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What is a writing mindset?
Who knew that there was a ‘writing mindset’? I did. Everyone who’s ever tried to be a writer and is currently a writer. The writing mindset requires that you see everything through a writer’s eyes. It calls you out of a state of experiencing life on auto-pilot and into a state of constant awareness — smells, noises, colours, flavours, and textures. It calls you to be your highest self — especially inside — you must know your limitations and areas for improvement, and you have to be okay with them so you can work on them without shame or self-doubt. You’re no longer allowed to just settle for what everyone else has — a prescribed life with set landmarks along your lifeline. No, now you have a life of vulnerable idea-sharing, too much thinking, and hours of research. It’s an art to keep everything in balance: writing and wellbeing — because you can sit for hours reading or writing; and daily life.
Goal Setting, Time Management, Action-Taking & that Pesky Procrastination
It’s important to be specific about what you want, including milestones, word counts, and writing goals because writing can have a moving goalpost if you don’t have a boss, client, or editor hounding you for your words.
Using the SMART goal-setting system for your writing is great for making an intangible thing tangible. It provides an outline of what you want to achieve, which you can then plan and schedule into your day. The best way to set achievable goals, prioritize tasks and avoid procrastination:
Use SMART goal setting — be specific and keep your goals in view.
Schedule your actions into your calendar. Breaking your goals down into small, achievable tasks and scheduling them into your day is the easiest and fastest way to achieve your goals.
Procrastination is a many-faced beast. It can look like a Netflix binge; 2 hours of doom scrolling; or a 5-hour hyper-fixation cleaning task — just to avoid writing. So if we can avoid writing so much, why can’t we just avoid procrastinating? “Good point, Brain!” — this is how you do it: Get a timer and turn it on for 5 minutes. Write as much as you can in those 5 minutes. You will want to keep writing at the end of the 5 minutes and guess what? You have successfully broken your procrastination inertia. Procrastination inertia is a real thing — apparently. I know because I’ve experienced it — for days on end. You know that saying “objects in motion, stay in motion*”? Well, humans who are avoiding writing — keep avoiding writing. Ergo, procrastination inertia. The timer breaks that inertia and gets you back on track.
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Overcoming Creative Blocks
I spent a lot of time and money figuring out how to get over writer’s block. It really wasn’t writer’s block and I’m going to burst your bubble right now by telling you there is no such thing as writer’s block. It’s actually a fear response — remember the fight/flight response? Well, it’s called the freeze response, and your nervous system feels a sense of panic when you think about writing — your nervous system could be remembering the time your 3rd grade teacher told you that your writing was bad. Or it could be remembering the way you felt when you got an F on your first History essay. Whatever the reason, your nervous system has associated writing with fear or rejection and now it wants to protect you from harm — that is its job after all, so it keeps you busy with mindless, unproductive tasks that don’t involve writing. Gee, thanks Brain.
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Common Obstacles to Creativity
Changing environments is a fast way to break procrastination inertia and overcome creative blocks. Getting away from your familiar environment where the same triggers are competing for your attention is the best way to focus on what you want to achieve. You can zero in on the task at hand in a new environment because your usual distractions are no longer there.
Your Writing Mindset
Nurturing your writing mindset and keeping it healthy and creative takes daily work. Your body needs healthy food, movement and meditation to keep it creative, resilient and healthy. Your brain is your biggest asset when you’re a writer and the best way to keep it healthy is by giving it the best possible nutrition, oxygen and blood (exercise), and thoughts (books/music/etc). You can’t be the writer you want to be if you’re not giving your brain the food it needs.
Key Takeaways
If you neglect your health, your writing will suffer. Foggy and lacklustre. It won’t resonate with your readers and you might even lose readers. Keep your health at the forefront of your daily writing practice and even if you don’t write on some days, looking after your instruments is crucial — body and brain.
So, a quick rundown of key points:
Use SMART goal setting and keep your goals visible.
Schedule your writing sessions and your health sessions.
Use a timer to break procrastination inertia.
Eat healthy food.
Move your body: stretch, breathe, walk (within your limits).
Write in an unfamiliar environment — cafe, library, park, beach.
Meditate regularly to strengthen your mind.
Looking for help with your writing mindset? ←(Click there)
*Newton’s First Law of Motion (Inertia): An object at rest remains at rest, and an object in motion remains in motion.
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