How To Get Past Writer's Block
I've had a few people ask me recently "how do you come up with ideas?""How do you become creative?"There's no cure.Just like there's no cure for "having an idea" or "starting a company."You're not going to magically come up with something brilliant.But if you just start . . .Just start writing. Just start building. Just start calling.Whatever it is you're trying to do, you'll narrow in eventually.Let it be garbage. Let it be bad.Don't throw it away. Don't delete it.Just keep going.The goal isn't perfection, the goal is momentum.Once you get over the anxiety of starting before you can see the ending, you might find that you're quite unstoppable.People (and sometimes the voices in our own heads) are very happy to tell us all the reasons something won't work.Yet, people tend to get out of the way once you're moving.That's the punchline. There is no cure. You just have to start.It's probably not going to be good, so toss out the idea that it should be perfect.The goal isn't to hit a home run in your first at-bat.
2 Minute Action:
What's something you've been putting off?
- Working out?
- Writing a book?
- Start a company?
Start right now in 2 minutes.
- Do 10 pushups.
- Write a blog post.
- Make a sales call.
I promise you can get started on any path in under 2 minutes.Practice that habit enough and you'll forget "writer's block" even existed.
Anyone Else Trying To Do This and Failing??
The 5 E's.The 6 Step Method.The Secret Formula that will 5x your output.
We're all looking for it.
This collective search is the definition of a "market;" a group of people simultaneously in need of a service or product.This means that we are subject to headlines and programs and blogs and online courses that promise big, life-changing results.I've done it on both sides; as a producer and as a consumer.But you already know the truth.You know when you get that funny feeling in the pit of your stomach that squints and says: "this is too good to be true."Because it is--and you're right--almost always.So how do we get tricked into more online courses and products that make big promises that we never implement?Here's the hard-to-handle truth: we don't trust ourselves. We may have built a track record of big dreams, hopes or a string of half-started projects. So if this is our data, why should we trust ourselves?We could be wrong. This lack of confidence in ourselves leaves us open to influence.
But remember:
Big, hairy audacious goals are made up of lots of little, achievable tasks.It's only after we conquer these small things, and build a new track record of success, that we'll trust ourselves with the big stuff.Then we'll have more confidence in that little skeptical voice that's trying to tell us something important!Trust is built with others the same way it is built with ourselves--yet, most of us are completely clueless.Everyone is starting with the big stuff and failing when the REAL secret is to start with the small stuff.Small, daily, relentless actions."Publish a book" is a big goal, so it's not a small task.But "call 5 publishers" is an achievable, measurable goal."Write a book" is a big goal, so it's not a small task."Write a blog post" is an achievable, measurable goal.Big goals are not checkboxes. You can't do it in one move. They're made up of small, achievable, measurable tasks.
2 Minute Action
What's a big "someday maybe" project you've had on your list?What's a smaller, achievable task you can check off in the next 2 minutes?Is it an email to a friend? Is it a sales call to a supplier? Is it a Facebook Live video asking for critical feedback on your work?Start there. Don't plan everything else out. Just do that, today. Once you do that, the next step will become more clear--and you'll have the momentum of success to move you forward.This is building trust with YOU and you've got to start before you can see the ending. This is the difficult, invisible stuff that stops us from making it.But you know better.