Most of you know that I participated in this year's ScriptFrenzy. (Read my excited post on starting the experiment.) The contest ended on April 30th, and it's time to debrief on my experience.
I have always been intrigued by these contests, not to win it or even to write something good, but to try it out and see how I do. I have never written a script before, so this was supposed to be my April adventure activity.
Numerically speaking, it didn't go very well. I wrote five pages.
I also admit that the quality of work was pretty lousy too.
But when it comes to stepping out of our normal routines - whether it's a new habit or adopting a different perspective - our failed attempts can be some of the best encouragement while we develop. There's no harm in giving ourselves credit for things accomplished along the way. In fact, it's an important step when we're trying to make lasting, positive change.
While I didn't write much on my play, I watched plays in the last month, and I learned to watch them with a writer's eye. Plays, TV shows, movies all fall into a different perspective when you're noticing how the stage directions, scenery, and lighting add subtle effects to the story itself. I read plays in the last month and went to the reading of a play that's on its way to being produced.
And I went from having written zero pages of a script to having written FIVE! I expect to at least double that next time.
When we start defining success in ways that are non-traditional (money earned, numbers reached, time saved, etc.), we start seeing that failure exists for some people, but success and failure only make their mark based on how we define it for ourselves. Only YOU can really give yourself credit for your successes.
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Janice I love, love, love that you point out that failure is all in the interpretation!
ReplyDeleteI have found that growth happens when we see what we've done "wrong" with something so we can understand more clearly which direction to turn next. We appreciate the light more when we've seen the darkness. The key is to shift your focus quickly to the good things.
You were able to see the positive points in your experiment and expand on those. Whatever we focus on is where our energy will go. It's a wonderful thing to look for the good in life. More of it will show up for us if that's what we are looking at.
Giving ourselves credit for any positive progress is important to uplift and inspire us. Thank you for sharing such valuable insights. You go girl!
~ Kim Pottle