"Hitting Singles”
It is no secret that I have been training to become a storyteller.
Although I have only been sharing my stories for the past 5 months or so, I have been studying, researching and prating for over 2 years.
For example, last week I spent 4 hours (a 21/2 hour movie) watching “The Firm” with Tom cruise while I listened to “The Hero’s 2 Journeys” so that I could breakdown the story formula.
I’m not going to lie, it has been tough.
I’m aware that adding a new skill doesn’t happen overnight, by working on it daily I will only get better.
Understanding that I am not going to “hit a homerun” with everything I write is probably the number 1 reason I am still in the game.
I’ve been focused on hitting singles.
It reminds me of my golf game.
Just to preface, I’m not very good at golf.
I know this and accept it. So in order to enjoy myself on the course I started with something very simple.
During a round my goal was to have: 1 good drive, 1 good fairway shot, 1 good pitch and 1 good putt. Not consecutively either.
That sounds like a colossal failure right?
To most people… Yes.
But something interesting happened…
Overtime I went out, I slowly got better. Going from a goal of having a minimum of 4 good shots, to 1 par per round and now put to 3 pars per round.
Yes, I’m still not very good but instead of focusing on the entire round, I am able to focus on each shot.
While I’m still not very good, I have gotten much better.
Same thing with my stories.
Instead of trying to go from beginner to expert overnight, writing a NY Times best seller, I’m focused on today’s story and making it the best I can.
Then tomorrow, I will take what I’ve learned today and apply it to tomorrow’s story.
Obviously I do want to master the craft of storytelling but I know it won’t come from constantly swinging for the fences.
That is why I will continue to focus on…
“Hitting Singles”
