Congratulations, you are now an elite athlete

Issue No. 996

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Oh, hi friends!

What if you considered yourself an elite athlete?

Except you replaced the sport with, say, writing. Or launching your new business. Or being an actor. Or acquiring a new skill. You are now the Naomi Osaka of [X].

How would an elite athlete approach their process? Focus, discipline, sleep? Which comes first?

How would you change the structure of your days?

What could you sacrifice?

What could you gain?

How would you train?

What would you protect at all costs?

Maybe before you get there, you already have to be there — whether anyone else realizes it or not.

Beginning with Sartoris I discovered that my own little postage stamp of native soil was worth writing about and that I would never live long enough to exhaust it…. It opened up a gold mine of other people, so I created a cosmos of my own. I can move these people around like God, not only in space but in time too.”

— William Faulkner from The Paris Review (h/t Alexandra Isles and the Proust Group)

You might come from your “own little postage stamp of native soil.” Or maybe you’re creating a cosmos of your own in some other creative form. Remember his example. You can keep going deep — and will never exhaust all that you can find.

Well, You’ve Heard Me Talk About It Enough

The BMI Workshop composer-lyricist application is open! If you’re interested in learning how to write musical theater (or you already write musical theater), consider applying to the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop! You will meet incredible writers, you’ll learn to fail faster and get better and take criticism in the room (let me tell you how it feels to write a comedy song and no one laughs...) — and it’s free. (Can you believe it?)

The two-year program set me on a wild trajectory and I’ll never look back. Info here. Deadline is August 1. If you’re the slightest bit interested, do it.

(And if you're not into musical theater but are considering applying to some other thing and haven't made it happen yet, DO THAT. You can do it!)

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You can also support my work by checking out my motivational journal, Do It For Yourself, designed to guide you through your creative and work projects.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Love, Kara

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