“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” — Chinese Proverb
I have been dreaming of being a writer for as long as I can remember.
Yes, the sexy, work anywhere, any time, with no boss breathing down your neck, kind of life that every aspired writer dream of.
But no matter how hard I tried. I can’t seem to develop a consistent writing habit.
Enough is enough, I told myself.
I am not a dumb person, and I have overcome many obstacles in my life, I can do this if I put my mind to it.
The first step is to identify reasons that I don’t write consistently, then I can solve them one by one.
Here is what I came up with
Obstacle 1 — I don’t know what to write.
I like to write in the morning before work. And it is difficult to come up with ideas when you only have an hour to write.
And the harder I tried, the more I thought of how unproductive I was and got distracted by things that I had to do later at work.
Solution
I created a folder in my apple notes called “Blog Outline”. Whenever I thought of something that I wanted to share, I would create a new note with the title and a brief outline of my initial thoughts.
I do this throughout the day when I get an inspiration either from reading a book, listening to a podcast, or just random thoughts or questions that come to my mind.
I review the notes in this folder the night before and pick one to write the next morning.
Obstacle 2 — No one read what I published.
Let’s be honest, there is a lot of content out there and there are lots of stories. To catch some eyeballs is not easy nowadays, especially for a new writer who also has a full-time job and very limited time to write.
Solution
I decided not to care if anyone reads my blog or not. My goal is to practice in public, and as long as I have something worthwhile to share, I will share it.
I force myself to publish after 2 rewrites.
I do this because I know I will never be ready and the sooner I publish something, the sooner I will receive feedback, and perhaps someone will benefit from my writing.
Any article that is not published is no different from an article that only exists in your mind because no one else can read it.
Obstacle 3 — Writing is hard
Writing my journal is easy and relaxing, all I need is a computer, a quiet place to think, and a cup of coffee, then I am ready to go.
But writing for others is hard. Not only do you need to understand your audience, but you also need to make your story interesting and get your message across.
Solution
I have to admit that writing is not easy, but it is worth the effort.
I have to remind myself that anything valuable has a price and mastering any craft demands practice.
I set a rule of writing every day for at least 25 minutes.
Quoting from “Atomic Habits”, it is the repetitions that will help you to develop habits, not the time.
So writing 25 minutes every day is better than writing 5 hours in one session every week.
Writing is what I love to do and I want to be good at it, so I will put in as much time as I can to master this craft.
I love to hear your feedback.
Happy writing…