Quote of the Day - Stephen Cope

I came across this quote at Justine Musk's "Tribal Writer." She writes great posts about feeding your inner creativity and power. This particular post was called "Dating Advice" (which I'm not looking for, I'm happily married). But it spoke way beyond dating - to being true and kind to yourself.
     This quote from Stephen Cope's THE GREAT WORK OF YOUR LIFE, in which he's talking about work, really stood out to me:

“…the power of nonattachment. Give yourself entirely to your work, yes. But let go of the outcome. Be alike in success and defeat...
     “...clinging to outcome has a pernicious effect on performance,” Cope writes. Clinging (or grasping) of any kind disturbs the mind. And this disturbed mind, then, is not really fully present to the task at hand. It is forever leaning forward into the next moment – …..Grasping, it turns out, is just another form of doubt. ….The mind that is constantly evaluating – “How am I doing?” or “How am I measuring up?” or “Am I winning or losing?” – is the divided mind.”

     Because truly, how many of us writers are guilty of this? As it turns out, it may be one of our greatest obstacles.