Having a place to write, and having an audience who expects your work on a regular, consistent basis is a great way to develop a writing habit because it puts the pressure on you to deliver. And that’s what professionals do—they deliver on time.

One of the challenges, however, is that you can produce words that don’t come from a place of passion and meaning. When you’re writing on schedule, it’s easy to become a bit of a robot, cranking out words on demand.

There has to be a balance. Passion and regularity. Meaning and discipline. The fire of writing, but also the consistency of lighting that fire.

F. Scott Fitzgerald said, “You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you’ve got something to say.”

So, what is it that you want to say?

If you feel consumed by the demands of a writing schedule, take a moment to dig down deep and really think about what you want to say. Don’t let it get lost in the shuffle of schedules and expectations. Don’t quench the fire because I know you’ve got something important to say.

Question: What do you really want to say to the world through your writing?

The post You’ve Got Something to Say appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

That’s an unhealthy way to look at life. It’s also a great way to get burned out.

The faith community has long recognized the value of rest. The book of Genesis tells us that God Himself, after working so hard on the six days of creation, took time to rest.

If God saw fit to take a day of rest, doesn’t it follow that we should do the same?

It’s important to build a day of rest into your weekly schedule. Not only that, you must rest each day by getting enough sleep. I also suggest taking a midday nap. Many of the world’s greatest thinkers and creatives had a regular napping habit.

Rest is not lazy. Rest is essential. Sometimes the very best thing you can do for your creativity and productivity is rest. You’re not Superman (or Superwoman) and you’re not God. You need your rest.

It just might be the most important thing you do today.

Question: Are you building rest into your daily and weekly schedule?

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But she has recently built an amazing podcast and website called Burned Out Business Mom. Even though she is focused on helping moms specifically, she has spent a lot of time thinking and building a platform to help people with burnout—something many writers face.

In this conversation, M.J. shares the signs of burnout, why it’s important to figure out the root cause of burnout, why you need to protect your time, how to get support, and much more.

If you have been feeling burned out, discouraged, frustrated, or you just want to quit, this episode is for you!

You can connect with M.J. and learn more about her platform through the links below:

Check out TheBurnedOutBusinessMom.com

Subscribe to The Burned Out Business Mom Podcast

Connect with M.J. on Facebook

Follow M.J. on Instagram

The post M.J. James on How to Identify & Overcome Burnout appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

The most common complaint about writing is that it takes time. There is nothing that keeps people from writing more than the idea that they simply don’t have the time to write. That’s why so many writing resources—including this podcast—focus on helping people be more productive with their writing.

Everyone knows that we in the modern world are busy. It’s hard to squeeze in writing time. But maybe it’s good to stop and ask what has us so busy these days.

Is it too many obligations and commitments? Lots of movies, YouTube, and TV? Other hobbies or projects? Several small kids in the house or maybe a spouse or parent who requires lots of time and care? Maybe an extra job to help make ends meet?

Certainly, some of these are legitimate things that keep us busy. But not all of them. The vast majority of people have more control over their schedule than they realize.

Take a look at all the things that are keeping you busy—all the activities that take up your time each day and week. Are they really necessary? Are they contributing to your quality of life? Are they helping you reach your long-term goals as a writer?

If not, it’s probably time to re-evaluate how you are spending your time. So much of our lives are spent doing things others expect us to do. Maybe it’s time to stop focusing so much on what others want from you, and spend more time on the things YOU want.

The post Why Are You So Busy? appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

A few weeks ago, I said “no” to an amazing opportunity to help writers. This was an opportunity to partner with an entrepreneur I greatly respect, a person who has been very influential in my life. He was one of the first people to help me see that I could make a living with writing, and I’ve read his books and listened to his podcasts for years.

This opportunity would have let me help more people, expand my influence, and spend more time with people I highly respect. So why did I say no?

The answer is simple: I didn’t have the bandwidth to do a good job in this role.

I’m working on several ghostwriting projects, leading my Daily Writer Community, creating this podcast, and working on a couple of my own books. This is also my son’s senior year of high school. I’m definitely in time preservation mode since he will be out of the house and living on his own life before I know it.

Remember, anytime you say “yes” to one thing, you are saying “no” to a hundred other things.

Time is not infinite. You only have so much of it. So make sure you are saying “yes” to the right things for your season of life. Sometimes you will have to pass up amazing opportunities because the timing isn’t right. But you have to respect your existing commitments and realistically assess whether you can add something else to your plate.

In the case of the opportunity I mentioned above, it was important that I be able to do a good job if I committed to it. But the reality was that it would be something I was squeezing into my schedule, just trying to do the bare minimum instead of really giving it a good effort.

I have too much respect for the person who was offering me the opportunity, and too much respect for writers, to give something a half-hearted effort.

I hope you feel the same way. When you say “yes” to something, make sure you can do it well. Commit to a few things and put your full effort into them.

Then say “no” to everything else.

The post The Price of Saying “Yes” appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

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.

The post Morning, Afternoon, or Evening? appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

As writers, we have lots of project-based items to think about. These are big items that can take weeks or months to complete. This can include things like building a website, writing a book, creating a course, building an author platform, or starting a podcast. That is why it’s easy to get paralyzed by all the things you think you should be doing.

The small steps are important, too. In fact, the big steps are made up of the small steps. The big steps don’t consist of anything but the small steps. Small steps are the only things that get you to your goals.

Thomas Carlyle, a British historian, said, “Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.”

What do you need to do today? Not next week or next month, but today? What lies clearly at hand? Focus on that thing until it’s done. Don’t spend so much time thinking about the big projects that the small steps don’t get done. Focusing on today’s work and making sure it gets done is the only way to take the big steps.

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Your writing time is like a medieval castle that is constantly under siege from the enemy. Sometimes those “enemies,” as it were, are friends and family who want our time. But we must be decisive, maybe even at times a bit ruthless, about making and guarding that writing time.

If you don’t, you’ll never reach your writing goals. The dreams out there in the distance start with the writing minutes right in front of you today.

Daily Question: Are you willing to fight for control over your writing time?

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“I hear people say they’re going to write. I ask, when? jameliz onlyfans leak They give me vague statements. Indefinite plans get dubious results. When we’re concrete about our writing time, it alleviates that thin constant feeling of anxiety that writers have . . .”

Maybe the reason you feel anxious about writing is that you haven’t set a firm, concrete time when you’re going to actually get the writing done. Don’t be vague. Don’t try to dodge the question. Just be clear and direct. Set a time and a place, and have a goal for how long or how much you’re going to write. This single habit alone will clear up a lot of your stress and anxiety about writing. When you’ve made the decision about when to write and simply get to work, everything becomes much easier.Daily Question: When are you going to write today? Be specific.

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Over the past six days, we have been through a key cycle in the creative life of a writer: preparing, planting, watering, pruning, harvesting, and celebrating. This is the cycle of growth we go through again and again as we pursue higher levels of growth.

In the Western world, we are used to jumping back in again right after we achieve something. We live in a workaholic culture that says our value is directly tied to our output. If you want to be valuable, you must constantly produce, right?

That’s an unhealthy way to look at life, and it’s also a great way to get burned out. The faith community has long recognized the value of rest. The book of Genesis tells us that God Himself, after working so hard on the six days of creation, took time to rest.

If God saw fit to step back, take a look at His creative work and call it “good,” then take a day of rest, why do we think we don’t need a day of rest also?

It’s important to build a day of rest into your weekly schedule. Not only that, but you must rest each day by getting enough sleep, and dare we say, taking a midday nap. Many of the world’s greatest thinkers and creatives had a regular napping habit.

Rest is not lazy, and rest is not a shortcut. Rest is essential. Sometimes the very best thing you can do for your creativity and productivity is rest. You’re not Superman (or Superwoman) and you’re not God. You need your rest. It just might be the most important thing you do today.

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