by Jenna | Feb 20, 2013 | Writing Articles
Back in November 2011, I wrote a post about why I’ve been getting up at 6 a.m. to write. It’s something I often encourage writers to try, especially those that are struggling with resistance and / or struggling to find time to write.
In my writing community, one of our writers found a study showing that your optimal creative time may actually be the opposite of your peak cognitive time. It’s sparked quite the discussion and has inspired some of our members to give morning writing a try. I have it in my mind to write a guide to morning writing, and I thought I’d start off with an article about it first.
The basic principle
The basic principle of writing first thing in the morning is that it’s about doing the hardest work first.
And by “hardest,” we don’t necessarily mean the most difficult, though it may match up.
We’re talking about doing the work that triggers the most resistance at your first available opportunity.
What does “first available opportunity” mean?
When I first started writing daily with Called to Write, my routine was that I would take my son to preschool, get back to my desk around 9 a.m. — my theoretically first available opportunity — and then write. Except not. Because I kept getting sucked into email and work. It was during work hours, and I felt hard pressed not to be focused on income-generating activities.
At least that was the story I told myself.
The deeper truth is that once I was awake for that many hours, my fear — as represented by my inner critic — was a heck of a lot louder by that point in the day when I was fully awake.
So I decide to try the morning writing gig and see how it felt. As an experiment.
Why it’s advantageous to write first thing in the morning
I first came to the notion of morning writing after reading about several writers that swore by it. Since they were pros, I figured they must know something that I didn’t. So I thought I’d give it a whirl and see how it went.
Here’s what I found:
- The longer I’m awake, the more opportunities I have to procrastinate. Writing first thing helps me circumvent my natural tendency to avoid the very work I’m called to do.
- My inner critic is much, much more quiet first thing in the morning. I don’t have to work so hard to keep those gremlins at bay when I’m still sleepy.
- Because I’m writing regularly, it doesn’t take more than a minute to find my place in my work from the previous day and start writing again.
- I spend the rest of the day in a greater state of calm because I’ve met my goal for the day. It doesn’t hang over my head, nag at me, or make me feel guilty if I haven’t done it yet.
- I’m wasting a lot less time doing meaningless things at night because I’ve adjusted my sleep schedule to get up earlier.
Common objections to writing in the morning
Whenever I mention this idea to writers — usually the ones struggling most with resistance and procrastination or time management — the most common objection I hear from people is that they are “not morning people.” And it seems like people have natural rhythms they’re naturally drawn to.
The funny thing is that I can tell you truly, I am not a morning person. When I first started my coaching practice, I was delighted to realize I could start my days whenever I wanted to — which was late. I loved the fact that I didn’t have to set an alarm clock and that I could schedule my first clients at noon. I loved sleeping in late and staying up late. It fitted with my natural rhythm.
Now, however, I love being up earlier in the day.
I love the fact that I can get so much done before 10 a.m. and feel like I have the whole day ahead of me.
I also love going to bed earlier (lights out by 9:30 is the target), because I use my awake hours much more wisely. (And by the way, I suspect there wouldn’t be so many night owls if we weren’t “biased” by electric lights.)
Things to keep in mind as you shift your schedule
If you decide to give morning writing a go, here are a few things to keep in mind.
- Start by setting an alarm clock for 30 minutes earlier than your standard wake up time, then push it 20 to 30 minutes earlier each day until you hit your target.
- Also give some thought to how much writing you want to do each day. You’ll be able to gauge how early you want to get up depending on your writing goals for the day (and remember, as we teach in my writing community, it’s perfectly okay to work in small increments — even 5 to 15 minutes a day is great, especially as you’re building the habit.)
- I’ve found that it’s easier just to be tired for the first few days and to go to bed early those nights to help myself make the shift. At least for me, it just prolongs the discomfort if I decide to sleep in a few days, take naps, or otherwise try to make the change gradual.
- Be clear that you will need to go to bed earlier to make this work. I’ve seen other writers still trying to burn the midnight oil AND get up at dawn. That’s ultimately a drain on your creative well, and you won’t be able to run on empty for long. So determine how many hours of sleep you need, and do the math so you know what time you need to go to bed.
- Give yourself about one to two weeks to get used to the change. It doesn’t happen overnight.
It’s a grand experiment
As you embark on this, think of it as an experiment. See what you notice about how you feel about your work and what you notice about your stress levels during the day after you’ve done your writing. You won’t really know if it works for you or not until you try it.
by Jenna | Feb 13, 2013 | Writing Articles
Writers often come to me saying that they haven't bought in to the notion of being a writer "yet."
If you're feeling that way, the reasons can run the gamut.
It can come up when you aren't writing consistently.
Or it may be that you feel like you aren't a "real" writer because you haven't been published, sold anything, or been hired to write anything -- yet. Or that you're not earning your full time living from your writing yet.
It can also come up in the way that you think about yourself and who you are in the world.
The two most powerful words in the Universe
The two most powerful words in the Universe, according to my spiritual teachers, are "I am."
"I am" is a phrase we use to define ourselves.
When it comes to writing (or any endeavor of the heart, for that matter), how are you describing yourself?
I shudder when I see people say, "I am a struggling filmmaker" or "I am an aspiring writer."
I do not think that means what you think it means
My shudder may be more apparent to you when it comes to the first phrase, "I am a struggling filmmaker," but just in case, let me explain. "I am struggling" is the key phrase in that sentence, not "I am a filmmaker."
The phrase, "I am struggling" sets you up to experience, focus on, and even seek out struggle. Our subconscious minds are like drive through window servers, saying, "And would you like a side of fries with that struggle?"
Your subconscious mind doesn't judge or evaluate the quality of where you are putting your attention or whether it is the "right" thing for you. It simply sets out to fulfill the request. "Okay, struggle, let's see, how can I create some of that?" And voilà, it's yours.
Similarly, in the second example, "aspiring" is the key word. When you say you are an "aspiring" anything, you're coding your subconscious to keep you perpetually in the mode of aspiration -- never actually reaching or achieving.
The debate ensues
I've had some interesting debates about my point of view with people online on this subject. One writer was very proud of and attached to the notion of struggle. He felt like he never wanted to give up the struggle to write, because it showed his determination to wrestle with the challenge of it all. I can see that.
I've also wrangled with a few folks over whether or not it's "fair" for writers who haven't been published yet to claim the "title" of writer. To them I say, and what of the script jockey who may never be "published" (if their work doesn't make it to the silver screen) but are paid for their work? Or what of the writer who toils religiously for years without compensation or recognition? Are they not writers? Are they not engaged in the act of writing?
And what if you're not writing consistently?
For the writers in waiting who want to write but feel unjustified in claiming the title because they aren't writing much or at all, the difference will come when you begin writing regularly.
"Writers write" is one of those brilliant truisms that applies best in spirit. By that I mean, the very act — the practice of writing regularly — is what brings truth to the title.
When you want to write
I've said before that Joss Whedon (a screenwriter I used to admire very much who wrote Firefly, Serenity, and The Avengers) almost did me in when I saw that he had said, "You either have to write or you shouldn't be writing." At the time I wasn't writing "enough" (my own standard) and I felt that since I wasn't driven by passion to write frequently and fervently, maybe I didn't have what it takes.
Wrong.
What I lacked was the knowledge of the basics about being a productive, consistent writer. I didn't have the tools I needed to know where to start, or how to manage myself in such a way as to be an effective, regular creator.
Permission is everything — and it comes from within
I also held back from giving myself permission to claim the title of writer.
In the end, they came together. I did some NLP work on my creative identity as a writer and redesigned my life and my work around my writing.
And once I was taking regular action to write, I became the writer I know myself to be.
by Jenna | Jan 30, 2013 | Writing Articles
As creatives, one of the skills we have to master is finding our way to the finish line, even when it feels like muddling our way through the dark.
Sometimes we know where we want to go, but we don’t know how to get there.
And when this happens, many people end up doing nothing. They don’t take action because they don’t have all the information yet, or they aren’t clear on the whole picture.
And yet from my perspective, this is one of the biggest mistakes we can make.
So often creative wait for inspiration, not realizing that if they put pen or paintbrush to page, pick up the guitar, or open their mouths to speak or sing, just trusting the act of creation is enough to get things going.
Because strange though it may seem, inching just one part of a project or idea forward can be enough to catalyze the entire system into action.
For instance, let’s say you have a beginning to a story, and you have an idea of the ending, but you aren’t quite sure how to get there yet — what happens in the middle? Well, you can start brainstorming structural ideas and plot devices. But what do you already know, and how you can nudge that forward?
Maybe you have a pretty good idea of your characters, so what if you spent some time fleshing them out? Or maybe you can visualize the ending clearly — what if you started writing there?
Yes, it’s true that some of that work might be for “nothing.” But really, truly, is any work ever lost? Isn’t it the process and the learning that comes through that work independently valuable, regardless of its lifespan?
In another example, let’s say you want to redecorate your living room, but you don’t know where to start. And yet you DO have your eye on a particular couch you just love. Rather than waiting to solve the entire design problem, what if you got the couch you love and build the rest of the redecoration project around it?
I suppose the risk is there that you’ll have purchased a couch you love but you can’t find a single thing that will look good with it, but I doubt it.
The paralysis of inaction can become painful procrastination in short order. What do you already know about where you are that you can take action on?
Do it.
Remember the quote from Goethe, “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, magic, and power in it. Begin it now.”
Warmly,
by Jenna | Jan 23, 2013 | Writing Articles
The other day I commented about how “It’s so tricky to be your own deadline-maker,” in my writing community. One of our writers wrote back and said, “If you have some tips on how to be more motivated by self-set deadlines, I would love to try them.”
So like last week, I’m continuing my theme of answering questions that have come up in my community that I felt would be useful for everyone to think about. (And before your eyes glaze over if you’re not a writer, don’t worry, you can use these techniques too.)
And here they are:
7 tips for staying motivated by self-created deadlines
As you read through these, see if you notice how I use external forces to keep the internal deadlines moving ahead.
1. Use Jedi mind tricks.
Find a reason to believe in the significance, importance, and the power of the deadline. If you create a deadline, but you internally decide that it’s flexible or not important, you won’t stay motivated by it. So find a reason that makes your deadline compelling.
For instance, my current compelling deadline for the ebook project I’m working on is the result of mapping out my launch calendar for 2013 with my business consultant, and it’s pretty clear that unless I stay more or less on track with it, there will be a rather significant snowball effect of Other Things Not Working, which will have a negative ripple effect throughout the entire year.
Of course, we built some wiggle room and flexibility into the schedule, but knowing that if I don’t meet my “ship date” for my ebook project, I’m only going to create stress and discomfort for myself. It’s highly motivating to keep me on track. (See also #2, taking care of your tomorrow self, below.)
Similarly, even if you don’t have an editor, agent, producer, audience, or manager (yet) clamoring for your latest project, you can find deadlines for it to help you stay inspired all the way to completion, like signing up for a contest and aiming to get your project submitted by their deadline.
In my case, I know I’m attending a series of meetings with producers in Hollywood this summer, so I have a deadline for finishing my script naturally built into my 2013 plan.
We can call these “self-created” deadlines, because we choose them ourselves — we make them extrinsic deadlines to help us stay motivated internally.
2. Take care of your tomorrow self too.
I have learned — finally, it’s been hard — to take care of my “tomorrow self” as well as my “today self.” When you’re tempted to slack off on your deadline, take the long view, and have compassion for the future self who’s about to bear the brunt of today’s workload.
When I’m only looking at things from the vantage point of my today self, even though I’d love to THINK that since there’s no big deadline looming on the immediate horizon, I can take the day to get caught up on small tasks and admin, when I remember to think of my tomorrow self, I know SHE’LL be the one to pay the price for that kind of thinking.
Pacing myself is good for all the versions of me — it keeps me happy now, today, tomorrow, and beyond.
3. If you can’t find a reason for the deadline, invent one.
Alternatively, if you can’t find any more natural means of making a deadline motivating, create one. My favorite tool here is something we call “social accountability,” and it has to do with promising at least one other human being that you’ll be delivering said project on a specific date, ideally at a specific time.
For instance, you can exchange projects for feedback or notes with a fellow writer on a certain date, or invest in a coaching relationship where your mentor is waiting to review your work with you. I like to schedule appointments with my mentor in advance of having my next 15 pages written — it’s terrifically motivating to get me to complete them.
An accountability party is another powerful way to create a motivating deadline. I picked up this idea from Barbara Sher’s books. The idea is to host a party — you pick the deadline — where you’ll be celebrating the completion of your project with your friends and family.
4. If you don’t have a deadline, focus on taking consistent action.
One of the interesting aspects of my community is that it can help you stay motivated and taking action even when you don’t have a deadline. Writing projects are long-term commitments, and staying motivated by them can be tricky. But if you focus on taking small, consistent, daily action, as we recommend to our members, you WILL eventually reach the end of your project. You actually DON’T HAVE TO HAVE a deadline to get yourself into action.
Personally, I like to use all the methods I’ve described here in combination. I set myself up for the regular daily action, combined with self-selected externally motivated deadlines and invented interim deadlines. The way I figure it is this: The more the better. I use every trick in the book to keep myself going. And it works.
5. Reverse engineer your project and get super specific about the details.
Once you’ve gotten clear on your deadline, start dividing up your project into manageable chunks, whether it’s chapters, word counts, or time periods. You will likely be able to identify a natural increment you can work with. Then map that out over the time period you have allotted for your project.
For instance, with my ebook project, I have three ebooks that I’m aiming to write approximately 15,000 words for each, for a total of 45,000 words. This means that I can look at the time frame I have, divide it up into reasonable increments, let’s say 1125 words per day, 5 days per week, for 8 weeks. (And also, by telling you about it, I’m creating social accountability for myself. See what I did there?)
What’s motivating about this is seeing exactly what it will take to make my goal. That’s a fair bit of work, right? And if I don’t pace myself, I’ll end up paying for it in a big binge and burnout. Not fun, not pretty. And certainly motivating to avoid, albeit in a somewhat “I don’t want that” kind of way.
6. Set up time to actually fulfill the project.
Once you’ve reverse-engineered your project, then create time in your calendar for fulfillment. You can’t “ship” the thing until you’ve created it, right? So get out your calendar and carve out time, ideally first BEFORE you do all other stuff that normally eats up your day — I know you know what I’m talking about, but just in case: email, Facebook, Twitter, games, futzing around, etc — and be realistic about what you can actually accomplish.
I can write 1000 to 2000 words in an hour, depending on the topic, so I know I’ll want to have at least 5 hours per week carved out to meet my 1125 word deadline, working at a fairly brisk pace. Keeping in mind the big picture helps me get serious about keeping my head down and getting to work when that window of time rolls around on my calendar.
7. Do the work.
Once you’ve got the time on your calendar, be prepared for the resistance to show up. It’ll come in all forms — your mom calling just when you’re supposed to start writing, or an “urgent” email popping into your inbox, or the dirty dishes in the sink suddenly becoming alluring. Recognize that long-term projects, even with highly motivating deadlines, are darn difficult beasts to face. There’s always something more we’d rather be doing.
Something that helps me tremendously with this is my writing community. We write in group writing sprints, where we come online and write collectively for an hour together. I’ve learned to schedule my project writing time with the group sprints, so not only do I have it on my calendar, I also have accountability to actually show up and do the work.
It’s so motivating and helps keep me focused when I would otherwise be tempted to postpone my writing sessions.
Yep, even me.
So be ready, with every trick at your disposal, to fend off the voices that tell you that other things are more important. They’re not. Remind yourself of your big picture deadline, why you’ve designed it that way, and do the work.
Warmly,
by Jenna | Jan 9, 2013 | Writing Articles
When it comes to making lasting powerful change in your life, the make-it-or-break-it moments come down to the split second decisions you make.
I read something from an organizer who pointed out that so much of clutter we create comes down to making a decision right in the moment to either leave something out or put it away. Since I read that, I've found myself debating internally about my standard practice of "just getting it in the ballpark" when it comes to putting things away and I've started to change it.
Do we care? Are we caring about that?
Why do we care about this?
We care about this because this idea translates to EVERYTHING.
What happens when you're about to say something snarky to your kid or your spouse because you've had a bad day? Do you stop yourself? Do you make a new choice in that split second? Did you know that you can?
What about if you've already said it? Did you know you can make a new choice and apologize?
Or what if you want to be more on time?
I noticed yesterday that the reason I didn't get my son to school on time (there's no official time, but the time I want to be there by) was that I made a series of small choices that led to that outcome. I puttered a little extra. I looked online. I did some work that could have waited until I got back from the gym. Why?
I wanted to be on time. I wanted to get to the gym. But the natural resistance to doing those things was coming up, and I was making split second choices to support the resistance rather than the action.
Today I chose differently.
Today I told myself, "That can wait until I get back."
Today I choose to add things to my to do list on my phone, rather than taking action on them immediately and getting sucked into the work vortex.
Today we drove away from the house exactly on time.
And again I ask, are we caring about that?
We are.
We care about this because it applies to EVERYTHING. Even your creative work, like when you're finding yourself about to "take a break" before you start writing or painting.
Yeah, that.
In that split second you can make a choice not to procrastinate, but to take action instead.
Strengthening Your Willpower Will Change Your Life
Brian Johnson says that willpower is "known by research scientists as the queen of all virtues -- the greatest predictor of health, happiness, wealth and all other good things."
What happens when you start making better split second choices?
You strengthen your willpower.
In turn that strengthens your self-confidence, self-control, and happiness.
And isn't happiness what we're ultimately all looking for?
Surprise! You Can Build Happiness in Small Steps
The beauty of this split second idea is that it doesn't have to be complicated.
- What if I just put this in the drawer instead of setting it down on the counter?
- What if I leave on time today?
- What if I choose not to drink this time?
- What if I just got up right now and went to the gym?
- What if I just sat down and did 15 minutes of writing?
It probably sounds a little crazy, but making these little choices will lead to being happier and more fulfilled. It's about the choice to be in integrity with yourself. And that always feels good.
Accumulate Your Small Choices
The way this gets really fun is when all those little small choices start adding up. I call it "making a critical mass of subtle adjustments."
It's funny how it comes down to the littlest details, like where your creative tools are kept, what time you get up, the small routines you have around your work (or not), etc. It all makes a difference.
An example? Sure!
Here are a couple of my tricks when it comes to writing:
- I use a Mac program called "Isolator" to cover up all the other programs on my screen so I'm not distracted by them (and I turn off all the beeps and pop-ups or hide them so I can't see them).
- I always write with a timer, so I stay focused on my project. I use an online timer or my phone timer so I don't have to hunt around for one.
- I keep a big jug of water in my office, so I can easily refill my water glass if I get thirsty.
- I keep lotion at my desk, so that I don't have to get up if my hands get dry, which can distract me.
- When I'm writing upstairs in bed (which I often do first thing in the mornings), I put the laptop on the charger at my bedside so it's ready to go in the morning. (And I have water and lotion there too!)
These little things make it easy for me to say "Yes" to the writing in those split-second moments that make the difference between doing the work, or not.
Warmly,
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