Lately, I’ve been doing a pretty good job of writing my fiction novel according to a schedule–not waiting until the “mood” or the “writing magic” strikes me. I just sit down and sure enough, stuff comes out and even though there is the odd moment of staring at the screen–with the cursor blinking at me, reminding me (blink, blink) that I’m not getting any younger or (sigh) any closer (blink, blink) to becoming Stephanie Meyer/Sophie Kinsella/Meg Cabot and (blink, blink) who do I think I am anyway trying to write a novel–I do actually manage to get a decent amount of writing done just by being plain, old, sometimes creatively-uninspired me in yoga pants with laughable bank account and starting.

Sounds easy, right? Just start. Never mind that it’s taken me the better part of a year to really start the starting with any regularity.

I don’t know about you but I often have to spend a lot of time thinking about something. Sometimes with wild and gleeful anticipation and other times with dread and a slight sense of panic but whatever it is, I often percolate and ruminate and muse and imagine and squint at the girl on the swing that hangs above my desk and even when I’ve done all that, I amuse myself by looking up synonyms for words like percole and ruminate and muse…

Oh, I have great intentions and I come up with amazing ideas and plans (have you ever noticed that the brilliant ideas you get at 3:42 am sound absolutely ridiculous when you say them aloud to someone at 10:00 the same morning?) but I am still training myself on the consistently doing part.

In my head, some things seem so big and bold and barrier-filled. Sometimes in a wonderful, thrilling way and other times in a scary, unwieldy way. And whether I’m full of shivery excitement or goosebumpy with nerves, the fact is that I need to move past thinking about scenarios that merely keep me revelling in the possibilities…because just thinking about them won’t get me closer to achieving them. Neither does all that doubting, insecure self talk that goes through my head.

Ah, but it’s such fun and so familar and safe.

Often, successful career evolution or change, like many other things, is about developing good habits, tackling small things every day and yep, just committing regular time to the doing part even when you don’t particularly feel the magic. Then, the tough part: you have to rinse, lather and repeat many, many, many (sigh) times.

So annoying how that works.

But thousands and thousands of fiction words–and blink, blinks–later, I can tell you that it actually does. So, if you’re staring at the sides of your cubicle or (lucky you!) out the window thinking, “How do I get to where I want to go?”, try what at first might feel monotonous and mundane: think about what little steps you can take on a regular basis to help start your career going in directions you dream of.

And then launch yourself out of that chair and start doing them!

I’m off to lather, rinse and repeat.