One of the reasons why we sometimes get stuck in our writing is that we see how much there is left to do.

Let’s say you’re writing a 750-word blog post. You would typically write this in sections—an introduction, two or three main points, and a conclusion or call to action. So really, this is a collection of pieces that are somewhere between 100-200 words each.

You would normally outline the piece, then start writing a first draft at the introduction, progressing through until you write the conclusion or call to action.

You can have trouble getting motivated when you see how much there is left to do. One way to break this cycle is to start at the end and work your way backward. Write the conclusion first, then the main points from last to first, then the introduction. If you have outlined the material ahead of time, this shouldn’t be a problem.

When you write backward, so to speak, you interrupt your normal writing pattern and feel a new sense of creative energy. You don’t have a clear sense of how much you have left, and it reduces your tendency to feel distracted.

For example, I usually produce these podcast episodes in batches of one or two weeks at a time. Many times, I will write the last one first, then work backwards until I have the first one finished. It’s a simple way to give yourself a different writing pattern and add a new energy to the process. In other words, going backward can help you go forward.

Daily Question: How could writing backward help you get your new writing piece done faster?

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If you get heavily involved in the writing community, you have to be careful. Why? Because there is a whole sub-industry devoted to writing tools that supposedly help you be more productive and creative.

Are many of these helpful? Yes, of course. For example, I swear by the writing app Scrivener. I write almost everything in Scrivener and cannot imagine doing my writing without it. It’s an amazing tool to help you organize your material, especially for bigger projects.

Google docs? Not so much. I find Google docs to be clunky and slow, and it’s very hard to quickly access material in Google docs if you have a lot of different pieces of information tied to a project.

But that’s just my opinion, of course. My opinion and $1.50 will get you a drink from a vending machine. You have to do what works for YOU.

It’s important to not get too obsessed with specific writing tools. The only measure you should use to determine whether a tool or app is good is whether it helps you get your writing done easier.

John Steinbeck once said, “Pencils must be round. A hexagonal pencil cuts my fingers after a long day.” Well, that was true for HIM but it may not have been true for every writer. The point is to figure out what helps you, then get busy writing.

Don’t get paralyzed by indecision. Just pick something and start writing. Focus on the work and don’t get too hung up on what tools everybody else is using.

Daily Question: Are you focusing on doing the work instead of over-analyzing which writing tools to use?

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For most writers, writing feels like work because it requires a lot of brainpower. So why not use tools that help make the work easier?

One of the most effective tools is music to help you focus. There are three different music tools I use to help me do this. Most of the time when I’m writing, I use one of these.

The first is Brain.fm. This is scientifically-designed focus music you can set for specific amounts of time. It’s not normal music like you hear on the radio. It’s more like music that has a drone element to it. When you have the same sounds, tempo, and rhythms going for an hour, it has a hypnotic effect that helps you get into the zone.

The second is YouTube, where there are tons of focus music playlists for every musical taste imaginable. Do a search for these and I’m sure you will find something you like.

The third is this movie score playlist I have on Spotify. I love to listen to scores from movies like those in the MCU, Harry Potter, Superman, and so forth. Sometimes I get tired of the focus music and want to listen to something that makes me feel heroic!

If you’ve never used any of these, give them a shot and see if it helps you improve your focus and be more productive.

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Do you struggle with being a perfectionist? If so, here is a strategy that can help you overcome it immediately.

But first, what is perfectionism? It is the tendency to get paralyzed by the idea that your work is never good enough. Perfectionists imagine there is a standard out there and they can never reach it. They have convinced themselves that they will be an utter failure unless they reach that unreachable standard. Therefore, they never take action and instead live in a perpetual state of frustration.

Now, for the strategy. If you think of yourself as a perfectionist, you are always shooting for A-level work. The problem is that your definition of an A is so far above everyone else’s that it’s unreachable.

The key is to downgrade your standards a bit so that you are shooting for B-level work, maybe a B+ at best. You may think of this as lowering your standards, but remember that your standards are so unrealistically elevated, that your B is everyone else’s A.

So, make it your goal to do B-level writing. Most of us don’t have the capacity to be objective about our work anyway, so you must trust that your B is truly an A in everyone else’s eyes.

When you shoot for a B, you can get work done much more quickly, move on, and still be considered excellent in everyone else’s eyes.

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