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Daily Writing Habit Overview & Plan : zen habits
Common Obstacles To Writing
- You’re busy: separate 5-15 minutes to write, first thing in the morning, and stick to it.
- You’re intimidated: The important thing is to start.
- You’re not motivated: Commit to writing to an accountability group and report to them if you wrote or not.
- You’re distracted: Close all programs but the writing one.
- Nothing to write about: Spend some time during the day thinking of what to write. Exercise, going to bed, the shower, and your commute are good times to do this.
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SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
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Key Ideas
Writing Daily
To build a habit of daily writing, try to get three pages of writing done every day. It can be about anything and it’s important that you write all without editing or censoring.
Daily writing can be used to clear your mind, think out loud and troubleshoot problems, thoughts and anxieties. But before you start, figure out why you personally want to write more often as this will help push you forward when things are tough.
Set Accountability Metrics
Come up with trackable goals like a number of words or pages per day. The specificity is important because being able to measure it allows you to keep track of your progress and better change your behavior.
Make It a Regular Practice
Keeping track of streaks is a very powerful tactic for developing any new habit. Knowing that you have consistently succeeded for a number of days helps you push through the days who are unmotivated.
Other ways to foster regularity: writing in a different style or genre, and doing your writing first thing in the morning.
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Key Ideas
Integrating journaling in your daily life
The biggest mistake is to journal only in reaction to something that is going on, instead of letting it be part of a system.
Make writing in your personal journal part of your everyday routine.
Benefits of a journal
- When you keep a journal, you can look back on important life events to read about how you felt at the time. You may also be able to learn from these past experiences.
- Writing about traumatic events results in physical and psychological health benefits. Journaling focuses on understanding traumatic events and makes people see these events with an extra level of clarity.
Schedule journaling time
Start your daily journal off on the right foot by scheduling your writing for a set time every day.
- If you find your mind is most active in the morning, wake up 15 to 20 minutes earlier and jot down your thoughts then.
- If you prefer to record everything after the day is over, then make it an evening activity before you go to bed.