1. Lower your standards. Many times, we get stuck because we’re trying to make it perfect. Be willing to write garbage just to get a draft done, then go back and revise it.
2. Brainstorm ideas on a white board, legal pad, or post-it note. Changing the size of the canvas will often help you get past your block, whether it’s a huge canvas like a white board, or a tiny one like a post-it note.
3. Take a nap. You might just be tired. History is replete with examples of famous creative people who took naps to be more productive.
4. Take a walk. When you walk, the blood circulates in your body more, and you’re more alert and attentive. It’s amazing how many problems get solved in your head just by walking for ten or twenty minutes.
5. Play with a toy. I keep a few “snake toys” beside my desk to play with. It consists of a bunch of triangles connected, and you can make it into an infinite number of shapes. This brain switching helps me solve writing problems quite frequently.
6. Get up and drink a glass of water. Most of us are dehydrated, and getting up to grab some water will refresh your body and your mind.
7. Free write for three minutes. Free writing is just letting your hand write whatever comes to mind without stopping or judging yourself. It clears your creative palate and lets your subconscious take over for a bit. It also helps break creative blocks.
8. Switch locations. Go to another desk or another part of the house. Or you can go somewhere else entirely, like the library or coffee shop. The change in scenery will spark your creativity.
9. Switch media. If you write on computer, switch to a legal pad or journal. Use a different writing tool like a marker or crayon. Again, you’re helping your brain to make a switch that will break the block.
10. Read something for ten minutes. Preferably, something in print. The change in media, and also holding something tactile, will give your brain a new input.

TWO BONUS TIPS

11. Do a mundane task. Take a twenty-minute break for a mundane chore like dishes, yard work, or folding laundry. This is similar to walking in that it will give you something physical to do. The new energy and change of pace will give you new ideas and solutions to your writing block.
12. Write your content as an email. If I’m feeling stuck, sometimes I’ll open my email app on my computer and write in that. That way, it feels like I’m writing an informal message to a friend rather than something with higher stakes like a blog post or book chapter. It sounds crazy, but it really does work.

If you’re feeling blocked or a little stuck, pick one of these tips and use it today!

Question: Which tip are you going to use to help you defeat writer’s block?

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Lots of people want to write a book, start a podcast, create a blog, or build a writing business. But why do so many people stop short of following through?

The answer is simple: it gets hard and people give up. You have probably fallen victim to giving up as well. You have started something, it got hard, then you quit because it wasn’t as fun anymore.

I’ve been there myself!

Here is a simple yet effective way to ensure you will follow through: before you get started, commit to the middle 50%.

The first 25% of a project feels fun. You have lots of enthusiasm and energy. People are cheering you on because you have announced it. The whole thing feels new and fresh.

But the middle 50% gets hard. The enthusiasm wears off and you have to stick with it. You are far away enough from the starting block that you’ve lost the initial excitement. But you’re too far from the finish line to see it. So, you have to manufacture your own enthusiasm and keep pressing on, knowing the end is coming.

When you get to that final 25%, the excitement of finishing is going to pull you forward and give you a second wind. But that middle 50% kills an awful lot of projects because it forces you to focus and be disciplined.

So before you get started, make sure to commit to the middle 50%, knowing it’s going to get hard. But you can make it if you keep pushing through.

Question: Think about your most difficult project right now. Have you made the commitment to keep going in the middle 50%?

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Have you ever tried taking a cold shower? Apparently, it’s all the rage these days. If you want to spend a couple of hours going down a rabbit hole, hop onto YouTube and watch a few videos where people experiment with taking cold showers and talking about the positive effects, such as helping them wake up fast or having more energy. I can tell you that it does work, even though I don’t take a cold shower very often.

If you watch any of these videos or decide to experiment with it yourself, you will find that just jumping into the cold shower, and being all-in, is a lot more effective than gradually sticking one body part in the shower at a time. It’s better just to get the discomfort over with as soon as possible and get on with the cold shower so you can experience the benefits.

The same is true for writing. Writing takes mental energy and we sometimes have trouble starting. We piddle around for a few minutes, have a few false starts, then decide the effort isn’t worth it.

Instead, treat writing like you would treat a cold shower. I like the follow the 30-Second Rule when I don’t feel motivated. The idea is just to write for 30 seconds without stopping. 30 seconds is enough time to switch your mental focus and get you into the groove a bit.

It doesn’t work to just write when you feel like it. There are a million things to distract us, a million excuses we can offer for avoiding writing. So try writing for 30 seconds to give yourself a little jumpstart when you don’t feel motivated.

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There is a common narrative among successful people that you must be a morning person in order to do anything worthwhile. A pretty good percentage of the world’s most successful people get a very early start to their day, sometimes as early as 4:00 or 5:00 a.m.

For example, Ernest Hemingway said, “When I am working on a book or a story, I write every morning as soon after first light as possible. There is no one to disturb you and it is cool or cold and you come to your work and warm as you write. You read what you have written and, as you always stop when you know what is going to happen next, you go on from there.”

Remember, though, that for every successful writer who is an early bird, there is another one who was a night owl. The point is not to write at a certain time. Rather, the point is to write and create when your energy is at its highest. For most people, this will be in the morning, although your energy may peak at a different time of the day or night.

So whether it’s morning, afternoon, evening, late night, or sometime in between, write at whatever time works best for you. As long as the work get done, it doesn’t matter.

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If you’re having trouble getting focused and using your time well, I highly recommend using the Pomodoro Technique. This is a simple focus strategy used by people all over the world, and it works super well for writing.

In the 1980’s, a university student named Francesco Cirillo was having trouble staying focused, so he decided he would try focusing for just ten minutes. As part of his experiment, he used a tomato-shaped kitchen timer. “Pomodoro” is the Italian word for “tomato.” Therefore, a simple yet effective new productivity technique was born.

Today, this technique is commonly practiced in 25-minute segments. It works like this: pick an activity to focus on, set a timer for 25 minutes, focus on the task till the timer goes off, then take a break for 5 minutes. Repeat several times, and then take a 30-minute break after a few rounds.

The genius of the Pomodoro Technique is that it only requires short, 25-minute bursts of activity. You also know you’re getting a break frequently.

Almost anyone can focus for 25 minutes. Give this technique a shot, and even if you only write for 25 minutes per day, you’ll get a lot more done that if you only write when you feel motivated.

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