Failing Forward with S. C. I. E. N. C. E by Siera London, USA Today Bestselling Author

I self-published my first romance book in March 2015. Back then, I could write for 10-14 hours a day, fueled by the words in my head and the clawing need to give my characters their hard-earned happily ever after. 

Who doesn’t rush toward the best in love and life with fervor, right?

Within four years, I had written and published sixteen books, completed three collaborations, sold over nine thousand books in seven days to qualify for USA Today Bestselling Author status, and picked up my first literary agent. Writing organizations paid me to speak in front of hundreds of aspiring authors, and editors from the Big 5 publishers wanted my ‘kissing’ books. Career-wise, Siera London had grown beyond my dreams of publishing one book about a nurse who no longer trusted her judgment. 

My mantra was, this girl is on fire.

Well, how many times has fire reminded us that it can scorch and burn? In my zeal to reach the ever-elusive top, I hit a wall. The systems I deployed to maintain my daily productivity worked against my physical and mental well-being. My rheumatoid arthritis flared out of control. Mind-dulling pain confined me in bed week after week. Concentration eluded me. Fatigue plagued me. 

And then, it got worse. 

I was diagnosed with another autoimmune disease, fibromyalgia. What a sucks rotten eggs diagnosis. Joint pain had plagued me for two decades, but thanks to guided imagery, I’d trained myself to control my rusty joints. 

Widespread muscle aches are bad business for a writer who has to ‘keep butt in the seat, fingers on keys’ to create a book.

My publishing schedule suffered, Four books a year tumbled to three, reverse snowballed to two…and then a viral epidemic rewrote a book that we all were forced to read. If you guessed, C-O-V-I-D…

Yes, I contracted the virus. 

Canceled conferences, book signings, collaborations—my business engagements derailed, a locomotive careening off carefully laid tracks. My author’s income plunged a slow nosedive into an abyss.

To cut a very long story short, I had post-virus complications that impacted my vision. Two eye surgeries later…I’m in a New Year. Here’s where running a successful operation (no pun intended, haha) prior to a string of setbacks kept my business moving toward my long-term goals. 

My productivity routine of writing, reading, and marketing was well-established. Though I wasn’t doing my Big Three at the same rate, I was still doing the foundational process (steps) that made my business profitable in the first place. 

Intention and process are powerful tools.

Think about the small routines that power your life, your family, and your career. 

When harnessed, your pre-established processes can power your life in the direction you choose (and, SCIENCE agrees)!

Set yourself up for success with S. C. I. E. N. C. E., a group of principles identified by Dr. Sean Young, a behavioral psychologist, to help you stick with the behaviors that power lasting change through engrained processes. 

S-Step Ladders

Ladders are the small steps to lead to the larger actions we need to do consistently to keep moving forward. Focus on the unglamorous little steps, rather than the big goal. Train your attention on the ‘right’ first step every day.

The right steps to move my career forward start with writing the next book and the next. Instead of focusing on the daunting task of writing an 80,000-word manuscript, I focus on the small steps that will result in me reaching my big goal—a finished manuscript. 

1. Reach for my laptop

2. Open the lid

3. Press the Power On button

4. Click my writing software icon (not social media)

5. Place my fingers on the keyboard

6. Type an arrangement of 26 letters of the alphabet until I complete one sentence. 

6. Continue to re-arrange letters and form new sentences for 20 minutes.

7. Stop for 7 minutes

8. Repeat steps 5-7

C-Community

Connect with at least two people who share in and/or support your process. This new-found community shouldn’t be a distraction, but rather a social process that engages, supports, and complements your steps to success. 

My three people, my community, both can help me reach my big goal — a finished manuscript. 

I have a writing partner. We work in silence via telephone (because video can be distracting) for 90 minutes, Monday through Friday, writing our stories. Generally, I’ve been writing all day, but if I haven’t, I know for 90 minutes, I will complete my process. My writing critique duo expects my typed pages on the 11th of each month. Again, a consistent process is key to establishing the right behaviors. 

I-Important 

Your goal must be important enough that you are willing to change, grow, and work consistently to obtain it. For example, I want to be a contributing member of the author community who consistently earns more money than I spend each year. I know all of you aren’t authors, so I’ll give you another example. Many of us make New Year’s resolutions to lose weight or join a gym. 

What if you focused on the small steps of healthy aging— drinking an additional cup of water per day, moving your body for twenty minutes without stopping to rest, or eating more whole foods than processed meals? 

See the difference? 

Losing the weight is a big goal. Try focusing on the smaller ladders that support the lasting behaviors that lead to healthier living—drinking more water, eating balanced nutrient-rich foods, moving more, and resting well. Losing weight then becomes the by-product of the intentional process of healthy aging. 

E-Easy

Never underestimate the power of easy. What happens when you’re driving and hit a roadblock? You either stop or turn around, right? Make your step ladders, your daily processes, easy to reproduce. People want to keep doing things that are easy to master. 

Create an easy, reproducible step ladder process because you are more likely to DO them every day. 

My process doesn’t depend on driving to a specific location (a coffee shop or the library) or meeting with a particular person (a writing partner). Remove the barriers that can impede your progress or cause a stumble. 

N-Neurohacks

Reset your brain to make your new process fun. I have a set of writing dresses! Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, wears a similar gray shirt and denim jeans every day. Is he penny-pinching, or is it a neurohack, a tangible reminder of his public-facing persona and what he needs to focus on when in the public arena? 

Lasting behavior changes start not in the mind but with small behavior changes.

Since I work from home, I slip into my writing dresses, and my mind makes the mental shift from lounging to working! I have a work thermos. Not only is it fun, but it’s also a trigger to start my daily process to reach my goal. 

C-Captivating

Reward yourself for sticking with your process. What’s a motivational, captivating reward for yourself or your community who supports you in reaching your goal? 

I love to travel, visit art exhibits, and travel. Your reward may not be spending money. Is it a day at the beach? A date with a book? A night with your significant other. 

Make doing the right thing fun and rewarding for you!

Don’t assume money is the best reward.

We don’t need rewards for doing the things we already enjoy. But, intermittent rewards for a job well done—refills are process tank.

E-Engrained

Think you can’t break old patterns and establish a more goal-focused process? Walking, talking, counting, and reciting a song are all engrained behaviors. Your brain makes new connections every day. You remember new routes, new highways, new songs, new apps, new computer updates. See, you are evolving learned patterns every day. 

All behaviors can be unstuck through a process called plasticity. The ability to adapt. Engrained to commit lasting change. 

How do habits form? 

The brain stores things that frequently occur, to make repeated behaviors easier. Magnetic behavior is when one action leads to another and another until you have a chain of supporting behaviors, i.e., a process. Let’s go back to my ladder steps: reach, open, press, click….

That’s S. C. I. E. N. C. E.!  

In closing, I write and read slower post-surgery, but I’ve still reached my goal of building and sustaining a profitable author career. 

My next book, Fake It Till You Make It, a small-town romance series, is available on pre-order from Grand Central Publishing. 

Shop Barnes & Noble: https://geni.us/FakeItBN

Shop Amazon Store: https://geni.us/PreOrderFakeIt

Shop other retailers: https://books2read.com/u/meqYpE

Thank you for reading, and remember, S.C.I.E.N.C.E. can power your progress. 

Xoxo, 

Siera