About 10 years ago I said to a friend, “I want to start writing.”
10 years later I had written nothing.
Along the way, I have been inspired by people who were not afraid to hit publish and share their ideas. Seth Godin advocated years ago that writing was one of the best things he has ever done.
How I Resisted Writing
Really what I was missing were a habit and a framework. Instead, I let normal unanswered questions get in my way:
What are you going to write about?
What am I going to say that hasn’t already been said?
Do I need to become a good writer first?
What am I going to call this?
Will there be a return on my investment of time?
These all gave me a reason and excuse to hide.
Who Are You Writing For?
The better question would have been on that I heard from Rohan Rajiv. He, like Seth Godin, have been writing daily for many years and posed the question “who are you writing for..?”
Yes, I would love to be read by thousands of people. But, in reality, this blog started as a place for me to collect solutions to the problems that I have succeeded in solving.
I also knew that I wanted it to be a place that I needed to come back to regularly because it was going to become my new journal. For example, when I find that great protein bar, I wanted to be able to share what it is, where to get it and why it is my favorite.
Create A Small Habit
Can you write right now for 30 seconds? Maybe that should be your habit instead of conquering a mountain and trying to be the next Shakespeare. Writing for 30 seconds is something that you can definitely win at. Now, remember that everything else is extra credit.
Write First Thing
I have determined writing is one of my “most important things to do” every day and work towards writing as early in the day as possible. When this is crossed off my list before noon, the rest of the day just feels better.
Checkout my post on “Morning Writing” for more on this.
Write Today for Fomorrow
The last time I tried to get a blog off the ground I found that I was feeling “under the gun” because I was writing today and needing to post today. I flipped that script and experimented with writing “today” for posting tomorrow. This immediately took away all the pressure. If I hit the “schedule” button I have hours to mull over what I write and make tweaks.
Write Down Your Ideas
I can tell you that most of the time I sit here and have absolutely NO idea what I am going to write about. When I open Evernote and scroll through one of the 15,000 notes I have in my account and realize I have years worth of content that I could write about. These are quotes, images, lessons, how-tos, strategies, and shortcuts that I have learned from some of the most amazing people.
So, I know that I will always have something to write about because every day I will have another problem and every day I will have the opportunity to work towards the solution.
One Post Usually Becomes Two
Once I get the ball moving, I usually end up writing more than just one article a day. Right now, I probably have another month’s worth of content ready to go if needed.
Wrap-up
I will continue to write about what does and doesn’t work while this blog evolves.
But, it all starts with “who are you writing for…?
Thanks for being a part of this experiment!
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