of Five submis­sions have been adding up to 100 per month (or 40 if you work weekends).  This is a far cry from my previous marketing habit of “whenever I get around to it”, whereby months, years would go by and hardly anything would be sent out.  Now I’m excited about the Power of Five, excited by the possibilities.

Enthusiasm, by the way, breeds discipline, and discipline—results.  What you sow, you reap.  I try to squeeze in a few before breaking for lunch . . . or before calling it a day, especially at the end of the month.  When I’m on a roll those numbers escalate.  Other days can be a struggle.

Once I made the Power of Five a habit, I committed myself to doing a daily double, by also advancing a major backburner project, even if only for an hour before going to bed.  By doing this day in, day out, for an entire month, every month, those months will add up to a highly produc­tive year.  That’s the goal.

The real reason I’m doing this is to face my fears (of writing and marketing) so I can tame it.  You can never truly eliminate fear, but you can keep it under control (a whip and chair also helps).  There’s a fine line between success and failure and that difference is often fear.  We fear, on a subconscious level, both success (all that hard work to get there and the pressure to stay there) and failure (being called a loser or a washed up writer).  That explains why we sometimes “drop the ball”.  Why we suddenly misplace important information that’s critical to our success (a document, an email contact), or procrastinate until the last moment, thus guaran­teeing a rush job, assuming we even complete it.  Or we make our­selves “too busy” to get around to the important career-defining stuff.

“Look at all that work piling up—I’m way too busy to write a book!”

Busy doing what?

These are self-sabotaging actions caused by our unconscious belief system that we “don’t deserve success”, or “that we’re not good enough” or we’re afraid we’ll be “exposed as a fraud”.  Who me?  A best-selling, award willing writer?  Ha! 

 

Writing can be scary, but the only way to overcome fear is to face it, acknowledge it, and do what you fear—write that book, contact that agent, market your work—and have faith in your own ability.

It all begins with passion!  If you don't have passion in what you do, you won't have the patience to complete it, nor the perseverance to see it through to its ultimate success.  This stuff is not easy, but it is doable.  For many writers it's routine.  It's all about your attitude, isn't it?

Besides, on the other side of that fear, on the other side of that self-imposed brick wall, is what you really want, right?  Fear never gets you anywhere.  It merely holds you back, paralyzes you into inaction.  So now I focus on what I want to achieve and give myself deadlines to accom­plish it.  I have faith that my passion, my patience, and my perseverance will see me through.

So what five submissions can you make today (or this weekend) that will take you a step closer to achieving your goals?  Write it down and take immediate action.  The longer you delay, the more you guarantee it won’t get done.  Again, it’s that underlying fear of success/failure that’s holding you back.  Do it now while the thought is there and Power of Five your way to success.

      —Borneo Expat Writer 

Here are links to some of my author-to-author interviews of first novelists:

Ivy Ngeow author of Cry of the Flying Rhino, winner of the 2016 Proverse Prize.

Golda Mowe author of Iban Dream and Iban Journey.

Preeta Samarasan author of Evening is the Whole Day. 

Chuah Guat Eng,  author of Echoes of Silence and Days of Change. 

Plus:

Five part Maugham and Me series

Beheaded on Road to Nationhood: Sarawak Reclaimed—Part I 

A Fun, Practical Way to Raise Your Self-Esteem and Build Your Confidence for the New Year by Listing Your Top 25-50 Achievements!

Here is a quick practical way to raise your self-esteem and build your confidence for the New Year (or anytime of the year) which I first learned from Jack Canfield.  Just list your top 25 achievements.  Then billionaire Bill Bartmann recommended listing your top 50 achievements (you can go all the way back to primary school!) to remind yourself of who you are and what you’ve done.

This list is really you, and not how you might be feeling right now, especially if you’re achieving less than you think you deserve, or not doing as well you know you can.  In life, we all go through our ups and downs, but dwelling on those downs when you are down, really down, can be fatal, especially during the holidays.  This is when you need a quick pick me up to raise your self-esteem, and that’s what your list of achievements is, your very own reminder of who you are and what you have done and what you are capable of doing in the future. 

Now and then, when things are really going bad, you may need to dwell on your list to remind yourself what you had to go through to achieve what you accomplished, and then apply that same skill, perseverance, and tenaciousness again to get you back up to where you belong.

By the way, your list has no bearing on anyone else (doesn’t mean you’re better or worse than anyone else); others may not even care one twit about your list, other than a passing curiosity—Oh, I didn’t know you did such and such…What they really care about is their own list and that’s perfectly fine!

So, if you want to start feeling good about yourself, I urge you to compile your own list—you’ll be surprised by how many you've forgotten about.  Even if you’ve already done this before, try it again (I did back in 2006 but then revised and expanded it from 25 to 50 and added stuff that I did forget.).  Then every now and then, when you’ve had less than a perfect day and you’re getting down on yourself, review your list and start feeling good about who you really are, the person who has already done so much in your life and is capable of doing a whole lot more. 

Good luck with this—it can be a real eye opener and a rather nice reminder, too!  At the same time, be grateful for those who may have helped you along the way.  Rarely do we achieve anything totally on our own. I know I had plenty of help along the way, even when back­packing solo or writing my own stories…

In case you are curious about my list—here’s my top 50 achievements.  I was tempted to start with 9^th grade, my first big accomplishment, winning some school award, but I ended up starting after I graduated from Miami University, in chronological order.  My latest achievement is finding myself on Wikipedia, but that’s merely an offshoot of having my collection of short stories translated into French, my last major achievement so far. 

1) Backpacking solo through Europe for three months, after my initial plans fell through. 
2) Moving to Colorado from Ohio and working for Kinko’s and rising to assistant manager by age 23. 
3) Climbing Long’s Peak in Colorado. 
4) Negotiating a manager deal to take over the Madison store (and getting a company car with a two month break to travel -- at age 24!) 
5) Backpacking solo to the Far East and Southeast Asia for two months.
6) Spending ten days in China, soon after it opened up to the West (arriving April 1,1980). 
7) Speaking at a national convention for Kinko’s. 
8) Backpacking around the Yucatan Peninsula and Mexico for a month. 
9) Becoming a Regional Manager for Kinko’s and setting up ten stores (eight on my own).
10) Retiring from Kinko’s with a full-fledge retirement party at age 28 (to move to Malaysia and write). 
11) Driving across the US and then backpacking seven months on my own, en route to Malaysia.
12) Surviving dysentery in Nepal and making my way to Malaysia (to a rural kampung past midnight) to recover.
13) Publishing first short story, “Mat Salleh” in New Straits Times and also My Weekly, UK (with color photos of my first wedding).
14) Being the Coordinator of Malaysian-American Commission of Educational Exchange in Penang for two years.
15) Being a tango dancer in the film Indochine.
16) Having my first son, Zaini, and having the article about his birth published and used by the delivering doctor in his Lamaze classes.
17) Being a stage manager for Penang Players (with no experience, turning a nightmare into triumph).
18) Playing Santa Claus, as a last minute replacement (another nightmare and triumph).
19) Publishing Lovers and Strangers with Heinemann Asia. 
20) Giving my first talk in Malaysia/Singapore at 1993 Singapore Book Fair.
21) Being featured for the first time in a newspaper or magazine, Her World, November 1993.
22) Being an extra and working behind the scenes in Beyond Rangoon.
23) Being an extra in Paradise Road. 
24) Surviving a divorce and a custody battle and getting back my son Zaini!
25) Taking Zaini to the US for Christmas (when my lawyer told me it would be impossible—it took six months of planning and legal maneuvering; I only got permission via my ex-wife’s lawyer on the eve of our flight).
26) Being an extra in Anna and the Kingi.
27)  Setting up creative writing course for USM in Penang where I taught for ten years.
28) Being a single father for four years (I had Zaini during the week and he was with his mother on the weekends).
29) Marrying Jenny in Sarawak and having two more boys, Jason and Justin.
30)  Publishing “When Tastes Collide” (“Cross Cultural Dinner”) in Reader’s Digest, April 2004.
31) Being the editor of Silverfish New Writings 4.
32) Being tennis doubles champions at USM for three straight years, after injuring my ankle in the semi-finals.
33)  Publishing Lovers and Strangers Revisited (SF and MPH)
34) My short story “Neighbors” being selected to be taught in SPM literature throughout Malaysia.
35) The Lovers and Strangers Revisited book launch sponsored by Penang Players, who read excerpts of four stories and did a play reading from an adaptation of “Neighbors”, with over 100 in attendance.
36) Buying first house with Jenny, moving to Sarawak, and decorating it in record time since Jenny was seven months pregnant.
37) Putting up a website and finding a way to the Maui Writer’s Conference (after I had initially canceled).
38) Writing “Merdeka Miracle” with Lydia Teh and Tunku Halim for Going Places in one month of frantic writing with two writers I had yet to meet.
39)Lovers and Strangers Revisited winning 2009 Popular Reader’s Choice Award.
40) Hiking the 7-hour “Big Loop” with Zaini at Bako National Park.
41) Publishing Tropical Affairs: Episodes from an Expat's Life in Malaysia.
42) Giving my first full day creative writing workshop at Unimas.
43)  Being chosen as one of “50 Expatriates You Should Know” by Expatriate Lifestyle (January 2010)
44) Being interviewed on the national TV talk show Kuppa Kopi.
45) Having my 100^th short story published.
46) Publishing Spirit of Malaysia. 
47) Having my 500^th publication.
48) Giving my first two-day workshop for Malaysian Nurses Association. 
49) Living as an expat for 25 years in Malaysia 
50) Having Lovers and Strangers Revisited translated into French. 

*Update: Within a month of posting this, I got a new one, Ohio University is adapting my short story "Home for Hari Raya" into a film!  Now I can add this to 2012!  When you focus on your accomplishments and look ahead, they expand!   Also check out Leap for Success this Leap Year with five practical tips to make 2012 your best year ever. Good luck with your own list and 2012!

** Just ran my first marathon!


     --Borneo Expat Writer.

Mindset, Skillset, Get Off Your Ass-set

Angry over missing an important deadline, one of several I've missed or nearly missed, in the last year, I got up at 5:45am this Saturday morning because I not only needed to get some work done, but I also needed to turn some things around—like my working habits, how I spend my time when I’m supposed to be working, and what am I choosing to work on.  Am I working on the important stuff that can significantly help my career, or the busy-day-to-day-email-related stuff that crops up and crowds out your day?
 
I remember Jim Rohn once said, “Some people have a tendency to major in minor stuff.”  In other words, the important stuff never gets done.  They focus their time and energy on doing the wrong things.  If you do that day in and day out, that’s exactly where you’ll end up, with nothing significant to show for your days, weeks, months, years.  The time is gone, and spent on what?  This is a question I’m now asking myself.  I don’t want to make excuses to myself or my family over why I missed an important deadline, when the time was there and it got frittered away doing insignificant stuff.

Writing, like in any other entrepreneurial business, it’s so easy to get discouraged by the marketplace (agents/book publishers/editors).  But is it the marketplace that is the problem or is the problem you?  We all have a tendency to blame everyone else when things don't go according to our “master” plans.  But should you always blame the economy or other outside factors, or maybe it’s just the way you choose to spend your time (or how you present yourself or your work), or the projects you choose to do?  Ask yourself what are you thinking about, what are your goals, and what are you actually doing about it-- now, not when you finally get around to it?

So this powerful three minute interview by Jack Canfield, author of The Success Principles and the Chicken Soup for the Soul series with James Malenchak, featured in “Secret Millionaire” a reality show that will be airing in March 2011, struck a chord with me.  James three-set framework for success goes way beyond your typical positive and wishful thinking (law of intention, law of attraction) your way to success. You got to do something.  In quoting someone else he says, “You actually accomplish more through movement than meditation”

       1)  Mindset: Need to train your mind to think in a way to get things done to produce fast results. 

 2)  Skillset: Master a skill that can cut your learning curve from 50% to 90%. 
       3)  Get off your Ass-set:  Without this third one, you’re going nowhere.  You actually got to do something.  Keep asking yourself what am I doing?

  

Be your own get-it-done gal or guy!  Play this video over and over.  It’s three-minutes.  I've played it four times and it's not even 7am in Borneo yet. What a great way to start my weekend. I'm motivated in more ways than one.  Positive anger only gets you so far (it got me out of bed), but action can be life transformation. Make it a habit.  Don't major in minor stuff.  Good luck.

Of course, for writers, you actually get more work done when you are sitting on your ass-set.  Bum glue is what you need to keep yourself there and not wandering all over the house like a lost puppy.

Here are links to some of my author-to-author interviews of first novelists:

Ivy Ngeow author of Cry of the Flying Rhino, winner of the 2016 Proverse Prize.

Golda Mowe author of Iban Dream and Iban Journey.

Preeta Samarasan author of Evening is the Whole Day. 

Chuah Guat Eng,  author of Echoes of Silence and Days of Change. 

Plus:

Five part Maugham and Me series

Beheaded on Road to Nationhood: Sarawak Reclaimed—Part I 

Power of Five Your Way to Success- Quill Jan-Mar 2011

 

*Here's the updated, trimmed down version, cut from 1100 words to700 at the request of a writing publication in the US.

**Update, the 20th anniversary of Lovers and Strangers Revisited

Here are links to some of my author-to-author interviews of first novelists:

Ivy Ngeow author of Cry of the Flying Rhino, winner of the 2016 Proverse Prize.

Golda Mowe author of Iban Dream and Iban Journey.

Preeta Samarasan author of Evening is the Whole Day. 

Chuah Guat Eng,  author of Echoes of Silence and Days of Change. 

Plus:

Five part Maugham and Me series

Beheaded on Road to Nationhood: Sarawak Reclaimed—Part I 

The Cycle of Success and The Power of Five

Success, according to Lisa Jimenez in Conquer Fear!, is a cycle of enthusiasm and discipline.  When you lack enthusiasm to do something, that discipline had better kick in, and when it does, that brings results, and results bring more enthusiasm, and enthusiasm brings in more discipline which bring in even more results, and this is where you want to be in the success cycle.  Still, it all comes down to discipline, doesn’t it?  For a writer, discipline is what you need to produce results, whether it’s five pages written, five query letters sent out, or five stories submitted.  This is what I call The Power of Five.

Robert Collier said, “Success is the small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”  So I keep Power of Five reminders on my computer table, on my computer, and in my 3-5 keep-me-motivated goal cards.  I know, overkill.  But I don’t want to escape those reminders and that’s good – so long as I actually do it!

Well this week I did.  Among doing other things, I finally submitted five short stories each day for five consecutive week days.  So that’s 25 stories out this week.  For a mailing, that’s not particularly huge.  In the past I’ve done more than 25 in one day on several occasions.  But then weeks would go by, months before I got around to sending out my stuff again, and I got a lot of stuff to send out.  Maybe 200 or more of what I call writing assets, be it articles, short stories, novels, screenplays, plus about 50 more that could be written fairly easily, then there are query letters for articles that I would like to write, and letters to agents and publishers that I need to get out if I really want to take my writing career to that next level.

    

During the years that I was teaching writing full time my efforts at marketing my work or myself as a writer were erratic at best, and now I want to change all that.  I want to be more consistent in my approach to success.  The Power of Five is my answer.  I learned about this from Jack Canfield’s Rule of 5 in The Success Principles.  He and Mark Victor Hansen would do five specific things that would move their goal toward completion, to get Chicken Soup for the Soul to the top of the New York Times Best-Seller List.  It took them a year to make the list and another year to make it to the top.  Those five things, day in and day out, created this momentum, as they pushed a huge rock up the best-selling mountain, but when they reached the top after two years, going down that other side was much easier.  They now reaped the benefits of what they sowed.  The Chicken Soup for the Soul series went on to become the publishing phenomenon of the decade.

For me, if I apply my own Power of Five every working day (Power sounds more powerful than Rule), it will require discipline.  After awhile, this discipline will become habit, so even if I don’t feel like doing it, even if I lack even a spark of enthusiasm, the discipline will kick in, then the results will come, and then I start seeing the possibilities and I get really excited, and I enthusiastically, send out some more.  This is the energy I felt this week.   Sure most editors will say, thanks, but no thanks, but every now and then, one will say, “We love it!”  That’s how I recently got my 100^th short story publication! 

 

When I start doing this for the small stuff, like short stories, I start thinking about the big stuff, like novels and screenplays, agents and movie deals. It has always been about submitting, submitting, submitting what you write.  Already I can see the possibilities.   If it works for others, and not just for Jack Canfield, maybe it’ll work for me too and that’s worth finding out.  So come Monday (or maybe even this weekend), I’ll send out five more.  In fact yesterday, I actually sent out six, and that sixth one was a biggie, to a publisher in the US for a collection of short stories.  See, already I can feel it’s working and that after one week!
 

So what five things can you do today that will take you a step closer to your goals?  

Of course my wife just found five things for me to do around the house, but that’s ok.  We’re in this together. I definitely want to keep our marriage in a success cycle, too.

              -Robert Raymer, Borneo Expat Writer

*Here's a link to more on Lisa Jimenez and a video too.

**Update, the 20th anniversary of Lovers and Strangers Revisited

Here are links to some of my author-to-author interviews of first novelists:

Ivy Ngeow author of Cry of the Flying Rhino, winner of the 2016 Proverse Prize.

Golda Mowe author of Iban Dream and Iban Journey.

Preeta Samarasan author of Evening is the Whole Day. 

Chuah Guat Eng,  author of Echoes of Silence and Days of Change. 

Plus:

Five part Maugham and Me series

Beheaded on Road to Nationhood: Sarawak Reclaimed—Part I