Be the First Person You Write for Each Day
Writing for myself first every day. Even if it’s just 15 minutes, my words matter the most.
"I try to blog once a month, but I wait until the last minute and cobble something together."
"My website desperately needs some updating, but I'm too busy with client work."
"I don't have time to work on my email nurture sequence."
Insert — book, sales page, sales email, newsletter into all the above.
Whatever it is you're not writing but saying that you need to write — there's only one way to start making progress.
No, it's not a Trello board or color-coded Google Drive folders (that, my friend, is procrastination.)
To make progress on the work you say is important, put your writing work first.
Every day. Full stop.
Look, I get it. I have a healthy client roster, growing community, retainer clients, partnerships, and a new copywriting course. Not to mention a family, three pets (including a puppy), and some houseplants hanging on by a thread.
The answer isn't working more. I work no more than 25-30 hours a week. And those hours are focused.
Putting my writing first every single day is the only way I've blogged consistently for a decade, published a book, wrote and published another book (published in 2023), sent regular emails to my email subscribers, and post just about every day on social media.
It's not sexy or fancy — and there’s certainly no magic pill or system. It takes diligent practice and repetition to train your brain to do something it's not used to doing.
Doing your writing work first gives you the creative energy to better serve others.
Here's how I make sure every day that my writing happens first.
Blocking my calendar for the first hour of each workday — even if I get 30 minutes in first thing on my creative stuff, it's done
Planning out the writing I'm going to do in every 12-week plan I create and revisiting it weekly
Get my free 12-week planning template & workshop here.Write specific writing to-do's on my paper planner every day. This week it looks like "edit 1 chapter," "draft blog post," "update 1:1 coaching page," and "finalize blog post."
Other practical tips to make sure you put your writing first:
Pause your inbox until your scheduled writing time is finished each day. I use Boomerang for Gmail to do this.
Put a meeting on the calendar and make it specific — that means instead of blocking time off for "writing," you'll plot, "write SFD newsletter." Then make sure your automated scheduling system is linked to your calendar, so no one books a meeting on top of your writing time.
Doing your writing first does more for you than just finishing your writing.
The best part — you're keeping the commitment to yourself that you're doing the work that matters TO YOU — leaving you feeling aligned AF.
Take out your calendar, choose three times in the coming week to work on your work, and then do it.
You got this.
Read more like this to help you put yourself first:
Need more help putting your writing first? I created The Intuitive Writing School Community for myself when I was serving everyone else (and not myself).
It was the accountability and support I needed when I wasn’t writing.
It’s for business owners who write.
