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By Eamon Storer

Writing

Why You Should Journal Every Day as a Writer

By Eamon on

Creativity and productivity are two of the most important parts of a writer’s life. There is one system that consistently has a positive effect on both, and that is journaling.

If offered to give you a pill that when taken improves well-being, increases creativity, gives clarity of mind, reduces stress, and irradicates writer’s block, would you take it?

I’d be buying that in bulk.

Understanding the Creative Mind

The creative process is a mystical thing.

You can’t say, to be creative you have to do this and BOOM, creativity.

It’s largely an individual process but there are some key underworkings we can be aware of.

Creative ideas are basically when your brain makes connections between two or more different concepts, and creativity is the act of channeling these connections into a meaningful concept. Now that’s a very rudimentary explanation but it works.

So by rights, if we can have something that helps us make connections between ideas, we are going to be more creative.

Journaling is that something.

The act of writing down your thoughts and ideas speaks to your mind on a subconscious level in the way that specific advertisements target your inner soul.

Journaling is a medium by which your brain can make more connections.

The Therapeutic Benefits of Journaling

Writing down your thoughts and working through your mental processes has incredible emotional and psychological benefits.

Stress Reduction

Journaling acts as a way to vent about your problems and get out everything you want to say in a safe and comfortable space.

This simulates the experience of confiding in someone (which journaling should not be a replacement for) and ultimately you feel less stressed and happier about your daily activities.

Emotional Expression

Writing your emotions ultimately allows you to more easily recognize and work with the emotions you feel daily.

Thus, you will become more in touch with your opinions, ideas, and emotions. This connection will prime your brain to recognize what’s going through your head more than you usually would, positively affecting creativity.

Clearer Mind = Enhanced Creativity

Reaching a state of clarity of mind feels so satisfying. It’s like all of your problems are meaningless in the face of your creative endeavors.

This primes the brain into higher-level thinking as your mental process is not limited by the extent of your worries and pain clouding your creativity.

This is my favorite part of journaling as a writer. I have found myself so much more creative on the days when I journal.

Journaling For Creative Sparks

The most efficient way I use my journal to let creative sparks fly is by using prompts.

Prompts are things that restrict your creativity to an extent that allows for your own creative license to take over. This results in creativity because it allows you to connect things you love writing and reading about with the prompt, ultimately making links and connections to creative ideas.

The great thing is you don’t have to create your own prompts, Google has millions.

An example of a writing prompt for a fiction writer I’ve just Googled could be;

“A girl wakes up to find a little boy sitting on her bed, claiming to be her younger brother – but she never had one” (Source)

Already I feel all sorts of ideas around this prompt.

Just pick a prompt and fill in 3 pages of writing with it.

You mustn’t force your writing on a prompt that doesn’t interest you. What you are trying to achieve with your prompt is a state of spontaneous and free-flowing writing, otherwise known as the flow state.

I’ve actually written about how to get into the flow state as a creative;

Unlocking Flow: How to Achieve Creative Productivity

If you choose your prompts well and be consistent with them, creative sparks WILL fly.

Reflective Journaling: Tracking Progress and Setting Goals

Another way to use your journal is as a tracker.

Often, as a writer, it becomes very confusing about how you are currently comparing to you yesterday or even a month ago.

You can use your journal as both a reflective tool and a habit tracker.

I’ve found it most useful when I write about how I’m feeling about writing, what I’m currently working on, and what I hope will happen in the future. Similarly, I like to add my word count and how long I’ve spent writing each day.

This helps me track over time how much writing I’m doing and what I’m interested in pursuing at different stages in my life.

This method also allows you to set realistic goals based on your past self. You can use your weekly word count for the last month as an indicator of how many words you want to pump out next week.

This can also be a way to challenge yourself by setting goals that are slightly outside of your skill level. The discomfort from these challenging goals will give you the most amount of growth as a writer.

Use Visual Elements as Well in Your Journal

You are not limited by any specific way of journaling. There are as many ways of journaling as there are writers.

That’s what makes it awesome.

You make your own system, that is completely your own.

You can scrapbook, you can sketch, doodle, or mind map.

Whatever works for you will be the best thing to pursue.

Personally, I love sketching I’ve gotten back into drawing recently, as my fiction writing is mainly based on creating interesting and terrifying creatures. I’ve found that sketching and brainstorming these creatures gives me so much motivation and ideas about characters and plot that I want to pursue sketching as well as writing now, as they both benefit each other.

Make Journaling a Daily Habit

I have spoken previously about writing habits and routines for writers, and I highly recommend that you build your own form of reflection such as journaling into your routine.

Your creative output will thank me.

The best way I have discovered to build a consistent habit like this is to set up a specific space for journaling and make a promise to yourself that you will journal for a certain amount of time in this space every single day.

I’ve written about building habits as a writer previously as well;

4 Simple Steps to Creating a Writing Habit – Atomic Habits

In Conclusion. . .

Whether you are battling writer’s block or aiming to unleash your creativity, journaling emerges as your trusty companion. It’s the key to unlocking your imagination, breaking through mental barriers, and fostering a more profound connection with your craft.

Consider journaling a canvas for your unique writer’s journey. It’s a personal practice, open to experimentation.

Each of you will find unique gems within the art of journaling, and that’s awesome!

Here’s the exciting part – journaling isn’t just about the short-term gains.

It’s a game-changer for your long-term productivity and overall well-being.

Imagine a future where your writing flows effortlessly, and you approach your craft with a renewed sense of joy and purpose.

That’s a world I want to be a part of.

Don’t you?

Thank you so much for your time if you enjoyed this piece here’s another I’m sure you’ll love about how to make writing as addictive as social media;

Make Writing as Addictive as Social-Media

Happy Journaling!

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Make Writing as Addictive as Social-Media

By Eamon on

Ironically, the things we spend the most time with often are not what we want to do. It’s because they are addictive.

The reason things like social media take up so much of your time is because they are designed that way. 

Understanding Social Media Addiction

There are a ton of reasons social media can become an addiction for people. The main reason is the activation of the dopamine reward system. 

This system is also used when you spend your time at the pokies (slot machines for non-Australians). The chance of getting something that is enjoyable spits out all sorts of chemicals into your body. 

The body loves these sorts of chemicals. That’s why you keep doing the thing that spits out the chemicals and you get addicted. 

Otherwise known as a dopamine-driven feedback loop. 

A similar reason is the instant gratification that social media gives you. 

Your brain is dumb. Not your brain specifically, but the brain we all have is stupid. This is because it will chase the thing that it wants even if it runs into oncoming traffic. This self-destructive tendency is seen as spending 10 hours of your day mindlessly scrolling. 

Luckily, because your brain is dumb, it can be tricked. 

Use Social Media Tactics to Trick Your Brain

Establish a Dedicated and Comfortable Writing Space

Creating a designated writing space is crucial for mimicking the immersive experience of social media.

Just as individuals often scroll through social media in a comfortable environment, writers can enhance their productivity by carefully creating their own space.

So, create your own writing space. Having a regular environment triggers your brain into a specific headspace, which is what we want.

Creating a Distraction-Free Writing Space: Boosting Focus and Productivity

Just like the initial opening of an addictive app primes you for a mindless activity your writing space will hopefully trigger your creative motivated mental state.

Creating a Consistent and Realistic Writing Routine

Consistency is a gripping factor in the addictive nature of social media.

That’s where you find yourself habitually checking your social media at specific times of the day.

You can replicate this by creating a writing routine that aligns with your natural energy levels and daily schedule.

3 Simple Steps to Build A Writing Routine For Maximum Productivity

For example, if you’re a morning person designate the first 30 minutes after waking up to writing. Building consistency in your daily routine will become ingrained into your brain and the act of writing will become as habitual as checking social media.

But the most important part of the addictiveness of social media is the reward system.

Incorporate Rewards and Incentives

Celebrate Small Victories

The main thing we want to simulate is the chemicals released in your body when you find something on social media that elicits some sort of emotional response, you laugh or cry or get angry.

When writing if you achieve a small win, like you finish a page of writing you write 500 words in one sitting, reward yourself.

If you repeatedly reward yourself you will become more likely to write because your brain is tricked into believing you will get rewards when you write and you will evidently gain a pretty consistent writing habit.

I recommend making your own reward system that you can consistently rely on for motivation and consistency.

For every completed chapter or significant word count, treat yourself to a small indulgence, like a favorite snack, a short break, or a quick stroll.

This will not only acknowledge your progress but also create a sense of accomplishment, mimicking the instant gratification experienced on social platforms.

Use Your Interests

Another important part of social media is the content is specifically tailored to you as an individual and thus captures your attention so much better.

You as a writer can make the writing process more addictive by intertwining it with your passions and integrating personal rewards.

Identify aspects of your writing project that align with your hobbies or interests.

If you’re writing a mystery novel, reward yourself with time to indulge in mystery-themed activities or movies after a productive writing session.

The connection between your personal interests and the writing process not only makes it more enjoyable but also reinforces the idea that writing is a rewarding and fulfilling activity.

Which is what we want.

In Conclusion . . .

To wrap it up be sure to use rewards and habit building to create a positively addicted relationship with your writing.

But please do experiment, change things around, and find what works best for you.

Just remember you have the capabilities to choose your addictions and through laser focus and intention you can make writing just as addictive as social media.

If you’ve found this post at all helpful let me know, as always I wanted to thank you specifically for your attention and your time.

I’m sure you will enjoy my other posts about productivity for writers, here’s one about gamifying your writing for great motivation;

The Complete Guide to Writing Gamification

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The Complete Guide to Writing Gamification

By Eamon on

It’s no secret that being a writer is hard. It’s long hours, not much recognition, and it’s very lonely.

But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Writing is also greatly fulfilling, satisfying, and just plain old good fun.

I’ve adopted this view of writing through the act of gamifying my writing, which is a not so gracious term of using the same dopamine pathways used when you scroll endlesslley on social media or play video-games.

Gamifying (Game-If-eye-ing) is an incredably effective way to drastically increase motivation and efficiency when it comes to writing.

The problem with getting hooked on writing is often the feedback loop or time it takes to get comments on your writing is so long that the dopamine you get from the results of writing are distant and infrequent.

The process of gamification uses rewards and challenges to spark the motivated part of your brain and is an excellent way to not only start your writing journey (this is me) but also for veterans of the writing trade (not me).

Understanding Gamification

In terms of writing Gamification is the act of implementing stuff from video games into your writing routine.

Key aspects of video games we will be taking advantage of are;

  • Objectives
  • Points and Reward Systems
  • Progress Tracking
  • Challenges and Quests
  • Competition
  • Motivation to Keep Coming Back

Doesn’t that sound exciting!?

Well, it definitely does for me.

Now, let’s discuss the benefits of applying gamification to our writing process.

In essence, we want to capture the addictive nature of video games, the part that makes you keep coming back again and again, just because it’s fun.

You don’t have an agenda when playing video games, not often you get in the mood to be apart of a special operations unit and shoot people you don’t know (or at least I don’t).

It’s not the game itself that is addictive, it’s the way it makes you feel.

That’s all we’re trying to do here. To capture those addictive emotions. Gamification is the PERFECT way to do this.

Setting Clear Goals

The first part of video games we are going to use is that there is always a goal or an endpoint, wether it’s getting strong enough to beat the final boss, or just by the grace of God somehow finish the game (I’m looking at you CupHead).

Therefore, we need goals, we need endpoints. We need specific writing goals.

This is so important as all of your motivation for sitting down to write everyday comes from your persistence in achieving the end product.

I’ve actually recently discussed making goals that actually motivate you, but the gist of it is that you find your goal from what you want to have achieved or own 10 years from now.

Creating Goals That ACTUALLY Motivate You as a Creative

Defining what you want in 10 years from now allows you to work backwards from experiecning what you achieved before you’ve worked for it.

An example I used in the post was that 10 years from now I want to have published 5 novels that I am proud of. This objective allows me to work backwards and find my goal is;

Publish 5 books in the next 10 years (1 book every 2 years) I’m proud of

Be Specific

There is a probelm with this goal. It’s not specific enough. Your goals have to be as specific as possible.

To make my goal more specific it would look something like this;

I will publish a horror novel of 100,000 words every 2 years that I am proud of because I worked my hardest on each book

This is rather long winded and clunky but it gets the gist of the idea across.

Specficity is KEY.

This is because now our next step is that we break down this big ol goal into smaller achievable milestones, what I call fragment goals.

Additionally you want to build a deadline into your fragment goals

Smaller achievable tasks for my goal of writing a novel every 2 years is;

Write 1000 words everyday on a novel

This is still a hefty goal but is much more achievable and has a deadline built into it.

By this point you will have at least 1 long-term goal and at least 1 fragment goal, these goals are going to be the basis by which our ‘video game’ of writing will reward us.

Gamification Points and Reward Systems

Now we want to create a system that rewards us for making progress on our long-term goal, which in essence will reward us for reaching a fragment goal.

Your system needs to work for you, in this way I can’t assign you a reward system but I can give you characteristics that you should look for and of course share my own system with you as well.

First of those an effective reward system needs to have 4 characteristics;

  1. The reward must be consistently appliedd
  2. The reward MUST be enjoyable
  3. Rewards must be given for achieving a fragment goal
  4. You should be able to ‘cash in’ your rewards for greater rewards

These 4 characterstics of your reward system will lead to peak motivation on a daily basis.

Personally, I’ve named my reward system The Bottle Cap Economy. The Bottle Cap Economy is where I am rewarded for achieving tasks by adding a bottle cap into a tally jar. At the end of the month I can cash in my bottle caps for actual dollars that I spend on something for myself as a proper reward.

This system allows me to constantly be rewarded for little advances towards my ultimate goals.

You can steal my system or can create your own, although I emplore you to make up your own as it will work for your personal motivations and the. way your brain works.

The Ultimate Productivity Motivation System – The Bottle Cap Economy –

If you were to just implement an ultimate goal/ fragment goals with a Points and Reward System you would quickly be able to see the benefits of Gamification on your motivation and productivity.

But alas, we keep moving.

Progress Tracking

Video games do a great job of constantly letting you know how far off you are from your final goal and more importantly the extent to which you have progressed at the end of a session compared to the last session.

We’re going to yoink this concept because personally, being able to see your progress towards your goals is deeply motivating.

So what you want to do is set up either a page in your notebook or calendar where you highlight each day you achieve specific goals, be sure to keep this progress sheet at somewhere you can constantly refer to it.

Another progress tracking method is setting up a Notion page with a bar tracker for the mount of time you achieve a goal.

Notion is a perfect app for gamification of your writing, if you don’t have Notion, be sure to download it, watch a couple of tutorials on YouTube and create your own aesthetic habbit tracker pages.

Great things for writers to have a daily tracker for would be word count, hours spent writing, and number of writing sessions a week.

A very important part of this process is that there needs to be rewards at predesignated milestones. Just like a game will reward you with a new sword if you play enough hours, you want to reward yourself every time you hit a milestone.

A milestone can be anyhting from having a writing session every day for a walk or spending 15 hours in a week writing.

Progress tracking is a great way to get a feeling of progression with your writing so be sure to set up a habit tracker and constanly refer to it.

Writing Challenges and Quests

Constantly fighting against yourself will eventually get boring, you will get stagnant. That’s where adding challenges to your writing can spice up your routine and drastically increase motivation.

A great way to do this is to take part in writing challenges. Just as games like The Legend of Zelda has a TON of sidequests you can do to just get a bit beefier, writing challenges are the challenge that actually makes you a better writer for just taking part.

The most popular writing challenge I can think of is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) where you write a novel in a MONTH! It’s absolutely insane but quite an interesting challenge for especially newer writers.

You can also synthetically create quests for yourself to do to beef up your abilities. The best example of this I can think of is using a prompt when writing or specific restrictions like you will only write sentences that end with a rhyming word.

Another challenge you can create is one with a community. If you have any community that is willing to become better writers than setting a challenge as a group is an excellent method of shaking your routine up a bit.

Use quests and challenges to shake you up a bit, but also make you better.

Incorporating Competition

One of the best ways to become motivated daily to write your best work is if you are fighting against an ally.

If you have a challenge set for your writing group, and you are a somewhat competitive indivdual you WILL push to get stuff done because you want to beat those lazy sods call themselves writers.

Records are the best. If you set a record with yourself and/or your friends that will ALWAYS be a means of motivation as you’ll constantly be trying to beat your record as well as your friends.

So just do it, join online writing challenges or competitions. Your skills will thank you.

Gamification Writing Tools and Apps

We are in the technology age so we might as well use it.

There are TONS of writing tools that allow you to easily gamify your writing. Here’s a couple;

Write or Die

  1. Write or Die is a unique application that enforces writing discipline through positive and negative reinforcement.
  2. Features: a. Consequence Mode: Imposes consequences for not meeting writing goals, fostering a sense of urgency. b. Reward Mode: Offers rewards for achieving writing targets, motivating writers with positive reinforcement.
  3. Benefits: Enhances productivity by creating a playful yet structured writing environment.

Forest

  1. Overview: Forest encourages focused writing sessions by growing a virtual tree during a designated writing period.
  2. Features: a. Tree Growth: The tree grows while you write, but if you exit the app, the tree withers. b. Pomodoro Timer: Incorporates the Pomodoro Technique to break writing sessions into focused intervals.
  3. Benefits: Promotes writing consistency and concentration through the visual metaphor of a growing forest.

These apps are great, there are plenty of other apps just like them, just try them out and see which ones work and which ones don’t.

Technology is your friend when gamifying your writing, don’t be afraid to experiment

Overcoming Writer’s Block With Gamification

Writer’s block is something that effects EVERYONE no matter who you are, at some point in your writing life you WILL get stuck.

Luckily, gamification has anti-writer’s block code built right into the system.

Sometimes its easy to lose sight of why you started writing in the first place, this is where the long-term goals you created are imperative. You will be able to point at that goal and say, “That, that’s why I do it”, and this simple act will likely lead to endless motivation.

Remember that writing should be FUN. You shouldn’t feel obliged to write you should be urged to write. Of course its fine if you’re not but just reflect on why you started this juorney in the first place, and just don’t be too serious.

Another way gamification combats writer’s block is the use of challenges allows for fresh persceptives on your writing and by itself is a great method of avoiding writer’s block.

Using writing promts or restrctions allows you to be unrestricted with your creativity, this is where the term “Discipline = Freedom” comes from.

Similar to gaming there are other things than the blank page. The beuty of video games is that they’ll always be there, so will your writing.

Taking a break from writing is as fine as taking breaks between gaming sessions. Sometimes you get exhausted. And that’s fine.

Taking breaks is not a sign of weakness but is a valuable method of refreshing your creative spirit.

Luckily, all of these protective factors to writer’s block are fundamenttally apart of gamification and you will reap the benefits from simply having this sort of system.

Overcoming Writing Block: Strategies to Reignite your Creativity

Conclusion

As we conclude our exploration into gamifying the writing experience, it becomes evident that incorporating game-like elements can transform writing from a daunting task into a captivating endeavor.

The benefits are multifold, ranging from heightened productivity and goal achievement to a renewed sense of inspiration and enjoyment.

In essence, the marriage of writing and gamification creates an environment where every word written is a step forward in an epic journey.

It transforms the writing routine into a series of quests, challenges, and rewards, making the process not just productive but also enjoyable.

As you embark on your own gamified writing adventure, remember that the ultimate goal is to find joy and fulfillment in the act of creation.

Experiment with different strategies, personalize your approach, and celebrate every milestone along the way.

By infusing your writing journey with the spirit of gamification, you not only enhance your productivity but also rediscover the magic and wonder that drew you to writing in the first place.

May your words flow effortlessly, and may your writing adventure be filled with triumphs and discoveries. Happy writing!

If you enjoyed this post then you’ll love this one about creating goals that ACTUALLY motivate you;

Creating Goals That ACTUALLY Motivate You as a Creative

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3 Simple Steps to Build A Writing Routine For Maximum Productivity

By Eamon on

There is one thing that optimising will have countless benefits in the long run for any writer. That is creating a writing routine.

A creative routine is a scheduled regular time in which is set aside for you to unleash your creativity, specifically for writers, is a set time every day with regulations to create a space of maximum productivity.

Developing your own writing routine is essential as it allows for order to be created from the chaos that is your day to day life, a sacred time of the day seperate from this chaos creates balance with your writing and your life.

The key to navigating the delicate equilibrium between structure and freedom is to design your own writing routine.

Benefits of Routine

Before we discuss how to design your writing system, you should understand the benefits you are to gain form implementing a routine.

Firstly, implementing and using a regular routine enhances productivity to an exponential degree. Simply the act of showing up everyday for a set time will set you miles ahead of many writers. Using your established practice also allows for you to track your progress in a spreadsheet or nice little Notion template.

Setting goals and achieving them becomes extremely easy with an implemented routine, as you can easily track your progress towards your goal, wether that be an 80,000 page novel, or simply writing everyday for a month.

Secondly, using a writing routine takes the friction out. ofsitting down to write. When you’ve already decided when and where and for how long you write, it takes the exhaustion out of organising yourself every day, to work around your life.

Routine allows for your life to not disturb your writing goals.

This lack of friction and concious effort increases your ability to focus and just watch as your creativity flows out in bucketloads.

Thirdly, sticking to your writing routine builds discipline. I’ve talked about discipline in another post but basically, discipline is the better alternative to motivation, as like a muscle it can be trained and once you train your discipline it’s hard to lose it.

Focus on Discipline NOT Motivation – How To Do What You Love

Promoting discipline is an extremely frutiful investment as your prductivity and consistency only increase.

Now we know about the benefits here’s the three most important steps to developing your own writing routine.

Step 1. Personal Goals and Preferences

Having your own writing routine is so effective because it is YOUR writing routine, it’s what works best for you. So the first thing you need to consider is you.

You should answer these two major questions;

What are your goals for your writing?

and

What hours of the day are you at your peak creativity?

These questions are important because they determine how long and when your routine is, and this is highly dependent on what you aim to do with your writing.

If you intend to write an 80,000-word novel in two months you’ll want to set up at least 3 or 4 hours a day to do your routine. Whereas, if you are only writing for a hobby, you may only write for 20 minutes a day.

However, I do encourage you to set your routine as happening daily, so you can really get the benefits of using the routine.

Step 2. Blueprint your Routine

Now you have a good idea of your goals and times of the day that work best for you to write, you now want to write down exactly how long and how frequently you will write and specifically at what time every day.

This provides a skeleton to your writing routine.

The goal here is progress, NOT perfection.

Your routine won’t be perfect the first time you do it, but that’s the beauty of it you can shift and change it all you like, because it is all yours.

I highly recommend that you build in regular brakes in your routine to allow your brain not to get exhausted, I know if I decide that I will write 6 hours with no break, I will be struggling by the second hour.

This extra added friciton is unecessary and completely avoidable. So be sure to take a break once in a while.

Step 3. Iteration and Adaption

As I’ve said above, your routine will NOT be perfect, and that’s okay, that’s why we will reflect on our routine every now and then.

Its important that you have regular reflection of the effectiveness of your routine, what works well and what doesn’t.

Be sure to be flexible with your changes, it will take some tweaking but eventually you will have a completely optimised routine that works perfectly for you.

If you’re really struggling and nothing seems to be working there are a few things you can consider.

  1. Your needs for your system will change over time so be aware that what’s not working now may work later and vice versa it’s really just about persistence
  2. If your regimen doesn’t click, experiment with different structures, such as a rest break heavy schedule or a multiple short writing sprints over the day
  3. Trial and error unfortunately is the best way to find what works so just stick at it, it will get better

Congratulations!

Congratulations! by this point you should have a writing practice that is maximised for productivity and will allow for you to be your best self as a writer.

How exciting!

Let me know if you’ve tryed to create your own routine, and how it went, I would love to find out.

If you enjoy productivity for writers you will love this post about passion for writers and how some advice is more harmful then helpful;

Why ‘Follow Your Passion” is Dangerous Advice for Creatives

Thanks for reading! Happy Writing 🙂

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Writing and The Art of Not Trying – Wu Wei

By Eamon on

When I understood this concept writing became so much easier!

There is a fascinating philosophy from Taoism that I have implemented when I am writing that has resulted in so much clarity and peace of mind.

The concept is Wu Wei.

What is Wu Wei?

Taoism is an ancient Chinese philosophy that emphasizes the importance of being a part of the flow of the universe, what Taoists refer to as the Tao (pronounced Dow). The Tao Te Ching depicts the teachings of the Tao, as a sort of beginner’s manual to Taoism, written by a fella called Lao Tzu.

Wu Wei is an interesting concept in Taoism, roughly translated to ‘Not Forcing.’ Wu Wei is the means by which the ancient Toaists live their everyday life, by being a part of the flow of things and not forcing anything into being.

The most interesting application of this theory is that the more you chase something the less you will have of it. Initially, this idea makes no sense, but let me explain it to you.

Lao Tzu explains Wu Wei the best in the Tao Te Ching;

The Man of Superior Virtue is not concious of his virtue, and in this way he really possesses virtue.
The man of inferior virtue never loses sight of his virtue, and in this way he loses his virtue.

-Lao Tzu

This means that the more you concentrate on what you don’t have the fact that you don’t have the thing is compounded whereas, if you are not conscious of the thing you want you in fact really possess the thing.

How Does Wu Wei Help My Writing?

The teachings of the Tao Te Ching are so valuable for writers who have a goal in mind for their writing. Such as wanting to be famous, or write a best-selling novel, or writing an amazing movie.

Wu Wei teaches that although it is important to have a direction in mind, we should not be all-encompassed by this goal.

So, to truly attain what you want from life you must not force it into being but rather go about you’re daily life writing because you enjoy it, and if you do what you love day after day, doing something that you don’t force on yourself evidently you will achieve your goals by not relentlessly wishing them into being.

How Can I Use This Concept With My Writing?

The way I think about the theory is that writing should be a thing you love doing, not something that you force yourself to do every day, because if you force yourself to write the more it becomes apparent that you are not as good of a writer as you would hope to be.

I implement this theory through 2 simple steps;

  1. Get clear on the goals that you want to hit with your writing
  2. Consider the daily habits that someone who had achieved that goal would do and do them every day with enjoyment.

In this way, you will be able to achieve your writing goals through the art of not forcing, Wu Wei.

Thanks for reading this post if you liked it check out this one about how to focus when you’re writing;

3 Simple Steps to Laser Focus When Writing

Happy writing 🙂

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3 Simple Steps to Laser Focus When Writing

By Eamon on

Focus is THE most important skill to be able to accomplish regularly.

Focus gets you into the flow state. It boosts creativity. Overall, you are more satisfied with your work because you were able to give the writing session everything you had.

Unfortunately, not everyone knows how to protect and foster their focus when it comes to crunch time.

In his book Stolen Focus Johann Hari discusses the global epidemic of attention. He paints a harrowing image of a world plagued by the lowest amounts of concentration than ever before.

Here are the 3 biggest takeaways that I have implemented into my writing so I can quickly and consistently focus on my writing.

Takeaway 1. Remove Multitasking

The problem with multitasking is that people think it’s being able to concentrate on more than one thing at a time.

This is wrong!

Multitasking is actually shifting the attention of the brain multiple repeatedly. It comes from the idea that the brain can only truly pay attention to one thing at a time. The brain prefers doing this.

But this day and age has us trying to focus on that thing we need to write, as well as this email I need to send and that thing I’ve gotta do for my friend.

When the brain does this rapid switching of attention it gets exhausted, limiting your ability to concentrate on the next thing you switch to.

This is the way doomscrolling on social media results in a sort of brain fog. Have you ever had this? You’re scrolling for hours at nothing, particularly entertaining, and afterward, your brain just feels numb. This is exhaustion your brain has switched its focus so many times it’s basically given up.

Therefore, to help our focus we need to make sure we are only focused on our writing. This can be done by actively saying to yourself, “This is my time for writing, for the next 20 minutes I will focus on writing”.

Your focus is valuable, so use it wisely.

Don’t Multitask

Takeaway 2. Diet and Exercise are Crucial

Prior to reading Johann’s book, I hadn’t made the link between what I eat and how active I am with my ability to concentrate.

Stolen Focus really made it clear that your diet and daily exercise should be carefully considered when you are aiming to become focused on something.

Thus, you want to make sure you don’t have any sugary foods like lollies or other sugary treats before you do your writing for the day. This is because sugary foods give you an initial burst of energy but then you have this thing where you ‘hit the wall’ and become sluggish and your brain becomes foggy.

Which is exactly what we want to avoid.

Similarly, exercise is the best way to get the blood moving around your body as well as getting your body to release hormones such as endorphin which can increase well-being and thus you’re state of mind when you’re trying to focus.

I abuse these benefits as after my daily walk I go straight to my computer and get tapping away.

So, be aware of how much sugary foods you are eating and exercise before your writing time.

Takeaway 3. Practice Makes Perfect

Johann outlines in his book that focus is something that can be trained. Meaning that the more you successfully focus the more your ability to focus in the future.

Thus, we need to make focus a critical part of our daily routine if we want to reap its benefits long term.

You can do this by setting some time each day that is your designated focus time. This doesn’t necessarily have to be writing.

For example, I use New York Times daily Sudoku puzzles as a way to practice focus every day, because especially the hard puzzle requires a lot of concentration (at least for me).

This is great for my writing as the ability to focus is a transferrable skill, if you boost it up because of one habit you can luckily use the same built-up skill when you are writing.

Isn’t that awesome!?

Anyway, be sure to spend some time daily, focusing and you will strengthen the ‘muscle’ of focus.

Conclusion

Focus is such an important skill to have in your toolbox as a writer I hope at least one of my takeaways from Johann’s excellent book Stolen Focus was of some use to you.

The three takeaways I found were;

  1. Don’t Multitask
  2. Watch your diet and exercise
  3. Practice Practice Practice

If you liked this post then you might also like this one about how to avoid getting burnt out as a writer;

3 Tips to Not Get Burnout as a Writer

Thanks for reading. Happy Writing.

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3 Tips to Not Get Burnout as a Writer

By Eamon on

There’s one thing that’s so pernicious it can take you out of the writing game for HUGE amounts of time. And that is burnout.

Burnout is defined as a state of exhaustion that’s caused by excessive stress.

Sometimes it’s hard to notice the amount of stress you can put on yourself for deadlines and specific goals, constantly lingering in the background of your attention.

This leads to being exhausted. Which leads to burnout.

No one has time for burnout. So here are some tips that I use personally to make sure I never et exhausted enough of writing to become burnout.

Tip 1. Take a Break

I know it’s not the most popular belief in hustle culture, but breaks are seen to be for people who are weak.

“David Goggins never takes a break, so why should I?’

You should take a break because it acts as a palate cleanser for your creativity. I’m not talking about having a 3-month break from writing your novel. Rather, I am talking about a set time each day or each week where you take a periodic break from your writing and do something that has nothing to do with writing.

Personally, I’ve just gotten a Nintendo Switch and I have been playing a game called Cuphead for my break. If you know anything about this game it is brutal. Very difficult (for me at least). That’s why it’s such a perfect distraction from my writing.

So when I get back to my short story or my blog post I am refreshed and ready to go.

Try it out. Be sure to have breaks.

Tip 2. Be Mindful

Mindfullness has an airy fairy ambiance to it, being thankful for things. However active reflection of your current situation can help you identify warning signs of exhaustion.

I recommend that at least once a week, just write on a piece of paper for 5 minutes, how you are feeling about your writing. Nothing strenuous. Just enough to get you to become aware of how you are feeling.

I for one am very out of touch with my emotions. I will be feeling bugged all day, and never stop to think why I am. But I find every time I can track back my emotions to a specific scenario and understand why I’m feeling the way I am.

Neglected thoughts don’t disappear, they fester.

If you don’t reflect on how you are feeling about writing you can become spiteful and hateful for the act of writing, when it should be something you love to do.

So, check in with yourself, be mindful

Tip 3. Broaden Your Horizons

I find the biggest reason I get burnt out is that I’m stuck with a single idea for too long, which gets me mentally in a rut where I’m going forward and backward in it, getting deeper and deeper into despair.

The easiest way I’ve found to get out of the rut is to consume some content that I otherwise wouldn’t. I find that this allows for a fresh perspective on your writing that is hard to achieve if you don’t take a step back.

Just an hour ago I watched the new slasher movie “Thanksgiving” about a Thanksgiving-themed killer. It’s about as goofy as you can imagine. But because I don’t usually watch slasher movies it inspired some interesting scenes that I can add to my own horror writing.

So definitely, if you feel you’re getting in a rut with your ideas, consume some different content, in moderation of course. And I can almost guarantee you will have a fresh unexhausted attitude towards your work.

Conclusion. . .

Burnout is a pain but there are many things you can do to avoid it, they are all about taking a step back from your writing, intermittently.

The 3 tips I shared with you were;

  1. Have breaks.
  2. Be mindful
  3. Consume unfamiliar content

If you enjoyed this post, check out this post about avoiding toxic-productivity;

Toxic Productivity and 3 Ways to Avoid It

Thanks for reading. Best of luck with you’re writing 🙂

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Toxic Productivity and 3 Ways to Avoid It

By Eamon on

Productivity hacking and personal optimization is great fun. My whole blog is about how to optimise your life for maximum productivity as a writer. But there is danger in consuming productivity content. Toxic-Productivity.

It’s very easy to be constantly thinking about what you’re doing and whether it’s optimized for maximum productivity, I definitely fell into this trap.

Toxic productivity refers to the harmful mindset that places excessive pressure on oneself to be constantly productive, often at the expense of mental and physical health.

This is particularly pernicious as you can be blinded by productivity where every second of your day you feel bad if you’re not doing something worth doing.

Avoiding toxic productivity is important for maintaining a healthy work-life balance and overall wellbeing

So I have compiled some helpful reminders and actionable steps so you don’t fall into the productivity trap.

Tip 1. Prioritise Self-Care

The biggest problem with toxic productivity is that it is constantly in the back of your mind, even when you are trying to unwind.

This means it’s really important to be aware of what time is just for you. No podcasts, no motivational content, just you and whatever you’re doing.

Your ‘me time’ may consist of playing video games, reading, crossword puzzles, walking or any number of relaxing things.

Personally, I have a few types of ‘me time’ one is where I am doing something with music in the background or entertainment just to turn the brain off for a while, mostly this time consists of video games and reading.

The second type of personal time is when I’m walking. When I’m walking I listen to nothing, just me and my thoughts. I find this a refreshing mental reset, as I do it everyday, I have found tones of benefits.

I’ve actually done a post on it if you want to check that out:

3 Reasons Why You Should Go for a Walk Everyday as a Writer

So be sure to set a time where you are completely engaged in your activity and it’s ok to not be doing anything productive in this time. I’ve found this is a major help.

Tip 2. Advice does NOT Apply to Everyone

This tip has been a game changer for me.

Nowadays, everyone has an opinion of what you should be doing with your time, or what the most producitve thing you should be doing is.

The problem with this is productivity is different for everyone. Everyone finds values in different tips, as obviously, everyone’s life is different so one circumstance applies to one person’s life but does not suit another person.

My biggest example of this was when I discovered cold showers.

I know it’s very ‘alpha male’ to do cold showers, I don’t anymore, but I did.

I would have a cold shower every night before bed.

What I found was that if I take the cold shower it would increase my heart rate and my alertness, not something you want when going to bed. This resulted in me thinking I was having trouble with my heart, which brought on frequent panic attacks and eventually I was taken to the hospital in case there was something wrong with my heart. There wasn’t.

It just goes to show that if you try and jam routines and regulations into your daily life some times, they just don’t suit you.

And that’s ok.

Tip 3. Celebrate your Success

When you’re constantly on the move there is no time for revelling in the things you’ve achieved, but doing so is absolutely pivotal if you want to not get burnt out.

Everyday you are succeeding in things, even if you’re not doing anything particularly spectacular.

If you got out of bed early. That’s a success.

If you managed to keep your cool in an argument. That’s a success.

If you wrote one sentence on your novel. That’s a success.

Be sure you notice the things you succeed on on a daily basis as becoming aware of what you are doing well, you’re brain isn’t constantly criticising you for not doing anything with your time.

And if it does, you can point at your success and tell your brain, “Look at this awesome thing I did I deserve my personal time”.

You do need to be careful that you aren’t celebrating non-stop, you still need to be pushing forward but you just need to be aware of the things you do well each day.

Conclusion

I hope these three tips are some sort of use to you if you are struggling with toxic productivity. Just a reminder they were;

  1. Prioritise your Me Time
  2. Productivity advice does NOT apply to everyone
  3. Celebrate your Successes

If you liked this post check out this one about how to avoid procrastination;

3 Ways to Avoid Procrastination

Thanks for reading. Have a great day 🙂

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How to Write Everyday By Maximising Motivation

By Eamon on

Motivation is not an obligation to pump out content but an urge to create great work.

I appreciate that there are days when you simply can’t find the motivation to write. Therefore, I’ve compiled three ways to reframe writing for sustained motivation.

Motivation Tip 1. Get Excited

In the kerfuffle of productivity optimization and self-improvement, the stuff that you want to do becomes your obligation to just grind it out despite the resistance.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

The way I avoid this obligation to write is that I get excited to write every day, it’s not a matter of how good my writing is but rather that I get my ideas onto the page.

That’s all you can really ask for I suppose.

Remember, it should be enjoyable; consistency in writing is achievable when you find joy in the process.

Your excitement stems from wholeheartedly engaging in the process of exploring an idea, regardless of the type of writing you undertake.

Get excited writing should be fun.

Motivation Tip 2. Get Interested

I heavily rely on my genuine interest in the topics I discuss for my daily writing.

This tip is not just for blog writers but any sort of writer.

If you can genuinely become interested in the workings of an idea and follow where the thread leads, motivating yourself to write every day will become effortless.

I do this specifically in my short story writing where I give myself a ‘what if?’ question;

“What if there was a creature species that evolved alongside humans but lived in the darkness?”

“What if individuals have superpowers, suppressed by their upbringing?”

Ask yourself similar questions that jumpstart your interests and see where it leads you.

I’m sure wherever you’re lead you will enjoy writing about it.

Get interested in what-ifs

Motivation Tip 3. Write What You Want to Read

“Write the stuff you want to read”

I can’t recall the source of that quote, but it has certainly stayed with me, especially when I find myself worrying about what to write next or how to gain recognition. This popularity focused thinking will only lead you down a path where you never enjoy the stuff you write, and thus not motivated to write.

Avoid this pitfall by writing what you want to read.

I started my writing journey to share stories and be able to teach people the stuff that I learn along the way. I do this because I wish there was a prominent writer that tracked their journey from an average writer and storyteller to a greater one.

Make sure you are writing the things you want to read.

Conclusion

I genuinely do believe that it is these three mindests to approach writing that are the contributors for my consisten motivation;

  1. Get excited writing should be fun.
  2. Get interest in what-ifs
  3. Make sure you are writing the things you want to read.

I am sure if you follow any of these tips you will become a greater motivated writer.

If you are a writer who battles with procrastination check out this post about 3 tips to beating procrastination;

3 Ways to Avoid Procrastination

Hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading.

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3 Ways to Avoid Procrastination

By Eamon on

I have come to know myself as no stranger to procrastination.

If it isn’t necessary now, I’m not doing it. My quote in my yearbook was “Never put off tomorrow what can easily be done the day after tomorrow”

However, I am into productivity so I have read about actionable ways that you can fight procrastination. Some tips are obvious but they work amazingly.

So here are my three favorite procrastination combat strategies;

Tip 1. Be Bored

Boredom is terrible, in this day and age where dopamine stimulation can be gotten at the click of a button I’ve found it useful to use the pain of boredom to get me to do things that I am procrastinating.

This technique is where I remove all distractions from my space and set a 10-minute timer, I promise myself that in this time I am more than welcome to do nothing but that’s all I can do that or the thing I’m procrastinating.

This technique works so well because you can stare out the window, or spin on your chair all you want but eventually the boredom is gonna get ya, and it SUUUUUUCCKS to be bored, so I just do the thing I’m procrastinating.

Tip 1. Use boredom to your advantage

Tip 2. The Power of 3

Upon re-reading James Clear’s Atomic Habits I found this really interesting insight where Clear talks about ‘microhabits’ where you break the habit you want to do down to the bare bones. For example, if you want to adopt an exercise habit a microhabit would be to tie your shoes.

These micro habits allow for progress to be felt when very little has actually been done.

I use this concept in technique 2 which I call the Power of 3.

The Power of 3 is when you break down the difficult thing you procrastinate about into something that takes 3 minutes, that’s it. You just have to do the thing for 3 minutes and you’re done, you can move on.

I’ve found that more often than not that burst of momentum you get after those 3 minutes is enough to keep the ball rolling.

This is how I start hard things and keep working on them over time.

I’ve actually done a whole post about The Power of 3, check it out if you want;

Boost Your Productivity: Master the ‘Power of 3’ Technique

Tip 2. Trick yourself with the Power of 3

Tip 3. Use Dopamine

Dopamine is the happy hormone it’s that little chemical that fires in your brain when you are rewarded, more specifically during the anticipation of a reward.

That’s why it feels so disproportionately good when you have a package on the way versus having the contents of the package.

This is all due to dopamine.

I use this chemical by applying a system I have created called the Bottle Cap Economy.

The Bottle Cap Economy basically is a system that I made where I reward myself with bottle caps as a form of currency which I can spend for stuff that I want at the end of each month as a reward.

The anticipation of being able to add a bottle cap to the tally jar is enough to motivate me to do the stuff I am procrastinating about.

I also recently did a post about this system if you want to check it out in more detail;

The Ultimate Productivity Motivation System – The Bottle Cap Economy –

Tip 3. Dopamine is a cheat code to motivation, use it

In Conclusion . . .

The top 3 procrastination-combating techniques I know of are;

  1. Use boredom to your advantage
  2. Trick yourself with the Power of 3
  3. Dopamine is a cheat code to motivation, use it

I hope you can find use in at least one of these techniques, please let me know if you have any other techniques you use, I would love to hear them.

If you like productivity and being creative, there’s this post about why you should keep a pocket notebook for enhanced creativity;

3 Reasons Why Creative People NEED a Pocket Notebook

Thanks for reading, have a great day 🙂

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