You’re a perfectionist? These eight mantras will get your writing done.

Perfectionism is an enemy of getting any writing done. Aspiring writers spend entire lifetimes tweaking and preparing to write the perfect book. Many never end up publishing that book.

Here are eight mantras that helped me publish my latest book. Try saying them to yourself when you get stuck.

1. “There’s more where that came from.” For a long time I was held back by the mentality that my next piece of work had to be big. This was actually made worse by the success of my first book. I now try to take on the mentality that there’s always more. I can write today, and I can write tomorrow. I don’t have to treat my writing like it’s drops of liquid gold that must be salvaged. There’s always more.
2. “I can always improve this.” The blank page is scary. For me, this is caused by the image I hold in my head of what I’ll put on that page. But getting from blank page to that vision is a leap. It’s better to put something on the page, and remember that I’ll edit it later. Or, more often, I’ll completely rewrite it.
3. “It’s okay to say it again.” If you feel like you only get one chance to say something, you make it harder to say. You spend time thinking it over in your head, and you don’t get a chance to react to it on the page. If you aren’t afraid to write something twice, it makes it easier to write it the first time. If you do write it again, you’ll find you say it better than before.
4. “Can I say this in a different way?” If I keep my fingers on the keys wondering what to write for too long, I’ll get frozen. Following the previous mantra, I give myself permission to say something I’ve said before. But I find a way to say it differently.
5. “It’s better than you think it is.” Perfectionists are the harshest critics of their own work. Your ego wants to nitpick your writing because it keeps you from publishing it. If you don’t publish it, it doesn’t fail, and you don’t have to come up with something new. I remind myself that my writing is better than I think it is. Sometimes my readers don’t agree, and I learn how to make it better next time. But most of the time my readers do agree, and my work does better than I thought it would.
6. “You are a bricklayer.” Writing is a job. You can spend a lifetime working on your word selection and pacing and storytelling, but ultimately you are laying down words like bricks. I find it helpful to think of myself as a bricklayer. I’m sure I’ve learned some skills in my moments of perfectionism that come through in my work without me thinking about them. But the bricklayer mentality helps me actually get the work done.
7. “There’s always tomorrow.” Sometimes you have a hard day. You may wake up feeling great, but find that your writing is terrible. It doesn’t matter. All that matters was that you wrote. I find that if I string enough days in a row, eventually I have good days.
8. “You won’t live forever.” This directly contradicts the previous mantra, but it has a different purpose. If you forget that your life is short, you put off writing. I find that remembering I’ll die gives me the urgency to do my work while I’m here.

Perfectionism starts in your mind. If you say these mantras in your mind, you can change your mind, and overcome that perfectionism. Try these out, and see if they work. Do you have your own mantras? I’d love to hear them in the comments.

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My new book is The Heart to Start. I believe you have something to offer the world, and this book will help you make it real. Buy it on Amazon, because the world needs your art »