3 Habits You Need To Quit If You Want To Write More

Do you feel tired of your lack of progress?

You fail to write anything today then promise yourself you’re going to do better the next day. You set your alarm clock early before going to bed. Then you decide to scroll on social media before sleeping. You wake up with your alarm clock but snooze because you feel tired and your bed feels cozy.

After 5 times of snoozing, you grab your phone with your eyes half opened. You get dopamine from a few notifications. You check a few emails. You respond to messages and scroll a little bit more.

You think about writing as you have planned the night before. But then you don’t have much time left or else you’re going to be late for work.

So you tell another lie to yourself,

“I’ll start tomorrow.”

This can be an endless cycle.

Wake up.

The hardest part about doing something is not getting good at the thing. It’s giving up other things so you can focus on one thing.

As humans, we’re wired to want everything we see. This is why even if you have your own goals, you can unconsciously work towards other people’s goals. You do things that don’t align with what you want because you get jealous of other people’s results.

You’re tempted to blend in with the crowd.

That’s completely normal.

But it’s also why you need to know your north star.

I’m not saying you can’t get anything you want. You can — just not all at the same time.

If you want something, be prepared to put aside other things. You can always work on them later, while “maintaining” other goals you have already achieved.

Imagine if:

• You want to be a great writer.

• You want to be a great cook.

• You want to be a great musician.

It would be impossible for you to train with writing, cooking, and making music all at the same time. It takes a lot of energy to learn and improve at something.

I remember when I first got promoted to Scientist II, I thought it was hard to do all the new responsibilities. And when I got promoted to Scientist III, I felt the same way. Now that I'm used to it, I realize it's the same effort and energy to maintain being a Scientist II and Scientist III.

The same goes for plenty of other things.

It doesn’t usually matter how big or difficult something. Maintaining is so much more easier than learning/improving.

So work on being a writer first - let’s say for 2 years. Obviously, it takes more than 2 years to master something. But this is just an example. Once you get better at it, you can maintain the habits you no longer find difficult. Then you can improve your cooking skills. After a few years, you can work on being a musician. And so on.

One goal at a time.

Although you think this takes a lot of time, it ends up being the same amount of time if you do all of them in the same years. Not only that, you become much more effective.

If you want to take writing seriously, list down the things that stop you from writing.

Here are 3 things you can start with:

Craving for distraction and cheap dopamine

Writing is not for the faint of heart.

It requires a lot of mental energy — especially the preparation. You lie on your bed, look at the ceiling, wonder what you’ll write about today, how you’re going to structure your article, or what would be a great hook.

Then you think about getting up and what would it take to actually write -- making your coffee, going to the bathroom first, or turning on your computer.

But you think and think and think.

Nothing really happens.

Then you finally decide to get up and make your coffee. But then you see the mess in your kitchen and start cleaning up. You see you forgot to pay your bills and remember all the other things you need to do.

You convince yourself you’re being productive by doing other chores. But you're procrastinating by putting off the one thing you need to do.

Yes, cheap dopamine will make you feel good at the moment — checking your phone, doing small things from your to-do list, etc.

But it’s accomplishing the one big thing you need to do that will make your day.

Start the day with a win - that’s by writing first thing in the morning.

How do you resist the temptation of chasing distraction and cheap dopamine?

Remember what Steven Pressfield said,

“The most pernicious aspect of procrastination is that it can become a habit. We don’t just put off our lives today; we put them off till our deathbed.

Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be when we are without the power to alter our destiny. This second, we can turn the tables on Resistance.

This second, we can sit down and do our work”

Don’t just say “I’ll write tomorrow” and expect it to be easy.

Overestimating time and energy

I was guilty of this.

I try to always plan my days ahead of time but don’t end up following my agenda because it’s not realistic. Either there are too many activities on my list or I’m not allotting enough time to finish them.

When planning, you feel energized because of the momentum. But you don’t have the same energy when it’s time to tackle what’s on your list. Most of the time, it’s better to expect in advance that it might take more time to finish something.

For example, if this is what you think:

• Write for 1 hour

• Engage for 20 minutes

• Craft an offer for 30 minutes

The reality might be that it takes 2 hours to write — so you end up taking up the time for engaging and crafting an offer. Instead, if you think it would take 1 hour, expect a delay of 30 minutes.

At the end of every day or every week, check how you performed and make a more accurate plan for next time.

After repeating this process a few times, I have a better idea of how my days should go.

This is an easy way to make small progress in whatever I do.

Overspending time on screen

If you decrease your screen time by 50%, you’ll be surprised how much time you have in your hands.

You’ll start to suddenly be aware of what you’ve been doing all this time when you get bored sitting on the couch because you don’t have your phone to play around.

You’ll see that you have time to do stuff on the weekends if you don’t keep watching useless videos on your phone.

You’ll go to bed much earlier if you’re not glued to your screen.

An easy way to do this is to keep your phone away from you - don’t make it as tempting as it already is.

Every time I go home from work, I’m always tempted to “relax” on the couch and scroll on my phone for a few minutes. It ends up being more than an hour and I always regret it.

Now, I make sure to charge my phone in another room the moment I get home. I can actually relax on the couch if I want to - maybe read a good book, meditate, or do nothing.

After a few minutes, I’d get bored and decide to shower and go to sleep.

Some other things that helped me:

Deleting my favorite apps - this creates friction. If I need to go on Instagram, I would need to go on mobile browser. Not a pleasant experience. I have to log in (I also try to log off every time), and the scrolling is much slower than if I use the app. I don’t get notifications from the app throughout the day. Or I don’t unconsciously open the apps when I’m trying to kill time.

Setting screen time and sleep time. This forces me to stop using my phone at night. I set 7 hours of sleep time and 1 hour of limited screen time (before and after bed). During these hours, my phone won’t allow me to access all apps, except of course if I choose to ignore the reminder.

Using black and white screen. Using this feature makes your phone unappealing. When my phone is on grayscale, I’m less likely to use it because it doesn’t give me a great experience. It also helps to choose a plain wallpaper.

Nothing happens, then everything happens.

Remember, all of these will not be easy.

Maybe you don’t have an exact plan on how to start or grow your business. Maybe you’re confused on what approach to take. Maybe you have no idea at all what you’re doing.

If that’s the case, start with volume.

Everything else will fall smoothly.

Alright, today’s letter was longer than expected — hope you’re inspired to write more.

Have a blessed Sunday, my friends!

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