Guy Kawasaki procrastinates like the rest of us
Asked what his writing ritual is during a recent webinar, Guy Kawasaki laughed and said: “Do as I say, not as I do.” What he tells us to do in APE | Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur, his new bestseller with co-author Shawn Welch, is to write every day. As he describes it in the chapter on How to Write Your Book:
“The habit of writing every day controls doubt and prevents quitting. Maybe it’s only writing a paragraph, massaging your outline or refining your vomit. [Ed note: this is Guy’s term for what Anne Lamott calls the shitty first draft.] If you wait for the perfect day when you’re financially set; the kids are clothed, fed and making straight As; your house is in perfect order; and global warming has stopped, you’ll never write.”
Guy’s real writing ritual
What he really does is as follows. To paraphrase his answer on the Webinar:
“I get up and check my email and Google+ and Facebook. Then I decide to follow up on a couple of things. And before you know it, it’s 10 AM and I need to eat breakfast. Then it’s time for ice hockey practice. And I gotta pick up the kids from school. And eat lunch. So now it’s 3 PM and I need to help with dinner. And then it’s after dinner and finally it’s about 9 PM and maybe then I can sit down and start writing.”
Guy, I love you. You are human. You have always been one of my favorite author celebrities.
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