Do You Stay in the Room?

A quick story of practical wisdom:

A couple years ago I was at a writer's conference, where a novelist talked about one key ingredient that makes a writer a writer -- and it wasn't about craft.

He told a story about finishing the very first paragraph of a new novel and how he wanted to race out of the room that moment and celebrate for a year. But he didn't. Instead he stayed in the room. And he returned to the room. And everytime he sat down to work on his novel and wanted to leave he stayed. Even if he didn't write.

Staying in the room is a great metaphor for anything we do with mastery and commitment. Sometimes it's called "showing up." The room can be a writing den, your job, the gym, a classroom, the kitchen--and then sometimes the "room" is the day: getting up and going out into the world when you don't want to.

Where could you stay in the room more -- to get to the next level of mastery?

Have fun -- and know you'll be squirming with many others all over the world who have chosen to stay in the room.