Hey, writers. I love the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. Today, let’s talk about the fourth Habit: Think Win-Win.

For this habit I’ll cover National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo.

Hit the jump, writers, and let’s discuss.

Participating in NaNoWriMo, for those that don’t know, means a person commits to writing 50,000 words or more in the month of November. There’s a bit more to it than that, but that’s the gist of it.

First, let’s talk about the fourth Habit. For a lot of people, winning means someone else losing. For instance, take the act of buying a used car.

Many people have their sword and shield up before they even step onto a used car lot. Instead of adopting such a confrontational view (Win-Lose) the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People would recommend a cooperative outlook instead (Win-Win).

Note: I won’t be doing an article on how to negotiate with a used car salesman, but of course, I have read up on that. If you want to see the article, sound off in the comments.

One is the Loneliest Number

I can say definitely that the majority of my writing is me working alone. And that’s usually how it is, day in and day out.

That is until I did my first NaNoWriMo.

It was weird to be a part of that community. While I can say that I felt out of place, I still recommend NaNoWriMo for people who have never done it. It was a good experience and I can’t imagine a writer regretting writing 50,000 words (or more) in one month.

It was a good place because instead of us seeing each other as adversaries, we encouraged each other’s writing. Think about it. We all had the same goal, to publish the novel we were working on. But instead of seeing my fellow NaNoWriMo participants as competition, I reminded myself that we could all win. I could publish, and so could the next guy. Every person that I met could have published and it would still be fine by me.

In NaNoWriMo, the camaraderie goes even further. I went to a few sit-ins where everyone writes together. On one hand, it felt very familiar because it reminded me of the many classes I had attended before. However, it also felt completely alien to me because I knew that we weren’t just a bunch of people in a coffee shop, but we were authors all working on our passion. I got chills the first time I realized that.

On top of that, there were also eating events. One of them was to celebrate the achievement of writing 50,000 words (or, for those that didn’t finish, just celebrating the effort. Legit, I believe anyone that even sets out to try NaNoWriMo deserves a pat on the back).

I couldn’t make it to all of the events but I loved that they were there.

I have a lot more to say about NaNoWriMo but that can wait for another day.

How about you, writers?

Have you ever tried a NaNoWriMo? Did you enjoy it?

Sound off in the comments!

Aloha,
Alvin

Remember, there are Seven Habits of Highly Effective People in total.

Habit #1. Be Proactive. Do Thank You Letters as well as Query Letters.
Habit #2. Begin with the End in Mind. Create a logline for your stories.
Habit #3. Put First Things First. Utilize the Daily Dose.
Habit #4. Think Win-Win. Try NaNoWriMo!
Habit #5. Seek First to Understand, then to be Understood.
Habit #6. Synergize.
Habit #7. Sharpen the Saw.