You don't need to feel ready to start

Notas on gigants - Number 43

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The following letter is part of our “Notes from Giants” collection, in which we explore the thoughts and lives of humanity’s greatest minds.

🏷️ Categories: Writing, Habits, Motivation.

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In the late 1960s, Toni Morrison was a single mother of two and worked full-time as an editor at Random House. Her days were full of responsibilities: a demanding job, raising children, and the usual demands of adult life.

But there was something else.

She wanted to be a writer.

The problem was that she had neither time nor any guarantee of success. She had no recognition of any kind, and her only proximity to the literary world was behind the curtain: editing other people’s books.

If she waited until she felt ready and had more time… she would probably never begin.

So she did something different.

She decided to start writing even without proof that she would succeed.

Toni Morrison en 1970 [URL]

Writing before dawn

Morrison completely restructured her routine.

Instead of waiting to have time “someday,” she began waking up at 4:00 a.m. to write before her children woke up and before going to work. She wrote in the dark, in the earliest hours of the day, when no one interrupted her (Hoby, 2020).

She did not know whether she would make it.

But she could only find out by doing one thing: writing every day.

Day after day, page after page, Morrison acted like a writer.

Until she became one.

At the time, she did not know whether it would work; she only knew that her new routine was building the person she wanted to become. In 1970, after much effort, she published her first novel, The Bluest Eye (Morrison, 1970).

It was the beginning of an extraordinary career.

In time, she would publish some of the most important novels in modern literature, such as Song of Solomon and Beloved. In 1993, she received the Nobel Prize in Literature, becoming the first Black woman to receive that honor (Nobel Prize, 1993).

And it all began with one simple, repeated behavior: sitting down and writing.

Long before she felt confident in herself.

She did not wait for perfect conditions to begin writing.
She became a writer by acting like one.

You become what you repeat.

Confidence is a consequence of action

We are often told that we must believe in ourselves in order to reach our potential.

In reality, the relationship often works in the opposite direction: confidence is, many times, the result of acting first and proving to yourself what you are capable of. That is why Toni Morrison’s change worked. She did not wait to feel ready.

She simply started writing.

And from that change, everything around her began to change.

We are what we do repeatedly

A friend of mine used to live a very ordinary life.

Office job: eight hours sitting down. Then home, screens, and zero exercise. The kind of person who does not realize how sedentary he has become… until his body starts shouting it. One day, while heading somewhere, I said to him: “Let’s take the stairs.”

He got to the top completely out of breath.

There was no debate after that. He saw it clearly himself: climbing four flights of stairs left him breathless. He did not want to keep living like that. It seemed a shame to him. And the first thing I suggested was so simple it almost sounded silly. But it worked.

“Every time you go somewhere, choose the stairs instead of the elevator.”

Every time he left home and every time he came back, he saw the stairs. That was his daily reminder. His small daily test of identity: choosing movement instead of choosing comfort.

And then the rest came.

• First, he got used to choosing the stairs.

• Then he discovered the pleasure of going out for a walk.

• Later, when walking began to feel more natural, he started jogging a little.

And when that change had already become part of him, he asked himself another question: if he was already acting like someone who takes care of himself, why keep eating like someone who does not?

Little by little, he improved his diet and transformed his whole identity.

If you are blocked by doubt, let your behavior lead the way.

• Write as if you were already a writer.

• Walk as if you were already an active person.

• Choose as if you were already the person you want to become.

Your repeated actions end up defining your behaviors and standards of living.

What would the kind of person you want to be do?

Then do that.

Want to learn more? Here are 3 related ideas to go deeper:

1. Maya Angelou’s strange writing routine

2. You will never feel ready to grow (and that is a good sign)

3. Anthony Trollope’s 15-minute writing routine for writing even without time

✍️ Your turn: What small and easy-to-repeat action could you take today that might build your new direction for the future?

💭 Quote of the day: “For me, writing is a kind of slow, advanced reading. If there’s a book you really want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” — Toni Morrison for the Cincinnati Enquirer. (Ellen Brown, 1981).

See you next time! 👋

References 📚

1. Brown, E. (1981). Cincinnati Enquirer Newspaper URL

2. Hoby, H. (2020, 29 mayo). Toni Morrison: ‘I’m writing for black people. I don’t have to apologise’. The Guardian. URL

3. Morrison, T. (1970). The Bluest Eye.

4. Nobel Prize in Literature 1993. NobelPrize.org. URL