What is the one thing you want to achieve tomorrow? Maybe this is the most important thing you want to achieve this year? If you are a novelist, or a creative person of any kind, then the one ambition you may have is to finally complete your unfinished manuscripts, and gain some recognition for your work. So, the question has to be asked: if completing your work and gaining validation from your readers and peers is your ultimate goal, what is stopping you from realising your dream? Are you making excuses why you do not write every day?
The awful curse of procrastination is not always evident, but it can be determined by your daily routine and the formation of bad habits. We may tell ourselves that we don’t have the time, or that we write better in the mornings, or that there is too much noise and distractions around us. But all of these excuses cause you to lose momentum. In turn, they cause you to lose sight of your goals. The only way to finally beat this monster called procrastination is not to over think the process of writing, just do it. Take action a few minutes a day and increase that each day. The more action you take, the more motivated you will become. Results fuel more action. You will have steadily created a routine that you will keep to, just like brushing your teeth. The action of writing each day will become as normal as getting out of bed in the morning.
I have always found that writing in the morning is the perfect time for the following reasons.
1) This is the only time of the day when the time is yours. Throughout the rest of the day, your time is taken up by everyone else's needs, whether it be family or the company you work for. But the morning is the time when you get to choose what time you wake and what you do in the hours before leaving the house.
2) Even if the rest of your day is about accomplishing tasks for everyone else, if you write in the morning you know that whatever happens, you have done something for yourself. You have been productive and that productivity will stay with you for the rest of the day.
1) This is the only time of the day when the time is yours. Throughout the rest of the day, your time is taken up by everyone else's needs, whether it be family or the company you work for. But the morning is the time when you get to choose what time you wake and what you do in the hours before leaving the house.
2) Even if the rest of your day is about accomplishing tasks for everyone else, if you write in the morning you know that whatever happens, you have done something for yourself. You have been productive and that productivity will stay with you for the rest of the day.
3) To complete a task, whatever it may be, fills you with a sense of success, and success breeds more success. You are building a pattern of self-motivation and this will definitely lead to more good habits in your life.
4) If you write in the morning, you are giving your brain the entire day to gather ideas in your head, creating plots and characters. You can then make notes throughout the day, giving yourself material to work on the next day.
To achieve all of this requires a realistic morning schedule. Try not to waste your mental energy in the morning with other tasks. Remember, this is your time to take steps towards your dream; the rest of the day is for everyone else. If this is new to you, start small. Write for ten minutes per day. Most writers who give themselves just ten minutes usually write for longer because they have started building momentum, they can see results and this inspires them to continue. So what are you going to do tomorrow? Write?
Because once you normalise writing as part of your morning routine, it will become second nature to you and, before long, you will be completing every task you want, not just all those unfinished manuscripts.
To achieve all of this requires a realistic morning schedule. Try not to waste your mental energy in the morning with other tasks. Remember, this is your time to take steps towards your dream; the rest of the day is for everyone else. If this is new to you, start small. Write for ten minutes per day. Most writers who give themselves just ten minutes usually write for longer because they have started building momentum, they can see results and this inspires them to continue. So what are you going to do tomorrow? Write?
Because once you normalise writing as part of your morning routine, it will become second nature to you and, before long, you will be completing every task you want, not just all those unfinished manuscripts.
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