How To Build A Great Writing Lifestyle
Consistent Writing Habit Is Not Difficult Like You Think
I’ve consistently published on Medium for 31 days.
Yeah…. 31 days on a stretch.
This is not me bragging about my achievement.
It’s literally just what it is.
The Back story?
During Late December 2023, I set a goal to be publishing a story on Medium EVERYDAY.
Let me appreciate everyone who have viewed and read my stories since January 1. Thank you very much. I’m grateful and very much delighted in you.
In this article, I’ll be discussing with you on how you also can build a consistent writing lifestyle like I did in the last 31 days—and still doing.
So, how?
#1 Set the Goal to Write
Without having a goal, there is nothing to tailor your strength and effort toward achieving.
Setting meaningful goals give you a glimpse of what you are about to do.
You may not have to figure things out perfectly before you set the goal.
The most important is that you are interested in the goal you are setting.
When I wanted to start writing online, I set a goal of writing a minimum of 1000 words per day.
There are times I wrote less. There have been times I wrote about twice of my “word-count” goal.
Your goal(s) do(es) not have to be enormous.
I even suggest it's not big enough.
This will kill the anxiety of how to go about achieving those goals.
The goal of setting a goal is to be able to achieve the set goal.
So, set a minimum number of goal.
If writing is your interest, as a beginner you could set goals of writing 300 words per day for a start.
If you are comfortable, you can later level up the number of goal on the long run.
#2 Set Time to Execute Your Goal
Many dreams died in the sleep.
Some died after being awake for a few minutes.
Procrastination is your enemy if you are just starting out on a new project.
No matter how fantastic your goals are, if you don't set time to execute them, they will disappear into thin air.
Having set the goal of writing 300 words per day, as a writer, the next thing is set a quality time to execute your goals.
There is no one-size-fit-it-all when it comes to time to execute your goals.
You can pick any time that interests you.
Just be careful with your timing.
Some prefer writing early morning. Some in the afternoon. Others at late hours.
Obviously a night owl will not have issues writing at night.
However, if your daily job is too tasking, you may want to rest at night and you may not be effective in achieving your goal.
The ball is in your court.
My advice is that you chose a time when you know that your mind will be focused on work.
It could even be your leisure at work.
#3 Steer Clear of Every Distraction
If you desire to be writing online, your phone is likely going to be your number one distraction.
This is what I always do:
If there is any project at hand that will require much of my time, I would not spend my time scrolling on my phone.
Addiction to phone will cause you mayhem no matter how devoted you are to your project.
Put your phone off.
If possible, stay out of your comfort zone.
Steer clear of any distraction.
Your friends may not help matters.
Excuse yourself from them.
Don't worry, you can always make up time with them.
Afterall, we came alone to the world, we will die alone, so we shouldn't feel lonely when it's time to do something that is personal and important to us.
Let me let you aware that even after breaking from every form of controllable distractions (like your phone), your mind can still feel clumsy.
Just take your time to get yourself in order.
This might be strange for the first time.
But if you are always training your brain not to get used to your device, you surely will conquer the battle and your mind will submit to your will.
#4 Don’t Believe in Writer’s Block
One of the greatest dangers to achieving our goal is believing what some people feel are the difficulties of achieving our goals.
See, Everybody’s perception about a thing is an assumption.
Don’t base your life on assumptions.
Take for instance, if the road to your house got blocked, you would know that it’s just a temporary roadblock.
It's not permanent.
Writer’s block simply means having no ideas of what to write on.
I personally don’t believe that writer’s block exists.
With consistent learning and honing of your craft, you’ll also believe that writer’s block does not exist.
Even when the ideas seem not to be flowing, do not be discouraged.
A carpenter does not have carpentry-block even though there could be challenges with his carpentry work.
So, no writer block for a writer.
See writing as a business in which you must always open your shop.
A business man can’t be tired of making more money.
So you shouldn’t be tired of doing your job.
Writer’s block is a myth.
#4 Execute The Project
For the first few minutes you may find yourself staring at a blank screen.
Your mind could go blank.
You may think your eyes are getting blind.
That's normal.
If you have followed 1 to 3 and overcome, this one is also a surmountable mountain.
Get yourself in order.
Practice some freewriting until you get to the flow state.
The flow state is a condition of the mind you reach when ideas flows seamlessly in your mind.
Here is the thing:
Before we can get to the riches of the mines which we call gold, we must extract some impurities and sand.
Same happens when it comes to writing.
Continue to write whatever you find yourself writing until you are able to reach the tunnel.
There will always be light at the end of the tunnel.
#5 Take Some Rest/Practice Reward
It's time to take some rests now.
After labour, rest they say is sweet.
Don't overstretch yourself after work. Long hours of work may not always be productive unless you are in the flow state.
You can build up a reward system like this:
After I finish my writing, I'll take some candies and a bottle of milk.
That'll be a good reward system.
The personal advantage I found out about reward system is that it could hasten your mind to achieve your goal because there is a sweet pie at the end of the candy goal to be candid.
I hope you found the above useful.
Thank you for reading.
Let's meet on X/Twitter.
—Oluwaseyi.
