Running a business is a waste of time of epic proportions. Planning, administration, product development, sales, delivery, email, accounting, social media, marketing. It takes time. Add a family and you go from demand to crisis with no time to reheat the cup of tea you made three hours ago.
Your blog post – that important but not urgent task – often falls victim to the push and pull of life. You know it’s important, but there it is, languishing at the bottom of the “to do” list day after day.
“I have to write this blog post.”
“I should really write a blog post.”
“Today I will write a blog post. »
“Tomorrow I will write this blog post…”
Sound familiar?
No grouping… work.
I’m impressed by bloggers and business owners who casually comment, “I write a blog post in 15-20 minutes and batch them together.” I sit down and write six or seven in a row.
And you ?
Blog posts take me hours. Not minutes. Hours. Write one and I’m spent creatively. I need to lie down, take a walk or chat on Facebook for 30 minutes to recover. In the meantime, a crisis broke out. Forget batch processing.
I’m also not very fond of the “stream of consciousness” approach. It’s great for therapy but no one wants to read my therapy. Not even me.
Despite this, I write regularly and professionally. I’m getting there and I get faster with practice. I also learned a tip or five from my profession, psychology.
So here’s what works for writing blog posts faster – and why.
1. Have a plan
I used to procrastinate until the day before my publication date (or even the day itself), then wait for inspiration to strike and the words to flow. It doesn’t work. It’s slow and frustrating. To go faster, I need to know what I’m going to write. Better yet, I need some bullet points and links to the research I’ll need.
Why it works: In psychology, task planning is called “implementation intention.” It’s complex and uses the front part of your brain, the prefrontal cortex. Implementation intentions reduce procrastination. Without a plan, your brain says, “Oops, that’s too hard” when faced with a big, vague task like writing a blog post. He walks away to find somewhere else to focus his attention. With a plan, you smooth the path to your goal, making resistance – and procrastination – less likely.
2. Make planning a separate exercise
Planning and then writing in one period is brain overload. Divide it into two separate tasks and you increase your efficiency and produce a better result. I like to think and plan over coffee at my favorite coffee shop. I will write later in my office on my laptop.
Why it works: Signals from our environment trigger our habits. Keep looking at the same four walls and you’ll keep thinking the same way. To break a creative block, come up with new ideas, then start writing, mixing and working in different environments. Large spaces with good natural light and fresh air are perfect for sparking new thoughts and ideas.
3. Write 15 minutes a day
Kelly Exeter, another ProBlogger contributor, put me on this point. Once I have my plan, I sit down at the laptop, note the time, put aside distractions, and write for 15 minutes. It doesn’t matter what you write. In fact, Kelly suggests that if you’re stuck, just keep writing “I don’t know what to write here” until an idea comes up. Try it, it works. Plus, once you get started and find your flow, you may find that you keep going until it’s finished.
Why it works: Getting started is often the hardest part of any task, especially one that seems difficult. The good news is that once we start, we will likely continue until the job is finished. This is called the Zeigarnik effect. Your brain doesn’t like to start a task and then stop midway. It will linger on your unfinished business, making you anxious until the task is completed. Get started and your mind will spring into action with the motivation you need to keep going.
4. Set a deadline
One joy of being the boss is the flexibility of your deadlines. Don’t feel like writing today? Do something else instead. There is a lot of work to do. Except that’s how the important but not urgent blog post gets cast adrift.
Sitting, thinking, and writing is hard work on your brain. It rewards you by prioritizing this task last, allowing you to get through it. However, this is a short-term gain. The blog post is still not written.
I set deadlines for each blog post to trick my brain into doing it. The shorter the delay, the more focused you are.
Why it works: Motivation is complex, psychologically, but we know for sure that as a deadline approaches, our stress levels increase. When our stress levels increase, our brain and body are ready to take action. We jump in and work hard to accomplish the task. This is called the Yerkes-Dodson law. No deadline? Not enough stress to make you move. If you’re a conscientious type like me, self-imposed deadlines will work. If not, find a way to get others to set deadlines for you.
5. Focus on the end result
The anticipation of the holidays is often the best part, right? Imagine yourself lying by the pool, cocktail in hand, with no responsibilities. It motivates you to pack your bags and get out the door.
This also works for writing blog posts. Generating ideas and writing may seem difficult, but don’t focus on that part. Focus on the reward. For me, it’s about hitting the publish button or sending a finished article to an editor. Better yet, the positive comments.
Determine where your motivation lies. What reward do you get from writing this blog post? Where’s the thrill? Focus on that to achieve it.
Why it works: There are two types of goals. Avoidance goals are things to avoid, like losing our audience because we haven’t written a blog post in a month or more. Then there are the approach objectives. These are the goals that push us forward. Your vision of the pool and the cocktail is an approach objective. The feeling of satisfaction in hitting the publish button is an approach goal. Anything can be an approach goal if you think about it correctly. Don’t focus on what you’re avoiding. Focus on the good things that happen after your task is accomplished.
Ellen Jackson of Potential Psychology is a psychologist who does things differently. She writes about people and why we do what we do. She coaches, she teaches, and she helps workplaces do a better job of separating people.