“Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength.”
– Sigmund Freud
Brandon Sanderson is a writing machine.
He wakes up at noon, writes until 5pm, spends time with his family from 5pm to 10pm, and then stays up writing from 10am until around 4am or 5am.
He’s become one of the most prolific and beloved fantasy authors on the planet.
Which begs the question…
How does he write so much and enjoy it?
In this video, he explains a unique quality about himself that makes him capable of such steady, head-to-the-grindstone progress.
“I wake every day feeling about the same as I do every other day. I’m the opposite of bipolar in that if a bipolar person is manic and depressed, I am always in the same emotional state.”
“My emotional state is very even keeled, almost to my detriment. My wife will be like, ‘I’m dating a robot’ because I am so constant in the way that I feel and act. Things don’t make me emotional as easy as they seem to make a lot of people emotional… I am just happy basically all the time. Not having depression or anxiety means I can do this forever. Give me an eternity of this and I’m on-board.”
Good for him.
But if you’re not an anomaly and don’t experience such even-keeled positive emotions on a daily basis, how can you cope and make meaningful progress in your life… despite random emotional fluctuations?
Here are some things that help me 🙂
Build a Routine — Creating a routine can bring structure to your day and provide a sense of normalcy. A routine allows you to anticipate and plan your day in advance, reducing anxiety and promoting productivity.
Get Therapy — Knowing you have time scheduled every week to talk to someone about your emotions can help you let them go for now… or at least postpone acting on them.
Accept Your Seasons — Don’t expect to be the same everyday. In some seasons you’ll be highly motivated and other seasons might be slower. Just learn to live with the ebb-and-flow and to do the best with what you have.