A Time to Thrive can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. To me it is a call to renewal. That renewal can be anything from the personal to business. In this blog I want to talk about business.
Time is an Endangered Species
Something of a play on words here, but there is truth as well. In my daily Thought of the Day I quoted Benjamin (I call him Ben) Franklin, Lost time is never found again. There is so much truth in that saying. All of us have wasted it, sometimes to our regret.
Unlike animals being protected by law, time has no protection. We use in wrongly or carelessly, it doesn’t matter. It is lost forever.
All Time is Important
While all time is important, I want to talk about time set aside for business. You do set it aside for writing, don’t you?
If not, why not?
If you want to be a published author then you have to get serious. That means you set aside time. And the first time frame should be prayer. Pray about your writing, about God’s call, and about the 4 Ws.
Who is writing? (You or AI)
Where are you writing?
When are you writing?
What are you writing about?
Who are you writing for?
Though you may not have written a single word, you need to have someone in mind. Many experts will say don’t write for yourself. But I disagree. Chances are your interests influence what you write. If that is true, then I submit that your audience is likely you, perhaps at a younger age. Or you can market to the average reader of your books, assuming you are already published.
Here you have two possible avatars that you can write for: you or the average reader of previous books. It may be possible to write for both, but for now it is one or the other.
It is Fragile
You may be like me and find that perfectly quiet time leads to sleepiness. My solution is to play some good Christian music. It can itself be quiet, but not too quiet. The music coopts a part of brain, leaving the rest to focus on the task on hand. In fact, as I wrote this I put on a CD.
It is in the background, but loud enough that I could stop and sing along. But its primary job is keeping my physical senses alive while my mental is quietly thinking.
Another trick is to read while writing. That is, I read out loud the text that I am writing.
Both work for me. It doesn’t really matter which one I use. The point is that my mind is kept busy recording the music or words, so I am kept alert while doing the serious work. Instead of wasting time dozing or daydreaming, I can actually get work done.
When you use your time wisely, then you will truly thrive as will your work.
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R. Frederick Riddle is an author, teacher, publisher, and the owner of T&R Independent Books. The website is at Home – T&R Independent Bookstore (trbookservices.com).
