Want to Write More Words Each Day? Streamline Your Decision Making
By: Laura Winter
Tags: Decision Making, Writing, Productivity, Writing Tips, Organization

Want to Write More Words Each Day? Streamline Your Decision Making

The magic of planning ahead and helping your future self

Photo by Burst on Unsplash

Before I was a full time writer, I had to scrape words out of tiny minutes throughout my day. I was lucky if I wrote one thousand words before I left for work or even after I got home… combined. I understand the frustration of seeing writers who can churn out 5K or more words a day with little to no effort, some of which still balance their lives and families on top of other work obligations.

In my early time of writing, I was working full time, traveling constantly as a softball coach, and a full time graduate student. I barely had time to breathe, let alone cultivate my newest passion. I envied all the writers who could produce one, two, three, or more articles every day. I could barely get a chapter done on a book that I absolutely loved.

But the more I learned the skill of writing, the more I discovered that it wasn’t about having a million ideas running through your brain at once. It wasn’t about how fast you could type or how many minutes you could steal back while you were running to the bathroom or between homework assignments.

The secret to producing more words was streamlining the decision making process.

You see, when I sat down to write, I hadn’t actually thought about what I would write. Sure, thoughts ran through my head during the day, but I never had a concrete plan about what I would work on when I sat down to write. I would open my document and then decide what I would write.

I left all of my decision making for the first twenty minutes of my writing session. By the time I got started, I’d barely have forty minutes to write what I had finally decided on, and that’s if I was lucky. I wasted all of my time trying to figure out what to write rather than actually writing.

So, I started streamlining my decision making process. Instead of sitting down for the first twenty minutes to choose where my story was going to go, I used the last few minutes to decide where I’d pick up. My stolen minutes throughout the day became planning minutes, so when I could finally sit down and write, all I had to do was write.

I started to write for an hour, uninterrupted, and learned how much more I could produce in that short time frame. Then, I started to plan in more detail the things I would write and found that my production increased yet again. I cut out all of my in-the-moment decisions and started writing more words.

But it didn’t stop there. I discovered that so much of my time during the day, even outside of writing, was wasted on decision making. So, I started streamlining those decisions as well. I minimized my breakfast choices and cut out five or more minutes of prep time. I started meal prepping, using an hour or so over the weekend to cut out all prep time for the entire week ahead. I set out my workout clothes and work clothes before I went to bed and found an extra ten minutes in my day.

Those moments didn’t feel like much, but over time, they added up. I started discovering entire hours during my day that I could use for writing by minimizing the wasted space in my day. I deleted social media apps and instead put the Google Docs app front and center so instead of deciding which social to scroll, I scrolled my book. Instead of an hour during my day, I found three free ones to write during. I started to get up earlier, write for a while, go to work, and come home and write again.

When I was finally able to write full time, I transitioned those decisions into my day. I have such a streamlined process that I am able to sit down at my desk at or before 9AM every morning, write until lunch, and then use the rest of the afternoon to filter out ideas and prepare myself for the next writing session.

You don’t have to write the same number of words as me, or anyone else, because we all have different circumstances. You can, however, write more words relative to your own typical productivity by eliminating wasted space. Prepare yourself, streamline decisions, and discover that empty time to dedicate to writing. More time saved means more time spent in front of your document.