Writing is a difficult job as you need to form habits and routines for effortless writing.
You need to do deliberate practice to get better at this craft. I have been writing for three years now, and I still think I am a beginner.
It’s a long and hard process that becomes more difficult with procrastination.
In the beginning, writing will suck all your willpower. But these four beginner-friendly habits will help you increase your output significantly.
1. One Eod Task for Productive Mornings
This end-of-day ritual will help you come up with better ideas and it takes less than five minutes.
You can guarantee creative ideas with this ritual. Write 10 headline ideas daily before shutting down work.
This 5-minute practice is the best way to get new ideas. It’s a brain dump exercise that will help you dig deeper to get to the best idea.
Most of these ideas will suck, but once in a while, you’ll be able to get a gem of an idea that has the potential to blow up.
Moreover, this practice helps you prepare for the next day as you can outline the heading that sucks the least.
I write research-based articles, so this trick prevents procrastination as I have to get the research done before I start the draft.
It’s always easy to write an article when you have a clear idea of what you need to write.
2. Edit Like a Pro With This Easy Trick
In the beginning, I used to edit for days before I was sure that the piece was ready to publish.
Editing was the perfect way to feed my fear of failure as it helped me postpone publishing for a long time.
But you can never become better without sharing your work, you need to do it repeatedly to improve your craft.
It’s hard to share your work with the world but if you want to become a better artist then you need to build in public.
You can’t get better until you put your work on display. Sometimes the critique will hurt but it will only make you stronger.
So, I started using a stopwatch to edit. I gave myself thirty minutes to do three step edit.
- Erase the clutter and rectify the grammar.
- Read out aloud to gauge the flow of the story.
- Format it and pick the picture.
This is the easy framework that can help you fast-track your editing and improve your writing quality.
3. the First Step of Every Successful Article
The best habit that I learned from my $500 writing class was to mind map all my ideas before starting to write.
This nifty little technique prevented me from word vomiting in the first draft. It's easy to get swayed while writing but remember you are not writing a diary entry.
Mind mapping helps me create a better outline that improved my writing style.
An article outline is a game changer. It improves the quality of the first draft and prevents clutter.
There’s no bigger turn-off for readers than reading shit they don’t need to know.
Keep your writing concise and articulate with an outline. A mind map helps get everything you know about the topic on a paper first.
This easy step prevents clutter and helps you write a great outline, which is a necessity.
I have filled four thick notepads with mindmaps, of random thoughts that have become great articles.
So, be an old-school writer and write your ideas with a pen on paper first.
4. Hack Better Flow States Easily
You do the best writing in a flow state. Tapping into the power of flow makes writing effortless.
Time flies off when you are writing in flow. But long sessions will cause a dip in productivity which can derail your quality.
My productivity tanks after a one-hour productive writing session, if I push myself to work more then I end up writing crap.
So, you need to find your sweet spot for optimal productivity. A micro-break after a productive session will repower your productivity instantly.
After an hour-long writing session, I take a 10-minute break to refresh my mind with a fiction novel. Reading and walking are my go-to productivity booster.
So, find your sweet spot, and remember to take a micro-break after a successful session.
Tying It All Together
Writing is the most difficult thing I have ever learned. So, I empathize well with the plight of an amateur writer.
You have to throw a lot of shit at the wall before something finally sticks. These habits helped me save a lot of time and increased my productivity.
- Write 10 ideas daily.
- Mind-map your ideas by hand for better outlines.
- Edit with a stopwatch to prevent procrastination.
- Don’t force yourself to write. Take multiple micro-breaks.
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