Learn how to develop a writing habit with these practical tips and strategies. Start your journey towards becoming a more productive and confident writer today.
Today, I’m going to teach you how to develop a writing habit!
Whether you’re blogging, writing fiction, or writing anything else, you’ll need a writing habit!
You need to write every single day because little things lead to big results. Focus on the 1% at a time and not the 100%.
How to develop a writing habit infographic
How to develop a writing habit infographic PDF
The 2 minute rule
Let’s talk about the first hurdle that most of us encounter, which is actually writing and getting motivated.
The easiest way to overcome this is by using the 2-minute rule!
The 2-minute rule, simply put, is to do something for 2 minutes before you say “no”!
How hard is it for you to say “no” to doing something for 2 minutes?
If you are not disciplined enough to work for 2 minutes, you will not be able to write in the long run.
Writing habit vs. motivation
The next thing you need to take note of is the value of a writing habit versus the value of motivation.
A habit is far more valuable than motivating yourself to work every day, because if you turn something into what I call a “habitual ritual”, then you’re not going to forget about it!
You’ll wake up, and you’ll think to yourself: “Hey, I need to accomplish this task today”!
Time blocking and protecting your time
If you’re going to create a writing habit, you’re going to need to block off time for that habit.
You want to block off time every single day for writing! This might be in the morning, this might be at night, or it might be during a lunch break!
You want to block off whatever amount of time is needed to meet your goals.
If you want to write 150 articles for your blog, then you’ll probably want to write and work for a minimum of 2 hours a day.
Now, if you just want to do that in like 2 years, then you might be able to get away with blogging and writing for just 1 hour a day.
This all depends on your goals for your writing habit, your brand, your blog, your business, and your life!
So, block off some time every single day!
As for protecting your time, you’re going to need to tell people that you are blocking off time. These are the people that are closest to you, which are the people that will want to interrupt you.
Choosing your hard
The next productivity principle for how to develop a writing habit is called “choosing your hard”.
Is it harder for you to not write, or is it harder for you to write?
What are the consequences for you if you do not write today? Just think about it.
The more you get into a “choose your hard” mindset, the more you will accomplish in your writing habit, business, and life!
Results are bound to come if you write every day
What will really help you with your writing habit is the results that are bound to come.
If you write every single day for a year, and writing is all you’re focused on, I guarantee you will see results!!
But the thing is, if you’re providing valuable information that is truly helpful to your readers, you’ll start to see results within the first month of your writing habit.
If you’re a blogger like me, you’ll start to see your click-through rate increase, and you’ll start to see your Google rankings increase.
And most importantly, by learning how to develop a writing habit, you will start to see the value and quality of your writing increase!
This is because writing, like any other skill, needs to be practiced.
And that is the value of developing a writing habit.
Pick a writing niche you understand
The last thing I’ll mention is to write in a niche you are passionate about or at least familiar with.
It’s going to be a lot easier for you to sit down and bust out thousands of words if you’re passionate and knowledgeable about that subject.
If you don’t know your subject or your niche well, you’re going to have to do a ton of research, and it’s going to be hard for you to develop a writing habit.
How to develop a writing habit summary
To recap and summarize how to develop a writing habit, you:
- Need to remember the two minute rule, which is doing something for 2 minutes before you say no
- Remember the value of a habit versus the value of motivation. Developing a habit will lead to long-term results
- Remember to block off time and protect your time, because this will help you to develop a time habit, which means you’ll be writing at a certain time every day
- Choose your hard. Is it harder to write or harder not to write?
- When you see results, you won’t want to stop writing.
- You want to write or blog in a niche that you are passionate about, which will make it much easier for you to create content and maintain your writing habit.
Thank you so much for reading!
Podcast episode on how to develop a writing habit (for bloggers)
If you’re a blogger, then check out the podcast version of this blog post. And subscribe to the podcast for more blogging and productivity tips!