The best way to make your writing goals and write a sufficient amount daily is to follow “Nike’s” advice and “just do it’. It is easy to over think and to be critical; often we are our worst critics. Reaching desired goals will take dedication, though so the single most important thing is to follow through and DO what you plan to do. All the talk about, “proper” steps is pointless if there is no follow through.
Set a Goal
Setting a goal is the most important step. You want to set goals that are within your reach but on the edge of challenging. You hav eto make sure your goals are reachable because you also need to hold yourself accountable to reaching your writing goals.
Make a schedule
A writing goal is pointless if there is not time scheduled for it. Writing can be very flexible for some. For others having a strict start and stop time may work best. One of the first tasks is to find out what works for YOU. Regard less make sure time is scheduled every day either as a block (three hours writing) or as a specific time (write from 5pm to 8pm).
Avoid Distractions
Distractions kill productivity. Multitasking is a myth. What you are really doing when you “multitask” is actually having your brain switch from task to task at very high rate. No matter how fast and efficient you are (and yes, it is a skill, some are better than others) there will be loss involved. It could simply be listening to your favorite song. If you “tune it out” while writing it is fine, but when you find yourself humming along often, it is greatly slowing you down.
You need a quiet room or a noisy room with “white noise” (like writing at a Starbucks). You should not have a big window with distractions outside. The area should be comfortable and clean. You should keep interruptions from family and phone calls to a bare minimum. Forget about writing and watching TV.
Write about Passions
If you are passionate about a topic the writing flows easily. If you are not it can be a nightmare to get the words out. Writing about what you are passionate about or at least topics that interest you can really make the process a lot better.
Keep an Idea Book
You should keep an “idea book” with you no matter where you go. This should be used to jot down any random thoughts you have for your writing. Ideas do not always come one demand. If you do not capturer them, they may not stick around either. If you keep an idea book you will almost always have more ideas than time to write
Slowly Increase your Expectations
Good writing does take time. But you should also be able to speed up the process over time. It is a fact that the time to finish many tasks will increase to time. If you give yourself 20 minutes to complete an article that normally takes you 30, you will often find that it can be done.
Treat it like a Job
You need to be diligent. It is likely that you wouldn’t decide to not go to work and see a movie instead or that you would sleep in late rather than getting up for work. If you set aside time for yourself to complete writing tasks make sure that you also enforce them. Be professional.
Above all remember that the best way to reach your writing goals is to simply write: each and every day without fail.
