Meet Their Needs with Excellence and Generosity

Note to readers: Thank you for your patience as I moved from Los Angeles to Sydney. I’ve safely arrived! The distress has decreased dramatically and the eustress has increased. Along with that, my thoughts on writing have been rather more on the spiritual side. I hope they still give you food for thought.

Life has been a whirlwind of activity the last ten days as John started his new job and I spend my days looking for a new home for us. As I wait at bus stops, I’ve been listening to John C. Maxwell‘s book Failing Forward on my iPod. He talks about how attitude affects everything, and how there is truth to the philosophy that what you believe will happen, will happen. He also says, “Once you know what matters to people, do your best to meet their needs with excellence and generosity. Offer your best with no thought toward what you might receive in return.”

When I was talking to God yesterday about whether I should apply for part-time work to help pay my master’s degree tuition, I suddenly realized that in our conversations God has made it clear over the years that writing is an act of obedience for me. He has never made any promises to me about money in that regard. (It may happen, but it wasn’t promised.)

Reading my Bible this morning, Jesus asks two blind men in the book of Matthew if they believe he can heal them. When they respond affirmatively, Jesus says, “Become what you believe” (The Message translation), or “According to your faith be it unto you” (King James version).

And when I sat down for a moment of quiet contemplation to think about what I can say on the Routines for Writers blog today, it hit me how connected all those ideas are. (It’s amazing how quickly my brain can make connections – when I’m quiet. Routine to remember – be quiet for at least five minutes a day!)

It seems to me that I am supposed to write. The money is not the motivator – it isn’t what is going to tell me if I succeeded in the task God gave me on earth – knowing whether I gave people what they needed, that is how I’ll know if I succeeded. So much of what we learn about how to have “a successful writing career” has to do with money. But even though people think about money and talk about money a lot, that doesn’t make it an accurate marker in our writing lives.

If my attitude is an important part of my writing routines, and if that attitude and belief system will help me “become what I believe,” then I may want to try a new routine for a while. I promise here in public that I will not look at my writing as a money-making venture for the rest of the year. I want to see if my writing changes (improves?) when I ask myself what I can give to others. What do they need, and how can I offer it to them with excellence and generosity?

I’m not sure how I’ll go about this change of attitude. Everything I’ve been thinking about as I prepare to apply for a master in creative writing degree has doubtless inspired some of my heart-change. If you have any great slogans or affirmations or other advice, please share them. They may help others as well – and that means I’ve encouraged YOU to meet others’ needs with excellence and generosity. Hmm, this could be a trend.

Take-away:

New Routine 1: Be quiet for at least 5 minutes a day.

New Routine 2: Think about how to write with excellence and generosity about what people need and without thought to monetary gain.