Time is a precious and finite resource. So, what we do with our time on a given day is one of our most important decisions.
Therefore, with the greatest respect for your free will and dwindling time, I offer the following tip: Write daily.
Why Should You Write Every Day?
Writing every day is a fundamental principle of professional writers. It underscores the habitual aspect of the craft and serves as a reminder that writing is a skill that can be honed through practice.
It also becomes a habit. Writing at the same time in the same place each day for a similar amount of time will create a writing habit that will serve you well.
Ways to Encourage Your Writing Daily Habit
James Clear’s book Atomic Habits (Penguin Random House, 2018) explores how to develop a writing habit. Clear suggests the following:
1. Set a time to write and define the duration and location. Upon repetition, your brain adjusts to a new activity, creating a habit cycle of cue, activity, and reward.
2. Have a writing space. Use it only for writing. Having your writing space share a location with a different (bad) habit, like the sofa where you binge-watch streaming services, associates the writing place with other activities.
3. Reward yourself for compliance. The reward part of the habit cycle is essential. Give yourself one every time you stick to the writing-every-day plan.
4. Make it easy for yourself to write. Prime the writing environment with the tools you need before the set time. Procrastination slips into your habit cycle if you must gather stuff when it’s time to write.
5. Use the two-minute rule. Two minutes is enough time to get over your initial resistance to the idea of doing something new. If you still don’t want to write after two minutes, quit for the day. There is always tomorrow to try again…for at least two minutes.
Additionally, choose a quiet environment with no or few distractions where you are unlikely to be disturbed. Interruptions can kill writing momentum and those fledgling thoughts needing a moment to substantiate. So, grab the coffee before you sit down. And turn off the TV and, if possible, your phone. Getting an app that keeps you off the internet browser and social media sites.
Writing daily is an excellent way to improve your writing skills and discipline. It also forms a writing habit that will serve you well throughout your career. Perhaps most importantly, writing daily makes the best use of your time, a resource easily lost but impossible to recover.
Comments