Joe Bunting

Learning new skills creates new realities. When I was 4 months into learning French, suddenly French newspapers had meaning, overheard conversations weren't gibberish, and navigating Paris restaurants went from stressful to fun practice. What skill are you going to use to unlock a new reality?

The editor who rejected my memoir years ago later gave me an $80K advance for a new book. You don't know what the future holds for your writing. That "no" might just be a "not right now."

Sold a book for a $125K advance, which is amazing, but the book proposal also took almost a year of development (before the book was ever written). Most writers rush from idea to draft, but successful books often need more planning before they're ready to write.

After six months of training I was still far away from my target. But I also wasn't the same person who set that goal 6 months before.

What impossible goal would transform you?

I set what felt like an impossible (to me) goal: run a sub-20 minute 5K (6:20/mile pace).

Then six months later I ran a race: 25:33 (8:12/mile). Not even close.

But the real win is that before setting the goal, I ran maybe twice a week. Now I run 6 times a week, 25-35 miles.

Consistency over confidence every time.

Learning a language, like learning everything, comes in waves, moments of breakthrough followed by long periods that feel like you're not making progress. I recently read several entire chapters of La Parole de Vie in French. All because I keep showing up every day with my flashcards.

Flashing back to a run last summer when it rained on me by the sea in northern France as I listen to A Year in Provence. Magic.

Favorite nonfiction: Wild Courage
Favorite narrative nonfiction: A Year in Provence (magical reading it in France!)

How about you? What's on your list?

Favorite guilty pleasure series: Dungeon Crawler Carl (so fun!)
Favorite novel of the year: Once a Runner
Favorite re-read: Spinning Silver (always favorite) but Great Expectations and Boyd were close seconds
Least favorite novel: Wicked (honestly, hate it so much)

I read 45 books this year, nearly 20,000 pages of reading.

I'd quit writing books so many times that quitting became my identity. It didn't change until I stopped trying to be perfect and started practicing deliberately. Theory, goals, coaching, feedback, community. These five elements transformed me from a chronic quitter to a bestselling author.

Publishing is messy. It almost never goes how I want it to, but it often works out how it should (if you can outlast the heartbreak along the way).

Then, a few years ago, an agent I work with offered to represent it, but the client had moved on to other projects.

A week ago, they just reached out and are ready to restart the process. I'm so excited about this project, and 100% confident it will be published.

Hours later, I'm still twisted up about it.

Story 2: Years ago, I worked with a client on a book proposal, but he could never quite find the right agent. I was so disappointed, because it was a great book.

Story 1: Had a call with a top literary agent for a client's book. Usually these are a formality on the path to an offer, but this one started a bit rocky. While it did end on a good note, the agent emailed later to decline.

It happens. We have other offers, but I really wanted this agent.

That moment when you collapse on the floor sobbing because your work feels worthless isn't failure. For me, it was the doorway to breakthrough. I've had a breakdown in almost every major project of my life. Now I see them as promises that success is just around the corner.

You are not lazy. You do not have a discipline problem. The reason you sometimes fail to meet your goals is not because of your lack of willpower. You have a practice problem because you want to be great at more things than you have the time and focus to practice them.

We think success comes from talent or luck. But my breakthrough came when I realized success comes from practice. Not just any practice, deliberate practice with theory, goals, coaching, feedback, and community. Stop waiting for your big break and start practicing.

You can't be Michael Jordan AND Shoehei Otani AND Yo-Yo Ma. The fantasy of unlimited potential keeps you from the reality of actual achievement. Choose what to practice deliberately. You can be ok at many things or elite in a few. Either way, success comes through practice.

The best motivation for anything, especially practice, is transcendance, the act of serving something greater than yourself.

The point of practice isn't to get things (trophies, accolades, success, acheivement). The point is to GIVE things. When I shifted from writing to become famous to writing to serve readers, everything changed.

Above all, don’t let the bad days keep you from experiencing the good days, and don’t let the good days trick you into thinking the bad days won’t come. As always, keep going.

And then, if you don’t quit, inevitably one day later (or one week, but soon) you have a day so good you think you’re a genius.

Image

With any practice sometimes you have bad days, days when your game is so off you question everything. “Why am I trying to do this when I clearly suck? Should I quit? Whats the point anyway?”

You're always practicing something. Every day, every action creates neural pathways in your brain. Are you practicing inaction? Procrastination? Self-doubt? Quitting? Or are you practicing the skills that will get you where you want to go?

"'The desire of the sluggard kills him because his hands refuse to work," says the proverb. Endless desire without action leads to emptiness. But action without purpose leads to burnout. The secret is transcendent action, work that serves something greater than yourself.

It's so easy to get swept up in the novelty of a new project. Then comes the plateau. The point where what you were doing stops working. This isn't where you quit. This is where deliberate practice begins.

I realized I could quit my book and keep living in the fantasy of who I might become. Or I could compromise, allow myself to practice, and serve the world with whatever I had, even if it wasn't "genius." The reality of practice is humbling, but it's the best part.

The fantasy of success feels amazing. But the reality of deliberate practice, the learning, the daily work, the coaching, the feedback, the community, is worth so much more. Don't chase the outcome. Fall in love with the practice.