5 ways to motivate yourself to write daily

If you want to make a living as a writer, you can’t sit back and wait for your readers to come to you.

You need to write and publish as much as you can so you create more opportunities for being seen.

This requires that you create momentum through continual action.

Here’s how I keep myself motivated to write several articles each week:

1. Stop waiting for motivation.

Motivation will not save you as a writer.

What if looking for motivation was part of the reason you’re struggling to write at all?

Here’s the secret of seemingly motivated writers: they don’t give two hoots about motivation.

They just follow their system and write.

What’s your system?

2. Write for real humans.

Writing will perpetually suck when you’re writing to merely write.

No one actually likes writing. They like the idea that they get to sit in their home office in their Garfield pants, connecting with humans without needing to talk to anyone.

Know the specific individual you’re writing for when you write.

Then, writing becomes compelling to you, rather than a dry chore.

3. Make it easy.

You said you’d write something every day, and here you are, and now you feel like all the blood has drained from your body.

It all seems so difficult. But not if you make it easy and fun, dum dum.

Do what I do, and write lists if you need to.

Write about stuff that’s been on your mind recently.

Just focus for now on writing 200 words of whatever funny stuff is on your mind right now.

Release the pressure.

If you knew writing was easy, what would you write?

4. Visualise what writing gets you.

So you have a book in you.

But you’ve been holding back on writing it. Why?

Likely because you’ve come up with all the great reasons not to write it.

You’ve never written a book before.

Michael and Janine might laugh at me.

I’m not actually an expert in that.

Books are really, super duper complicated and hard, and stuff.

Shut your face.

Sit somewhere warm and comfy for a minute. Visualise your completed book in your hands. The weight of it. The colours. The title. The blurb at the back. The table of contents.

Get sexy intimate with your book, so it becomes real in your mind.

The gap has been bridged.

Imagine all the associations you make about yourself as a book completer — and why you’re capable now that you get to hold your book.

Focus on what makes you the solution, not the problem.

5. Favour quantity over perfection.

Motivation will not appear if you try to be perfect and avoid displeasing people.

Forget everything about needing to write something that fits your brand, is high quality, is super polished, is evergreen, is… whatever.

You’re too in your head at this point. The remedy is putting in the numbers.

Hard, cold numbers.

Laaaatsa numbers.

You need to prioritise getting your ideas out there more often and doing whatever it gosh darn takes.

This doesn’t mean only sharing perfect stuff.

Commit to seven days of writing (and publishing) in a row. Make it clear, and just focus on getting it done and published for now. Motivation will emerge out of the numbers.

Commit to a challenge. 7 days. 30 days. 90 days.

Write to add to the numbers and nothing else.

Now you’re flying, and life is good.

Commit to 30 days of writing in a row.

I know how frustrating it can be when your writing doesn’t get many likes. Engagement is important. It keeps you excited.

My Online Writing Alchemy course solves this. It shows you how to write stuff people love to read.

Learn more about the course here.

Alex

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