Setbacks are bound to happen. Whenever you experience one in your writing business or any other area of your life,  maintain a positive mindset. Things will eventually get better. In fact, sometimes things turn out better than before, as a result of that “seeming” setback or “bad luck”!

The story you’re about to read illustrates this perfectly. You may therefore find it useful to recall or reread it to boost your morale anytime you’re down.

I’ve heard a similar story before, but this version recently narrated to me by Moumouni Toure (a Beninese friend here in Calavi), distills the lesson about what we term “good” and “bad” luck much better. Read it, and you’ll agree with me

A King Discovers The True Meaning of Luck

What is luck? And when is it right to call it “good” or “bad”? Or how is “good luck” different from “bad luck”? At what point does one become the other? This interesting story basically shows that luck is what we make of it. There is really no good luck or bad luck. Read on to understand.

There was once a King who had a trusted servant/body guard who served him diligently and faithfully.

The servant held very strong beliefs about God, and especially adversity. He always gave gratitude to God whenever anything good happened. And when something bad happened, he would say “It’s God’s will. There is a purpose for it, though we may not know it now”.

The King Loses a Finger…Due to Bad Luck?

One day the king went hunting with the servant. At a point he was attacked by a group of wild animals. The servant valiantly fought off the animals and managed to save the king – who however lost a finger.

With the animals chased off, the king looked at his missing finger in horror. To his extreme annoyance however, the servant (predictably) said “It’s God’s will.There is a purpose for it, though we may not know it now”.

Thoroughly vexed, the injured king had the servant locked up in prison as soon as they got back to the palace. He simply could not see how any good could come from his loss of a finger!

The King’s Missing Finger Saves His Life

Some months later, the king went hunting again, but this time alone.

Unfortunately, he got captured by a group of savages who were looking for a human being to sacrifice to their gods. He was taken to their king, who asked them to prepare him for the ceremony.

But when the medicine man examined him to be sure he was free from any defects (a requirement for the sacrifice to be accepted by the gods), they discovered he was missing a finger.

When the king of the cannibals heard this, he ordered the immediate release of the nine-fingered prisoner. His continued presence threatened to nullify all the preparations to appease the gods!

Greatly relieved at being set free, the king hurried home, thinking how right his servant had been.

He Frees The Servant – And Learns An Even Greater Lesson About (Seeming) Bad Luck!

Getting back home, the relieved king promptly ordered the release of his servant from prison.

The latter arrived and immediately asked why the king had freed him. The king explained how his missing finger had prevented him from being used as a sacrifice, noting that the servant had been right all along.

He had indeed lost that finger for a good purpose that he could not see at the time!

At this point the king proceeded to apologise to the servant for sending him to jail.

But the servant quickly stopped him, pointing out that had he not been in prison, he (the servant) would have accompanied the king on the hunt. And the savages would have found him perfect for the sacrifice i.e. he would have been killed!

In other words he noted, getting put in jail had turned out to be a run of good luck disguised as bad luck!

Final Words: When Bad Things Happen, It May Be for Our Own Good

You may have heard of the concept of the glass cup filled to the middle, which an optimist would call “half-filled” and a pessimist “half-empty”.

How we think when things go wrong in our lives can influence how far we progress towards our goal. When you lose a client, miss a deadline or make a major mistake in a write-up you submit, don’t beat yourself up so bad that other things you need to do suffer.

Some good may still come of it. You can even create that benefit yourself. For instance, to prevent a future occurrence of such mistakes , you could decide to develop ruthless focus in doing your work in future. As a result, your work quality may go through the roof. And your fees would follow suit!

I’ve never been one to rationalize my failures. However, my study of the Science of Getting Rich eBook  tells me I may not get something I want when I try, not because I’m incompetent, but because I’m not ready for it.

There are forces working on our behalf, to prepare us for every stage of advancement in life. When they keep us from going in a direction we want, at a particular point in time, it can be painful or frustrating.

However, later on, the benefit of hindsight could make it apparent, that we are better off.

Remembering this can help us deal more successfully with inevitable ups and downs we experience in life. We will understand that it will often be to a useful end.

I’ll end with the following words of wisdom from Jim Rohn:

Smile at adversity and act quickly to eliminate it. Expect adversity for it shall surely appear. Be grateful for adversity for it forces the human spirit to grow – for surely the human character is formed not in the absence of difficulty, but in our response to difficulty. All things, even adversity, have their worthy purpose.

The above title is not a play on words. This article highlights an often missed truth that determines how productive we can be each day.

Creative types (writers, developers etc), often go through psychological peaks and troughs, that affect their output.

There are those times when you find yourself in the zone, and relentlessly churn out awesome content, to the delight of your readers – and possibly clients. But there are also times when you feel “empty” of ideas.

Suddenly, you’re unable to get anything useful written, and you don’t know why!

Most Writers Can Relate To The Above Scenario. Some Call It “Writer’s Block”.

Maybe it is. But from years of writing, and studying what many successful writers say about writing, I have come to the firm conclusion that you can immunize yourself against that notorious affliction.

It however takes great mental stamina, and self-discipline, to overcome that problem. And if you do, you’ll ultimately arrive at a point where you can achieve consistent output.

There are so many factors that can negatively affect your ability to write productively at any point in time. Fundamental is your interest in, and passion for the subject. You will also commit to doing intelligent research to cover any gaps in your knowledge.

Having said that, even after all that is in place, many writers still get periodically stuck, unable to finish what they start writing.

One possible cause is the way they plan their writing.

The most successful writers carefully study the conditions that help them achieve the best writing output at any time. Then they work hard to replicate it those conditions as often as possible.

Over time they develop a tried and tested system for creating those ideas conditions literally at will. Most of this is really a mental process.

However, at a point certain physical activities can greatly impact – negatively too – on a creative person’s ability to get the needed work done as and when required.

The Following Narrative (Based On a True Story) Illustrates the Above Point

I once read about a teenage girl who got a standing ovation after playing the violin before a sold out concert audience.

When asked afterwards about how she managed to develop such great prowess in playing the instrument, she replied that her success secret was “Planned Neglect”.

According to her, when she first started learning to play the violin, she tried to please her parents by doing her chores BEFORE retiring to practice. After a while however, she noticed that each time she did this, she often got tired too early to practice as well as she knew was necessary.

So, she decided to do it the other way around i.e. practicing first, and only doing her chores or any other tasks AFTER she was satisfied with her practice efforts. She became a child prodigy in the process!

There’s more.

Documented accounts have it that geniuses like Edison and other great minds often worked in rooms that looked disorganized, and which they rarely let anyone “organize” for them.

Yet they were reportedly able to find anything they needed, by themselves, in those same chaotic environments.

For them, the priority was their work. The business of neatly arranging their social spaces came in second place.

Guess what? The world was better off for it!

Is It Possible Your Writing Suffers Because You’re TOO ORGANIZED?

Most writers determine where, when and how they work.

Their clients trust them to make the best use of their time to get the writing project done to the right standard, and on time.

As a writer, are you too organized to be productive? Do you, for instance, obsess over house keeping? Do you always want to make sure everything is in its place before you can settle down to write? There’s nothing wrong with that. As long as you’re sure it will not wear you out before you can get some decent work done, keep doing it.

If, on the other hand, it’s making you less productive than you’re capable of being, consider adopting the “planned neglect” strategy described in this article.

You could, for instance, hire someone to do those tasks for you (if you can afford it), so you can save physical and mental energy to focus on achieving your primary goal.

Remember: If you fail to turn in your written works to specification, and ahead of agreed deadlines, the client is unlikely to call on you in future.

Further Reading

1. This artcile is based on excertps from my ebook titled “Why You Keep Failing To Achieve Your Writing Goals!(10 Habits that are Holding You Back & How to Eliminate Them)”. Click here to get the full ebook as a PDF download.

2. Proven Techniques (& Strategies) You Can Use To Start & Finish Writing ANYTHING” (FREE PDF Report)