I’ve recently been gaining a lot of benefit from the concept of the presupposition of success. I first came across this a couple of years ago, in a session on self-hypnosis at a writing festival.

 

In that context, it was about introducing a statement into your subconscious, assuming an answer to a particular question would come you at a specified time. I have used this often since to make progress on writing projects, by repeating a statement like, “When I sit down to have my lunch on Wednesday, I will get an idea for this week’s fanfiction prompt.” And it really works.

 

I have been developing this technique in other ways, without realising it, and it only came to me when I started writing this post that that was what I’ve been doing.

 

It started with my Self Journal, which is where I’m planning my scheduled writing time for 2018. At the end of each writing session, I confirm the date for my next one, and complete the task list on the next page with what I want to achieve next time. This means I know exactly when I will next be working on my writing projects (allowing me to relax and enjoy my free time in between) and it gives me a framework for that scheduled time, which helps me focus and provides me with a target for success. I certainly haven’t completed everything on my list at every session, but I’ve definitely achieved more than I would have done without a concrete plan.

 

Even better is the way I’m using my Weeknotes as a motivating tool. Instead of writing them at the end of each session, summarising what I’ve done, I’ve started writing each paragraph before embarking on the task I’m writing about. So, I’m actually predicting what I’m about to do, rather than recording what I’ve just done. I only do it one task at a time, so I’m not getting too far ahead of myself and making my presupposition of success unrealistic. But, I find it very motivating, and hugely helpful in keeping focus if I state each task as if I’ve already completed it, and then start.

 

And thus far, I’ve never had to go back and change my Weeknotes entry afterwards because I haven’t achieved what I’ve written.

 

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