3 Things To Do This Fall To Create a Solid and Sustainable Writing Habit
Give your writing habit a caffeine boost.
We’re still in the glow of the fall, back-to-school energy, and everyone’s making lists of all the writing they want to do and revisiting their January lists.
Hopefully, you’re taking action on your list, too.
The list-making energy is great! I love the focused and grounded energy of fall. I’m a generator in human design, so know that when I make lists, I’ve got that internal battery to push through and get much of it done. Because I know this trap well, I know that list-making is only scratching the surface of action-taking. It’s like lacing my shoes up. I still need to get my ass in the car and drive to the gym.
And if you’re like most people, you’ve probably been in this situation before.
Whether it’s the first of the year, month, or day of the week, your renewed optimism toward tackling your writing projects is palpable.
You make your list, shop for new notebooks and supplies, and then one of a few things happens.
You set out toward your goal, making it happen for the first three days, then you miss a day or two and slide back into your old ways.
Or, you make your list, then feel overwhelmed, unsure where to begin. The plan collects dust while your writing projects keep nudging you — probably at 4:00 a.m.
On top of all this, your day-to-day demands pile up. You have “write _____” on your daily to-do list, but you just can’t seem to get to it.
3 things were missing:
Time. A week isn’t long enough to build a new writing habit.
You didn’t remove anything from your day-to-day, only crammed more in.
A plan.
Looking closer at each one…
1) Your writing habit needs at least 66 days to become automatic.
“On average, it takes more than 2 months before a new behavior becomes automatic — 66 days to be exact.“ James Clear
This is also why 21- and 30-day challenges are fine for jumpstarting a new writing habit, but what about after that? We need at least another month to cement our new, positive habits.
I think the science that points most of us toward 21-day challenges appeals to us because we’re like, “Oh good, I can do anything for three weeks.” Lazy thinking takes over, and we think we’re set with 21 days of focus. If we even make it that far. This is good for a start but not enough to build a sustainable habit, especially one that’s conducive to creating a sustainable writing life.
That’s why, with Finding Flow, my writing experience that lasts a full moon cycle (about a month), everyone gets an additional 30 days of access to the writing community to practice their new behavior and help make it stick. Many people end up staying in the community and have gone on to write books, finish their websites, start blogging and newsletter writing, and post on social media consistently.
2) You need to take things off your plate to make room for the writing you want to do.
It's easy to want to add new things to our already overflowing cups. We always want to do more. The problem is we tend to think that we’ll have more time in the future. This is only true if we take some tasks off our plates. If you weren’t able to do it before because you didn't have the time, how do you think you’ll be able to do it now?
Chances are good that you’ll need to remove something or things from your list to make room for the writing you want to do.
So, what will you stop doing to make time for the writing you want to do?
To take some stuff away, cull your list of daily things.
Pull up your phone stats to see how much time you spend on each social app. Will you reduce social media time to 15 minutes or zero minutes to make time for writing?
Schedule that exact amount of time to do the writing you said you’d do — social media posting, blog writing, book writing, working on your offers, copy, emails, etc. Remember to write first and edit later. Get the writing done first! Most people are surprised by how much they create in a small chunk of time.
Turn off the TV an hour before bed, or leave it off entirely.
What things are you doing in your life and business that can come off your plate?
This isn’t to say that we should avoid movies, listen to podcasts, and enjoy playtime. It’s that we’ll do everything with intention. Watching a movie with your family is recharging your energy. Doing so for five hours every evening won’t give you the time and energy to bring your writing project to life.
3) Creating an intuitive plan — then sticking to it
I’ve shared a ton about the power of having a plan. Even if you hate planning, make a plan for the next 60 days, then work your way up to 12 weeks (a whole quarter).
If your writing plan is simply “write more” or “blog consistently,” — decide the actual metric you’re after and then flesh out the plan to make it happen.
Examples:
Write 750 words a day on my book
Write 3 SFD blogs a week
Post daily on Instagram
Send a weekly newsletter to my email subscribers
Update my services page
Give yourself time. And most importantly, keep taking action. It’s okay if you spend more time thinking about writing than doing your actual writing at times. Once you hit a tipping point of writing enough — where you empty out at the page enough times in a week, you’ll stop worrying that you’re not doing “enough.” You trust that you’re doing enough.
Some people choose to dive into an intense writing challenge to give their writing habits a boost. I don’t recommend this — especially for women. While everyone goes into these drastic challenges with good intentions, I see most people burn out, leaving them feeling even crappier about the writing they’re not doing. Instead, I suggest a sustainable approach that puts your writing goals first.
In the writing community, you’ll create a sustainable writing habit that feels good. With weekly guidance, monthly workshops and coaching calls, and most importantly — built-in time to DO the work, you’ll completely transform your relationship with writing.
