<ul><li>Torturing yourself won’t make you a better person. Learning will. You may resist examining what you did wrong but performing a thorough analysis of your mistakes is what will help you to stop repeating them.</li><li>Remind yourself: I don’t need to do good all the time to be a good person. </li></ul>You’re a smart, capable person. If you learn how to deal with guilt, you’ll become a much more effective writer.

13)Ask yourself, “what can I learn from this situation?” 

Did you know that guilt can affect your health? Negative emotions and thoughts will elevate your adrenaline and cortisol. These are stress hormones that cause our bodies to respond when we encounter threats. But when high levels of these hormones last too long, we get high blood pressure, a rapid heartbeat and inflammation. Don’t do this to yourself! <ul><li>If you’re struggling with this issue , particularly relating to writing, here are 13 ways on how to deal with guilt: </li></ul>

Guilt

<ul><li>Writing is time-consuming and make sure you allow yourself a reasonable amount of time to get the job done.Instead, as the old expression goes, “under promise and over deliver.”</li><li>Track how long it takes you to write and build in plenty of extra time for researching (first) and editing (later.) </li></ul>

<ul><li>If you think guilt is stopping you from writing, consider whether the real problem might be fear. Or impatience. Or anger</li><li>Deal with the real problem and the guilt should dissolve.</li></ul>

6)Look for the emotions beneath the guilt. 

<ul><li> If you feel guilty about your lack of productivity, you’re not going to be productive at all — you’re far more likely just to be busy.</li><li>Productivity means doing what you really need to do to reach your goals</li></ul>

9)Understand the difference between “busy-ness” and being truly 

<ul><li>Of course, you’re responsible for your actions but they don’t make you a bad person. Or a bad writer. In fact, the belief that you’re bad is precisely what contributes to your “bad” behavior.</li><li>Change and learning occur when you recognize you’ve made a mistake, and when you develop a strategy for correcting the problem. An attitude of self-compassion will help (while guilt will usually interfere.)</li></ul>

12)Stop calling yourself a bad person (or a bad writer). 

<ul><li>Striving for perfection is totally unrealistic. And, most important, mistakes help us learn. You will learn far more from every screw-up than you will from any laudatory achievement</li><li>Allow yourself to see how a mistake that made you feel guilty has helped you become a better, more skillful writer. Remind yourself that today is a great day to make mistakes. </li></ul>

3)Appreciate the mistakes you make

<ul><li>You are you. This makes you different from everyone else around you. Decide how much time you’re able to spend researching, writing or editing and start smaller than that. Yes, smaller.</li><li>Even a five-minute-a-day writing habit is infinitely superior to a no-writing-per-day habit. (And five minutes a day is also superior to 35 minutes once a week, even though the volume of time is exactly the same.)</li></ul>

5)Don’t accept the standards and expectations of other people

<ul><li>Most guilt simply makes us feel bad about ourselves. Instead, figure out how to build a sustainable writing process, so that you can do what you say you’re going to do. </li></ul>

11) Make changes, instead of wallowing in guilt

<ul><li>We’re all different and we all have our own strengths and weaknesses. Looking at what another person can accomplish will not help you in the least</li><li>Break the bad habit of comparing yourself to others and, instead, focus on competing against the old you</li><li>Did you used to be able to write a 500-word article in 60 minutes? Try to do it in 45. Or 30. That’s the only type of comparison that’s going to be meaningful and useful to you.</li></ul>

8)Stop comparing yourself to others

<ul><li>If you’ve made a mistake, then apologize for it and figure out how to avoid repeating the problem in the future. Everyone makes mistakes. We’re all human beings.</li></ul>

7)Stop magnifying your guilt. 

<ul><li>And base them on analysis rather than hope or guesswork.</li><li>Setting unrealistic — or unexamined — goals is a huge barrier to success.</li><li>Make your goals small and then hit them out of the park.</li></ul>

1)Make sure your writing goals are reasonable. 

<ul><li>I’ve always loved the quote (that’s been attributed to a wide variety of writers): “I believe in inspiration and I see that it’s available at 9 am every day.</li><li>Set up the conditions under which creativity can thrive.</li></ul>

10)Understand that while you can’t force creativity, you need to

<ul><li>These people will always find more than one way to make you feel guilty. </li><li>If this person is your boss, seriously think about looking for another job. The market currently favours job seekers over employers.</li></ul>

4)Avoid people who blame, shame and judge. 

If you’ve never learned how to deal with guilt, make doing so one of your most important goals for 2022…...

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