Just as a crawling baby gets scared of taking the first steps of walking, it’s the same way with life. Everyone feels that pinch of fear whenever there is a push to start a new adventure. Fear emanates from several quarters: risks, doubts, rejections, and uncertainties. It’s natural but you must not allow it to kill your dreams.

Starting a blog is not a child’s play and publishing your first book takes an amount of boldness but you just have to start somewhere. It’s funny how the majority of the things you worry about don’t eventually happen.

Writers churn out poems, novels, blog posts, non-fiction books and articles. A writer employs writing in creating several products which are all content related. It’s a fantastic idea to be multi-faceted and dexterous but it will be hard to make an impact as a writer if you want to be active in the creation of works for all genres of writing.

You cannot write for everybody. Choose a path you love, stick with the flow and grow till you become the best. I chose the path of creating blog posts on themes such as writing, public speaking, personal development, and productivity. I love writing poems but you will never see my poems here because it’s no longer my priority.

The power of focus cannot be overemphasized. In a noisy world, there is a multitude of busy people but only a few productive persons. I have learnt that it takes concentrated focus to complete a task. Yes, you have chosen a path but you need to be focused on your path or else you start misplacing your priorities.

For instance, if you want to be a genius in the world of fiction, it’s time to stay focused on reading and writing novels. Focus is a key that unlocks the power within and unleashes the ingenuity in your brain. It’s becoming increasingly difficult for people to stay focused, the more reason why it works like magic when you switch on the light of focus.

The world is swimming in a sea of distractions. Attention spans are rapidly decreasing; we blame everyone including the social media except ourselves. People that attract success are individuals who have learnt how to detach themselves from distractions.

Distraction is a subtle killer and reduces the worth of your time from gold to pennies. I recently told a friend how I create my own night during the day in order to find time for writing – I shut down my phone and I switch off the Internet. Twice this year, I had to uninstall Facebook App from my phone when it was becoming a huge distraction for me.

In the school of content creation, the big players create quality works and not junks. Quality work is a product of deep work; the successful execution of a demanding task. Blog posts, articles, and books that often become reference points are creative works forged in a place void of distractions.

In the process of scripting solid and robust blog posts in 2017, I learnt the importance of personal commitment to deep work. The term “Deep Work” became popular after an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University, Cal Newport, authored a book titled, “Deep Work.” You should consider adding the book to your library. Deep Work is intense and can be very demanding but it is the only way to stand out.

Every creative mind knows the essence of consistency and its ability to earn you more followers. In 2017, consistency impacted my writing life immensely in two ways: improvement in my writing style and increase in the number of my readers. It’s true that things get better with time; showing up every week with fresh content is a profound way of honing your writing skill. The more you write, the higher your chances of getting better at it.

Regardless of the message you have, consistency is a flavor that attracts others and gives them an impression of the authenticity of your passion. Someone I have come to deeply respect for his consistency is the American author and marketing expert, Seth Godin; I get emails from him every day and they are always fresh and profound thoughts.

If the only reason why you write is to get famous or win awards, the chances are high that you’ll soon be frustrated. The social media is built in a way that people use fame as a yardstick for measuring effectiveness. Unfortunately, fame is ephemeral and it puts writers under undue pressure. I’ll advise you to avoid that trap.

Chase progress and improvement in all you do instead of pursuing fame. The worse thing about fame is that at the end no one wins the race, there is always a tipping point for any viral content and it’s unsafe to live your life based on the lifespan of a viral content. Enjoy the process of honing your craft and fall in love with the craft itself – writing.

At the end, you need to know and understand that everyone’s journey is different. Desist from comparing yourself with others but compete with the best version of yourself. I admire a lot of great writers but I sincerely don’t wish to be like anyone. I seek to be the best version of myself and that is why I stick to my path with a keen focus on my goals. It’s time to plan for 2018 and hit the ground running.