Ask better questions
Two days ago, a colleague told me she’d been wanting to write a book for many years. She’s been an English teacher for decades and has taught in the Brazilian favela and many other countries. She’s got her own philosophy about the profession.
She said, “I want to write my stories to encourage and inspire new teachers, so they can see what this job really involves. It’s about more than just teaching grammar. It’s a political job.”
The message and audience of her book are clear. This is great. But there’s a problem.
Every time she’s one inch away from putting thoughts to paper, she starts questioning whether she’s special enough, interesting enough, or expert enough.
This is why her book is still sitting in her head.
Have you ever felt like her?
If so, I’d like to tell you exactly what I told her. It’s a new idea that came to me while we were talking.
It’s true that many teachers have more extraordinary stories than you. It’s also true that many teachers have a lot more experience and knowledge than you. But these guys aren’t going to write a book. They didn’t come up with a book idea. You did. So I think you should go ahead and write. One sentence at a time.
She promised herself she’s going to publish her stories.
I really hope she will.
“Am I special enough?” is a question that takes us nowhere. It brings nothing but self-doubt and procrastination.
Let’s change it then.
Here are two better ones:
“What do I care about?”
“When exactly (dates and time) am I going to write about that?”
If we change the questions, we’ll likely change our actions too.
Keep writing beautiful things.
Talk soon,
Fabio
A couple of links: