Developing effective writing habits

Habits are those acquired behaviours that we repeat regularly, subconsciously and often in response to a cue or stimulus.

If you want to become a productive and successful writer who completes their writing projects, meets deadlines and produces quality work then you need to acquire habits that support these aims.

Acquiring a new habit generally takes between three weeks and two months before it becomes automatic and subconscious. It may require conscience effort at the beginning as your mind will what to do what it usually does when faced with the cue or stimulus for example if when your alarm goes off you usually make coffee, shower and get dressed and now you plan to write between coffee and shower you will have a desire to shower first – don’t give in.

Acquiring new habits is a choice so first you need to make a decision to develop a new habit; to be a productive writer the only habit you need to acquire is to write regularly. This habit has three main aspects:  

1. Write every day
2.  Be prepared to write  
3. Actually get some words down during your writing times.

You can create a list of habits you want to acquire over a period of time, it is however important to only develop a maximum of three new habits at a time, only start to work on the fourth and fifth habits when the earlier habits have truly become automatic.

In order to successfully develop effective habits you will decide on one major habit and then select supporting habits e.g. writing in the morning might be your major habit and, to support this, every evening you will clear the dining table (your workspace), put your laptop on charge, make a brief note about what you are going to write (car chase scene, paragraph about hamsters for your suitable pets for children article) and note what your ten minute warm up writing exercise will be (describe the yesterday’s weather).

You’ve decided on your new writing habit, you know what you need to do to support this habit, you now need to decide on the cue or stimulus that will prompt you take action. The first cue will be for the evening preparation, the second will be for the morning writing session. The morning session is probably the easiest as you are likely to use existing cues, e.g. alarm (although you will need to set it earlier), coffee and then writing; you just need a reminder which could be a note by the bed or set an event with an alarm on your phone. You could also use an event with alarm to prompt and remind you to do the evening preparation – ensure you have a list of what you need to do as you don’t want any barriers to getting your writing done in the morning.

Finally you need to do it. As soon as you hear your prompt or cue you must take action; if you don’t you will not develop new habits. Never think that you don’t need to do the evening preparation as this will stall you in the morning. Never think that you will have just five more minutes in bed doing nothing; if you do then staying in bed after the alarm will become the new habit.

What are you waiting for? If you want to increase your output, meet those deadlines and, ultimately, increase your income, then start developing new habits today.

Happy writing.