How Do I Get In The Habit Of Writing Every Day?
By: Bhuwan Dahal
Tags: Writing Habit, Writing Life, Writing Tips, Writing Hack, Writing Prompts

“You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” ―John C. Maxwell

If you fight to get in enough time for writing, or keep putting it off, or may not seem to write if you planned to write… you want to work on producing the habit of writing.

Think about it for a moment — if you could write consistently for an hour (or two) a day:

Set a small daily goal

Creating a new writing habit? Start with a small goal, perhaps just one sentence a day.

Set a timer:

I use timeTracko as a timer where I can track time and productivity while writing on the laptop.

It can be 5am or 11:30pm. Whatever it is, just try to make it consistent. You need to show up every day at this time and put your butt in the chair. It doesn’t matter if you have any idea what you’re going to write; until you commit to a time, you will never get into a daily rhythm of writing.

Set a word count goal:

Maybe you decide to write 500 words a day. Or 50. 1000. When you’re actively working on something like a novel, don’t worry if your word count isn’t what it needs to be. Just try to get the words on the page.

If you don’t have any sort of deadline or target, it’s easy to put off writing until another day. Try posting your targets near your desk, so that you’ll see them while you’re working, or keep track of your progress using a blog, Facebook or Twitter.

Don’t let yourself forget:

What would you do if you absolutely couldn’t forget an appointment? You might write it on your calendar, set an alarm, even put up a note where you couldn’t miss it. You might ask someone else to remind you. Do all those things.

Get off social media:

“Being a good writer is 3% talent, 97% not being distracted by the Internet.” ~ Anon

All you need is 10 minutes a day. But you have to block off those 10 minutes, and treat them as an unmissable appointment. You wouldn’t tell your doctor that you’ll get to your appointment with her “after checking your email and Facebook just one more time” would you? Then don’t do that to your writing appointment. This is undistracted time, so shut everything down, and treat this space as sacred. Have a place you write, treat it like your daily prayers, and be ready before the appointment starts.

Don’t be 97%.

Don’t let your mind run (for a little while):

Your mind will want to run from the writing. This is normal. The mind doesn’t like uncertainty and discomfort. You’ll want to go check email, check blogs, check social media, check news, go clean your kitchen. Notice this urge, and then sit with it. Don’t run.

Put complete focus on it for one month

Set rewards:

Rewards are great motivators. Do them more often in the beginning: give yourself a small reward after the first day, and the second, and the third, then after one week, then two weeks, then three, and finally after one month. Make a list of these rewards before you start, so you can look forward to getting them.

Find inspiration”

The best motivation is inspiration, in my own book. When I’m forming a new habit, I love to read about others who’ve been successful. I will read books and magazines and websites and blogs on the topic. Do the same with writing — find inspiration, but simply don’t allow the reading to get in the way of writing.

Make it fun:

Above all, if the habit isn’t fun in some way, you’ll lose motivation over time. It’s one thing to try to be “disciplined” but in the end, it’s motivation that matters. You can’t force motivation. So find a way to make it fun, either by playing some great music while you write, or having a cup of tea or coffee while you do it, or writing with tools you love.

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” ~ Stephen King