My first few months of writing were terrible.

I was about to give up after 3 months because I felt like I was wasting my time. I was convinced writing was not for me. 

I knew I had to play the long game to get good at this craft. 

But every time I write, no words come out. 

After 3 years of trying everything, I finally discovered how to sustain a writing habit.

Here are 5 writing practices that will save you hundreds of hours (so you can write more in less time):

Capturing ideas throughout the day

The hardest part of writing is thinking about what to write.

I can still remember in my first few weeks of writing. I would sit at my desk, open Google Docs, and stare at the blinking cursor for a good 10 minutes.

The worst part? Even before I sit at my desk, I already dread writing because I know I'll be staring at my screen again.

Now, writing excites me because I can't stop thinking about how to expand a certain idea. 

What changed? My idea-generation game.

Throughout the day, I capture ideas. Some of them will be good for writing, some of them, I never will write about. But I treat them all as potential writing ideas. 

This is how I practice my creativity muscle.

It’s funny when you do this because everything becomes a content idea:

• Movie lines when watching

• Conversations with colleagues

• Song lyrics while playing in the car

• Random thoughts while walking or in the shower

It’s hard to remember all these ideas when it’s time to write.

Luckily, I always carry my phone around. I make sure I can access my Notes and Drafts app with just one click. The moment an idea pops up, I record it on my phone.

Another tool I use is Readwise. It automatically captures my highlights from Kindle. It can be easy to forget about these and they become useful when it’s time to write.  

Capturing ideas helped me go from having no ideas to write about to having so many ideas to organize. 

Writing about what you enjoy talking about

When I first started writing online, I wrote about personal finance.

I thought I should write about it because I’m confident I know a lot about this topic. I’ve read tons of books because I wanted to apply the learnings to my finances. 

The problem is I ignored the fact that I didn’t like writing about this topic. Writing felt too much of a chore because of this. It felt like I was in school required to write a reaction paper about a movie I didn’t want to watch in the first place.

Another niche I tried is traveling. I like traveling. But it made my travels less enjoyable because I knew I had to write about them. And writing about them was also not enjoyable. 

Even though I was knowledgeable about these topics and enjoyed them, I had to switch my niche. 

Writing about different topics helped me discover that I like talking about self-improvement.

And the best thing that happened when I put my thoughts and learnings on the internet:

I found like-minded people.

What you want is to find the intersection between what you like and what the audience likes. Stop thinking about what’s trending or profitable. It’s a waste of time. 

You’ll do better by writing about what you’re interested in and finding a small group of people who can relate to you. Any topic, no matter how niche, will be profitable if you give it enough time. The key is finding a problem related to that topic and writing about a solution that works. 

Giving it enough time will help you find the right audience. 

Consuming intentionally

Every day, you’re consuming information:

• Netflix movies

• TikTok videos 

• Social media memes

The problem is most of the things you consume are for entertainment. 

And this is also why you have no good ideas to write about. 

I replaced my mindless consumption with:

• Books

• Podcasts

• Youtube tutorials

Intentional consumption helps you expand your knowledge about your chosen topic. And this will help you write better content. It will provide value to your audience because it will save them time. They wouldn't have to spend hours looking for information and reading for 2 hours. 

If your goal is to write, you want to consume information related to your topic. 

This becomes part of your research. Consuming information related to your topic helps you learn and remember better. 

Even when you think you don’t remember, the idea you read about sits inside your head. It will become useful in real life and will change the way you think and behave through time. These changes become useful when it’s time to reflect and write. 

When you learn from different resources, you start applying them to your lofe. Your life then becomes more interesting. 

This is how you create unique content. 

Deep work sessions

This is a game-changer.

It’s way easier and fun to write when you’re in flow.

I always get in the mood when I know what to write about, where to write, and what time to write. 

And my working station feels luxurious to me:

• Coffee

• Lofi beats

• Digital timer

• Noise-canceling headphones

• Mountain valley spring water

Once I start the timer, I write with no judgment. 

Meaning, no edits. 

No grammar corrections.

No spelling corrections. 

No changing one line to another phrase. 

Ideas start pouring in when you practice deep work. It's surprising how much you can say about a particular topic. 

Batching tasks

I used to take 2 hours to write a 1000-word article. 

Now it takes 45 minutes or less because I know how to batch tasks.

When I write, all I do is write. 

When I research, all I do is research.

When I edit, all I do is edit. 

When I batch tasks and work with a timer, I am more efficient. I don’t have to switch from one tab to another. I don’t forget what I need to do because I don’t have to switch from one task to another. I am more focused.

If anytime I write I need to research something, I put a note on my writing and go back to it when it’s time to research.

James Clear once said,

“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”

Batching tasks is how you develop a system that works for you. 

To End

I hope you find time to practice these. If there’s anything that I can help you with, feel free to reply.

I’m more than interested to know what’s stopping you from building and sustaining a writing habit.

Your friend,

-M