What you think is what you become

Screenwriting, like any profession in the creative fields, is subject to the vagaries of the world and the check writers. How you think about yourself matters so much more than you think. Self-doubt, negative thoughts and denigrating yourself has a distinct adverse impact on your career outcomes. This is not a license to become unrealistic as you spout countless positive woo woo affirmations of your success. There is no success without doing the hard work. Most of your writing work will be rejected. People will always doubt your worth. Oftentimes, it may even be you. That’s a fact of every creative’s life.

How you handle self-criticism is what counts. You can imbibe it and let it set expectations for career success, you can ignore it, or you can manage it.

Visualize the outcome you desire

Storied screenwriter Nora Ephron once said that every screenwriter is subconsciously writing an acceptance speech while they’re writing their screenplays. It happens through a process many psychologists called subconscious programming. Highly successful people consciously make a habit of visualizing their success. Regular visualizations will shape your self-perception, the image you project, and your performance. Most successful screenwriters don’t see themselves as particularly brilliant. They just showed up with a healthy mindset every day and worked without distractions.

Rather than blindly submitting a screenplay to a contest and crossing your fingers hoping for the best, give yourself a more structured positive message like, “This is my best writing and I think my screenplay will do well.” Of course, you have no influence over your reader, or even if you’ll place, but this mantra will urge you to really write your best screenplay rather than one that is good enough.

Confidence is a powerful elixir to your success. Use it to the point just before you become obnoxious and nobody wants to read your work.

Most psychologists agree that ninety-five percent of your emotions are determined by the things you think and the words you say to yourself. You may not even notice that saying “I can’t do this,” or “I’ll never get the made” are negative self-talk. Teh first step is to become aware that you’re doing it and of the harm it’s doing to you.

Use your self-discipline and self-control to think and talk about the things you believe will mark your success rather than allowing your mind to become preoccupied with the things you don’t want. Think about actionable items and practical steps you can take more than your perception of the industry. Divide your thoughts into those you can and can’t control.

Self-talk is generally classed as positive, negative or inconsequential. These messages to y0urself are closely tied to how you visualize your screenwriting career. Persistent, sustained negative mental noise will influence your performance, so keep track of it. You can write it down as it enters your mind or mouth or simply keep a mental note. Are there any phrases that you say more often than others? Thoughts drive actions.

Travis Bickle (Robert Di Niro) in Taxi Driver. Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures

Language and word choice are vital to your success. Artists are renowned for frequently being their own worst critics. We need to learn to get out of our own way. A simple technique some psychologists suggest is to talk about yourself in the second person. Create distance between your two opposing selves. It alters your sentence structure. Imagine if a friend asks you for feedback on their screenplay. You would typically say “This isn’t clear” or “You didn’t do that,” rather than something blunt and destructive.

Putting some distance between you and your work will allow you to more objectively address the issues in your script from a more rational place of logic rather than emotion.

When you self-assess your screenwriting, the default setting might be extreme praise or extreme criticism. Consider how you might frame your thoughts if you were a script consultant articulating your thoughts on how to improve a script. This approach helps you break out of your negative patterns and offer constructive, usable solutions.

Disrupt your negative thought patterns with positive ones.

Jim Rohn famously said that we are the product of the five people we spend the most time with. Be selective with your peers because they influence your mindset and career success more than you realize. Join the right writers’ group. Attend the most useful workshops. Avoid people who are constantly complaining about the tumultuous state of the industry (it’s always been that way) or resign themselves to failure. Reject their negative energy outright. Their energy becomes your energy.

Far too many writers unwittingly absorb too much toxic energy without balancing it out with positive vibes. Build relationships with people who share your goals and let go of those who don’t. If you can’t remove them completely from your life, minimize contact and interaction with them. You don’t need to explain yourself to Debbie Downer. You are only accountable to yourself.

Write every screenplay with a positive mentality. Focus. Be relentless. Breathe and only focus on the best outcome. This adds to your subconscious programming of rejecting negative thoughts. At first it will be difficult, especially if your mind races, but in time, it will become a routine habit.

Keep a log of your achievements. Be proud that you wrote the ten pages of your screenplay that you set out to write. If you didn’t make it, adjust your screenwriting process rather than your goal. You may want to break up your writing time so you write five page in two blocks rather than all at once.

Challenge your negative mental chatter. If thoughts along the lines of “I can’t finish this” or “This won’t place in a screenplay contest,” enter your mind, nix them with a simple “How do you know?”

Don’t forget to practice self-care, especially if things get rough. Don’t become obsessive and unrealistically insist you must finish your draft over the weekend. Sure, you might finish a script with no sleep over the weekend, but it won’t be brilliant. A tired writer isn’t a productive writer. You’ve just produced words on a page.

Face your fears and challenges. Every screenwriter has impostor syndrome. Every screenwriter is petrified of a blank page. If you don’t feel like writing one day, it’s not the end of the world. The sun will rise tomorrow and your computer will work.

Fear of failure is insidious. We’re habit-driven beings and being thrust into a new sphere with new associates and environments can be too much for some of us. So much so, that you revert to familiar patterns that block your potential. Take in in your stride. The red carpet isn’t that daunting. You can always wear a red outfit as camouflage.

And finally, be clear in what you want. Don’t ask for a present. Ask for a specific present.