5 Ridiculously Effective Tactics to Staying Positive When You Write
When you’re sitting in front of your computer screen waiting for the right words to come out, staying positive can be a challenge. The words don’t come out just right, the topic is weak, the flow is disorganized.
Then that self-doubt sneaks in. You start to look for things to do, ANYTHING other than writing. The negative thoughts come in saying that your writing sucks and you’ll never get it done.
When that happens, it’s time to take some action! Here are five tactics to staying positive when you write:
#1. Turn off your inner editor.
The inner editor has a way of keeping us from achieving our writing goals. To succeed, we must learn to turn off our inner editor so we can get our words down and move on to the next step: editing.
If you’re working on your first draft, you don’t have to get it right the first time. The writing process for the first draft should be focused on “writing down the bones”. This is when you put all of your thoughts on paper. Just write what comes out. If you need to, use an outline for direction.
#2. Focus on your work.
A lot of things work hard to distract us, to keep us from reaching our writing goals and potential. Make it a point to eliminate as many distractions as possible. Will the pets bug you because their food dishes are empty? Does the litter box need cleaning? Do the bills need to be paid?
Take care of all the things that will pop up and interfere with your writing. This simple act will do wonders for preventing negativity, stress, and overwhelm.
#3. Read encouraging words.
To stay inspired, encouraged, and motivated to keep at our writing work, we need to continually be feeding ourselves good, positive words.
So, read quotes that inspire, encourage, and motivate you to keep on writing. Put these words up in places where you will see them often, such as on your wall, your bathroom mirror, the background on your computer screen, and of course, in front of you wherever you’re writing.
#4. Trust your abilities.
Everyone needs to feel competent at their work. It’s one of the three psychological needs we all have (based on research by AchieveGlobal). If we lack the confidence, it will drag us down and potentially keep us from reaching our writing goals.
To keep us focused, we need to believe that we can achieve anything we set out to achieve. We need to trust in our abilities and work with what we have right now.
If you need to improve in a particular area, spend some time each day working on that. That progress will help you stay positive so you can focus on your writing work and get it done.
#5. Take control of your thoughts.
Those negative thoughts will surely set in, so learn to control them through disciplined thinking. When one pops up, counter it with a command or statement. Tell yourself you can do it, that it’s not hard. Tell yourself you’re focusing on your writing work and everything else can wait.
Your brain doesn’t know the difference from the truth and a lie, so fill it with good things that help you move forward with your writing work.
What keeps you encouraged, inspired, and motivated to write?
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