Bikram Choudhury (love him or loathe him) is the worldâs most infamous yoga instructor who built a wildly successful business based on just 26 yoga postures. So what can Bikram yoga teach us about writing a book?
âYou fail only if you stop writing.â ~ Ray Bradbury
Iâve been doing Bikram yoga for over five years, and in that time I have never managed to do the pose Toe Stand.
I bend at the waist, in Tree pose, touch my fingers to the floor and sit down on my heels. Then, I pick one hand up off the floor and bring it to my heart centre ⊠and thatâs about as far as I can go.
That is until, last week.
This time, I set my intention (Hot Tip 3), and brought my other hand up to my chest.
I didnât hesitate, I didnât fall â I balanced, on my toes, two hands off the floor.
I finally balanced in Toe Stand â a pose Iâve been practicing for over five years, a pose Iâd been saying I could never do.
You think I stopped there? Happy I achieved my âgoalâ?
Nope.
I did Toe Stand again the following week; and the week after that.
I kept going.
For Bikram is a practice; and a practice means doing it over and over again.
Writing is also a practice; that means you have to write, over and over again.
You have to write when you donât feel like it.
Write when you donât think you can do it.
Write when the conditions are ârightâ.
Write when the conditions are âwrongâ.
Write, even, when you think youâve perfected the practice of writing.
Believe it or not, this is easier to do than stopping when things get tough.
If you abandon the practice entirely, itâs harder to get back into the practice (if youâve ever given up your exercise routine, youâll know what I mean).
Itâs not a fad for 90 days; itâs a habit.
Stretch the muscle.
Exercise the habit.
I had this conversation with a couple of clients this week. There is never the âperfect timeâ to practice, to sit down at your computer and write. You have to accept that nothing is perfect (Hot Tip 15).
Writing a book takes time; time to chip away at your chapters.
Some days itâs easy; some days itâs shit hard.
But every little thing you do counts towards progress, even if you canât see it at first.
Thatâs every scribble on scrap paper, every note on every napkin.
Every second snippet of time between client meetings, keynote presentations, speaking gigs or workshops â it all counts.
Sure, sitting jammed into your car in a multi-storey park on a 32-degree day hashing out your next idea might not sound that glamorous, but it still counts.
In fact, itâs actually valuable time away from your computer, tapping into your creativity.
It all counts.
It all counts towards your practice.
It all counts towards your goal.
British playwright Brian Clark wasnât lying when he said:
Write.
Write more.
Write even more.
Write even more than that.
Write when you donât want to.
Write when you do.
Write when you have something to say.
Write when you donât.
Write every day.
Keep writing.
So keep writing.
Keep practising.
Keep practising, even if it means you have to stand on your toes to do so.
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