Why I write what I write

PEOPLE sometimes ask me how I’m able to write so much.

I’ve thought about that myself. I write two to three new blog posts per week, I’m working on my second book and I’ve been writing letters to The Fiji Times for a couple of years now.

The kicker? I basically write the same message in many slightly varied ways.

The reason I’m able to draw so much writing inspiration and write so prolifically? I know from experience that you have to attack life, especially selfimprovement, from many different angles, constantly, over long periods of time just to get it to work a little bit.

If you’ve been following me, you know I’m not here to give you “one little trick” to “fix your life overnight”.

I might use clever headlines to get people in the door, but the reality is that you’ll have to come at the same problem in many different ways to create real change in your life.

So, even if you feel like you get a little jolt of motivation from these letters, only for it to fade throughout the week, just know that the subtle repetition you’re experiencing can and will help over the longterm.

Here’s what will usually happen if you stick with the process of self-improvement long enough.

At first, you’ll just bathe in the information repeatedly without actually doing anything. Many people do get stuck there. But for some people, the combination of those little motivation jolts, heart flutters, and moments of excitement start to accumulate.

You know the feeling I’m talking about — that brief moment where you’re like “hell yeah I can do this!” and you imagine a better future for yourself that feels so good and so real.

Then, you’ll have moments where you do implement the information you’ve received, but it’ll be in a short spurt — anywhere from an hour to a day to a week or even a month. Even though you might find yourself at square one and having to go into the inspiration well again, you’ll know what it feels like to have sustained yourself, period. Again, most people don’t make it past this phase either, but knowing you’re capable at all gives you a fighting chance.

Before I found writing and it clicked to the point where I kept going without quitting, I’d tried all sorts of little businesses and schemes to make a living in the US — sold mattresses, joined some questionable MLM companies, among other things (which have one great benefit — they get you into self-help and reading).

I remember feeling like, “You know what? I’ve swung and missed before. But I know I can swing, so I’m going to try sincerely again.”

It took this time because I was well aligned with my strengths — communication and writing.

That’s a major component — finding that thing that fits.

If you’re able to find it, you can look back at some of your trial and error to help you realise you can pull it off though I must confess that all my efforts to provide value to the Ministry of Education has been a dismal failure. So I console myself by thinking that there are none so blind who will not see.

But then, eventually, you pull it off. Maybe.

“Success” is so tricky, nebulous, and hard to grasp that I know I’ll have a role to play forever. I know people will relapse, need to start over, get stuck, and go through that cycle over and over again, many never escaping but some who will.

There was once a time in my life where “escaping the matrix” so to speak ... felt impossible.

Just didn’t seem feasible to me at the time. So just know that your level of motivation or feelings about your future don’t necessarily dictate it.

Life is pretty crazy. On a long enough time scale, you can catch the wave of motivation that can carry you through a life time.

Don’t give up. Keep searching for it. And you’ll find it. Maybe.

ARVIND MANI

Nadi