A Fun, Simple Way to Get Motivated -- and Published

“Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain… you can sit there a long time before anything happens.” — Chuck Close, photographer and painter

Dear Right Way to Travel Reader,

I just read a great article about New Year’s resolutions today… and why people rarely stick to them.

The article told a story about a real estate guru who sells programs on how to become a successful real estate investor.

“If you give one of my customers — someone who has completed his real estate education and is fully prepared to start investing profitably — a choice between actually getting to work and buying another course to learn more,” he tells the writer, “he will buy the course… [Most people] want to feel like they are on the road to success. But they don’t want that road to end. They like the journey. They fear the destination.”

This article rings true for me. My goal for the last year and a half has been to buy an apartment overseas. I’ve bought all the necessary books I need to do it. I have the right contacts. And yet I still haven’t done it.

And, if you’re reading this newsletter and you haven’t yet published your first travel article or sold your first photo, then maybe this is true for you, too.

Michael Masterson, a writer and entrepreneur who’s headed up a handful of multi-million-dollar companies, has a solution for this kind of inaction. Following the simple principles discovered by psychologist B. F. Skinner, he uses positive reinforcement to propel himself forward — and you can, too.

By rewarding and motivating yourself for your daily successes — big and small — you CAN get published.

Here’s how:

** 1. Write down a list of all the things you’d like to get done each day. (Example: Research three publications that might be a good fit for your story, upload five photos to a stock photo website for possible sale, drop by the new B&B down the street and check it out as a possible topic to write about.)

** 2. Cross off each accomplishment as soon as you finish it.

** 3. Give yourself a reward each time you cross something off.

Rewards can be as simple as eating lunch only after you’ve finished writing a story, treating yourself to coffee with a friend after you’ve researched a few publications and read their writer’s guidelines, or using the money from your first paid article to buy something nice for yourself.

What are the things you enjoy most in your daily life? Use them as a motivation each time you meet a small goal. Do it daily, and you’ll be on your way to getting published in no time.

— Lori

Lori Allen
Director, Great Escape Publishing

P.S. You can read Michael Masterson’s full article about using rewards to accomplish your goals, here: Rewarding Yourself

[Editor’s Note: Learn more about opportunities to profit from your travels (and even from your own home) in our free online newsletter The Right Way to Travel.]