I have been procrastinating in my writing and I’ve found a simple tip to churn out content in short periods.
This past year I have significantly slowed down in my writing, and I have been finding it hard to complete a written article. It was mostly due to work, and partly due to other distractions around me.
It may start with me drafting out an idea, writing a few key phrases down, and then leaving it at that for a week or more.
Some drafts get completed into published articles, but many stay only as drafts.
It’s clear to me now that intentions alone are not enough to keep my weekly writing in check. We all need a bit of help to get our writing out when the seasons in our lives change, like how mine did.
Earlier on when I started writing during the pandemic, I wrote at least once a week, then 2-3 times a week when I got better at it.
But now, after over two years of writing, I’ve slowed down significantly.
With less energy, I had to be more picky when I chose what to do with my time.
For me, coming up with ideas for a post was easy, however, the content needed to be drafted out and be made coherent. That was the harder part.
With me having fewer resources and less attention span to sit down for a long writing session, producing a completed article was getting tougher.
So what is this simple tip to avoid procrastination?
Set a time limit to write.
It can be 20 to 30-minute chunks of writing in a day.
Maybe even 10 to 15 minutes a day during these times when you are struggling to settle yourself down to write.
Setting a duration to write helps make it easier to crunch out those words, and knowing after that time limit you are free to move on to do other things.
With this method, portions of the writing will be written and support the completion of your draft.
Proofreading and editing can be done later, be it rephrasing, correcting typos, or removing unnecessary portions.
After the fourth or fifth session of writing, followed by a final review, you will have a completed article.
It’s progress at least.
And that’s how I completed this article.
Be it 11 pm or nearing midnight, I wrote a few more sentences down, and eventually, it was done.
So here is one of my articles, written in 5 to 10-minute chunks over the past few weeks.
Hope this tip helps you out if you still have the drive to keep writing.