How to Write Every Day, FOREVER
Some skills are not for everyone.
It’s for a certain group of people.
One of those skills is writing every day.
I released a video a while back in my newsletter.
It was a section from my book, Street Smarts, called:
- The benefits of writing every day.
One of my readers forwarded the email to a friend and was like:
‘See?? This is why we should be writing every day!!’
Here is the link to that video by the way.
These people were already primed for wanting to write every day.
The desire was there.
With the desire, they just needed the process to execute.
In this article, I’ll be sharing the benefits of writing every day.
Then I’ll give an easy-to-start process to make your dream into a reality.
Benefits of Writing Every Day
The benefits of writing every day include:
- Clear thinking.
- Enhanced perspective.
- Enhanced concentration.
- Improved speaking skills.
- Building a portfolio online.
- Enhanced problem-solving.
- Higher likelihood of never running out of ideas.
I can keep going.
But I’m trying to keep this blog to 1000 words!
There are multiple benefits.
But me creating a bullet list is not going to be enough.
There needs to be some personalization involved.
Why do YOU want to write every day?
Are there any faults in your life that you would like to fix?
I ended up writing every day when I got a Twitter.
During that time, I restarted the Toastmasters program.
I thought it would be cool to write some of the lessons I learned.
I’d often go from speech to speech without taking some time to reflect on what I learned.
So I began writing down my lessons.
The process of writing a tweet allowed the knowledge to become real.
The lessons became integrated into my behavior for future speeches.
I saw that writing allowed the information to stick.
From there, I thought writing every day was a no-brainer.
See how the benefits of writing would impact you on a personal level.
How to Write Everyday
It’s simple for me to just state the Nike slogan:
- Just do it.
For a lot of people, that is all that is needed.
They don’t need a pep talk or any strategies.
Just begin writing every day.
You can use a physical journal, a blog, or Twitter.
To help you out even more, get your eyes involved.
Humans love colors and patterns.
You can use the Seinfeld chain strategy.
This is when you get a BIG calendar with all the months on it.
Get a red sharpie.
Once you write for the day, cross off the day with a Big X.
Eventually, a link will begin to form.
This link gets your ego involved.
You want to avoid breaking the link.
So you keep writing and writing…
Watching the link grow….
Public Accountability
I’m normally not the type of guy to share goals.
However, with writing, I believe sharing your goals is smart.
I have a newsletter where I post every day.
Initally, some people were like:
‘You really think you can write every day?’
All I heard was:
‘You can’t do it!’
I was like:
‘I can and watch me.’
That wasn’t my driving factor, but it added more fuel to the fire.
I’ve written for over 1000+ days.
Nowadays, the tribe has grown to 1000s of people.
Knowing that others are watching me makes me more accountable.
Can you invite some form of public accountability to your life?
Maybe you build an audience where you email in a specific cadence.
Or maybe you have a friend who also wants to write every day.
Well, make them your accountability buddy.
Just like we have a gym buddy…
No reason you can’t use a buddy to build an empowering habit.
What to Write About?
‘Okay, I’m sold! But what do I write about?’
This is one of those questions that you can’t fully answer from the beginning.
You can get a general gist.
But avoid getting too detailed.
If you’re trying to get too detailed, then chances are you’ll turn a creative task into an overly logical one.
You’ll overthink and quit.
In the beginning, just follow curiosities.
The author of the DaVinci Code, Dan Brown, says:
Write about what you want to know.
My remix to that quote is:
Write about what you are learning and doing.
I was initially practicing public speaking.
So a bunch of content material just began presenting itself.
This got my foot in the door.
From there, I organically expanded into social skills, emotional intelligence, concentration, and much more.
Nowadays, I follow the theme of communication skills.
So embrace knowing a little in the beginning.
This will allow you to produce from the get-go.
Rather than overthinking and producing nothing.
Writing is a Craft, Keep Perfecting
For my life, I know the following to be true:
- Fantasy: feel energy, then produce.
- Reality: produce, then feel energy.
Nothing is as satisfying as the feeling of accomplishment.
When you did something that you said you were going to do.
Therefore, hold yourself accountable.
Keep making tweaks of improvement with each session.
The improvements can be:
- I used 100 words to make a point when I could have used 30.
- I could have hyped up this point some more.
- This piece could have been funnier.
By making these tiny tweaks, you begin mastering your craft.
There are a lot of time frames out there for what it takes to be a master.
10,000 hours.
20,000 hours.
100,000 hours.
Doesn’t matter.
All you know is that you will write every day, forever.
Making tiny gradual improvements.
One day, you will be a master.
Ironically, despite being a master, you remain a lifelong beginner.
For more practical tips on getting a foot into the door with creative writing, be sure to check out my book, Prolific Writer.
This book teaches you the art of turning your personality into words, being consistent, and creating evergreen content.
GET THE PROLIFIC WRITER HERE
