Melissa Wiley

By choosing to productively obsess about his horror of tackling the contract work, he’d begun to examine his assumptions and listen to his negative self-talk with a new ear — and that proved enough. He used his brain’s full power to test his assumptions and examine his self-talk and concluded — at first subconsciously and then consciously — that

When, by contrast, you announce that you intend to productively obsess about the challenge at hand, your brain is alerted to the fact that you intend to operate differently. Your neurons stand at attention, and thinking commences.

In fact, what is there to support not getting on with your day? Logic, the world, your partner and family all cry out for you to break your vow to write. It only takes a moment to assure yourself that your vow to write for, say, twenty minutes, is ridiculous. Probably you will arrive at this critical juncture every single day. Do not deceive

You may produce fewer paintings or novels if you get in the habit of controlling your obsessions, but what you lose in inventory you gain in mental health.

CHOOSE YOUR OBSESSIONS, rather than letting them choose you,

But love and passion are not the criteria; good reasons are. A productive obsession is an idea that you have good reasons for pursuing. It is the way you use your brain to handle the business of life, do the next right thing, make meaning, and make yourself proud. If genuine love, passion, and interest are fueling the idea, consider them bonuses or

In a broader sense, this is a book about exploration and discovery. I have long had two favorite proverbs: one is Shaw's "Be sure to get what you like, or else you will have to like what you get," the other a translation from an old Spanish proverb, ""Take what you want,' says God, 'and pay for it.'" To find out what one really wants, and what it

Certain productive obsessions are bound to thread their way through your life, appearing here as a theme in the novel you write, there as the destination for a family vacation, and somewhere else as membership in a group or as an impulsive purchase.