Simon Hall writes...
For a writer, there are a few more intimidating sights…
Than a blank sheet of paper.
Particularly when you have to fill it, and hundreds of its successors, until you’ve reached a total of around 90,000 words.
Eek!
That’s what I’ve been faced with as I begin work on my latest book.
Provisionally titled Compelling Communication Skills, it’s designed as an accompaniment to my Cambridge University course of the same name.
I’m delighted the book has been commissioned, and even more so that it's by Cambridge University Press.
They're the oldest working publisher in the world, very prestigious, and it’s all rather scary.
I found myself getting nervous about the scale of the project this week, and resorted to a tried and tested technique to feel better.
It's all very simple, happily...
(You know me - I don't have the wits for anything too clever.)
This is how the trick goes:
Break down the mammoth task into a series of far smaller steps.
Firstly, for me, it was getting the opening line of the book right.
That may sound like an insignificant achievement, but it’s very much not.
The start is critical in setting the tone for a book, drawing the reader in, and even convincing them that your work is worth the investment.
Happily, after a few minutes thought, the opening came.
Then I moved onto the next paragraph.
Which also came.
Then the paragraph after that, and after that, and after that…
Until I had completed the first page.
The second page soon materialised as well…
And before I knew it, I was into the swing of the writing, speeding along on my momentum.
Life was looking cheerier and I was feeling I could live up to all that was required.
Splendid.
I was also asked this week to train an aspiring communication skills tutor.
She desperately wanted to do the job, but didn’t really know where to start.
She asked for my advice, and confided that it all felt like such a huge project, to switch from her current work into her dream role.
So we had a chat, came up with a few ideas, and suddenly she was full of energy and enthusiasm for the task.
And why?
Because, instead of seeing it as one overwhelming and unconquerable challenge, it was now a series of far smaller steps…
Which made the whole thing feel far more achievable.
That, for me, is always the best way to deal with a large and seemingly impossible task.
Break it down.
Take a single step, then another step, then another step…
And before long, you’re into your stride and well on your way to success.
After all, to get a little more intellectual for a brief moment, as the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu wisely said:
- A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
