You know what time it is?
—A great time to relax that mind of yours.
Stop what you’re doing and name out:
Ground yourself into the present moment and enjoy the beauty that’s already here.
I had the pleasure of hearing Aminatta Forna (7x Author) speak at Kleinhans Music Hall in Buffalo, NY on Thursday, October 14th, 2021.
One of my favorite questions from the night was: “How do you know when a piece is done?”
Her reply: “It’s never done. But, when you can’t stand looking at it anymore, then it’s time.”
Try adding the 3 “C’s” to your day:
The ones who get ahead in the digital age are the ones who know how to discipline themselves with their screens.
These are the people who:
Isn’t it interesting how in the age of information, so many around us still seem to be so lost?
Like how so much of what people are focused on is backwards from what they actually should be focused on?
It all boils down to a priorities imbalance.
What we have to recognize is:
The urge is to do what’s urgent.
The key to getting ahead is to discipline yourself against that urge and do what’s important instead.
Stop making it worse.
Time management trick: define whether each task of your day should have a “hard stop” or “soft stop.”
The problem with getting these confused is that it mostly hurts your top priorities.
Top priority tasks should be treated as “soft stops,” but are often treated as “hard stops.” Things like sleep, family time, exercise, writing, reading, connecting with friends, etc.—you should be able to spend whatever amount of time feels right. But, either you force yourself to cut it short or you don’t have enough time to allot.
Which leads to the second confusion: treating tasks that should be “hard stops” as “soft stops.” Things like TV, video games, social media time, etc—you can easily end up spending entire days doing these types of things if you don’t take control. And when you don’t, that excessive time gets taken from—that’s right—your top priorities.
And it turns into a vicious cycle.
Not enough time to do what’s most important because you spent too much time doing what’s not. And because you have less time, you’re constantly playing catch up.
So, what’s the solution? Give what’s less important tighter “hard stops” and then you’ll finally get to enjoy “soft stops” while doing what’s more.
Writers block is a real problem for many people. But, talkers block? It isn’t even a thing.
Well, what is writing but talking, edited?
If you try to turn your writing into something that sounds completely foreign to how you talk—of course it’s going to be a real problem.
You’re trying to write down words in a way you’d never usually use them.
Don’t do that.
Write how you talk.
Then, after you’ve said all that you can think to say—edit. Make it better. Cut out the fluff. Reorganize what you said for clarity. Give your trains of thought some tracks.
Authenticity is what makes great writing great—not fancy words and complex grammar application.
Commit to being more yourself in your writing and suddenly, writers block disappears.
Because what’s blocking you from writing isn’t the words you could say (I’m sure there’s plenty you could say about any given topic), it’s the pseudo-persona you’re trying to embody when it comes time to write.