writing to improve your lifeOne of the most important habits that I’ve formed over the years is daily writing.

Writing every day for the past several years has brought me many great things. A way out of corporate America, personal fulfillment, self-improvement, and the ability to share my stories, experience, and lifestyle with millions of readers.

I had always thought about writing after reading my fair share of books, magazines, and online articles. While reading some of the online publications, I would regularly think to myself “I could totally do this, but where do I even start?” All it took was one small step outside of my comfort zone. At some point, you have to look at yourself and say, “Fu@k it. I’m going to be a writer!” And then start writing every day. Writing is a perishable skill, so to become skilled at it, you need to be writing consistently.

How Does Writing Every Day Improve Your Life? Here Are 5 Reasons How

man smiling and happy

Building Self-Discipline

Living a life of laziness is simple. It’s easy just to sit back and consume content all day long. It’s easy to hang out all the time instead of putting the work in. But those easy things will not give you inner satisfaction.

The reason that we don’t do anything to improve our quality of life is that we lack self-discipline. But when you write every day, you’re strengthening your discipline. You can use that self-discipline to achieve anything you put your mind to.

Bettering Your Skills In The Art Of Persuasion

Writing, especially any type of marketing copy, is nothing more than persuading the reader with words. When you write for yourself, you’re in essence persuading yourself of your own thoughts. So the more you write, the better you become at the art of persuasion. That skill is a valuable skill to hone no matter what career path you choose.

Cultivating Self-Awareness And Reflection

Nothing will help you to get to know yourself more than putting your thoughts into words on paper or a computer. When you force yourself to write every day, you automatically become more aware of your thoughts. Self-awareness is one of the most important skills that predict career success. Writing every day also gives you an outlet to reflect on life experiences, creating a sense of accomplishment, growth, and overall personal development.

Better Decision Making

Have you ever done something without fully thinking it through first? Think about it. When someone asks you “Why did you do that?”, how often do you respond with “I don’t know?”

That’s the sign of weak and unclear thinking. Sure, we don’t know everything and we never will. But we must be able to take a step back and have a pretty good reason for making the decision we make. When you’re writing everyday you develop the skill to better analyze and interpret different situations and become more aware of the “why” that is driving your decisions.

Witnessing The Power Of Compounding

Working every day to create a new habit may not seem like it’s going anywhere for the first few days or even the first few weeks. You start asking yourself “what are the benefits of doing this?”

By sticking with a new habit for the long haul, you’ll notice the positive effects starting to compound. Writing every day will demonstrate the power of compounding like very few other skill sets.

These are just 5 reasons off the top of my head, but there are many other benefits to writing every day. Writing is great for reflection, dealing with anxiety, and coming up with new ideas. On top of that, you can use writing to inspire others.

How Do You Form a Daily Writing Habit?

Here are 4 tips that can help you with that!

Observe, Read, and Study

Start by observing other people’s writing styles. If you find an article that you really like and it resonates with you, start by rewriting that in your own voice. It’s a strategy to jump-start your writing. Another thing I get inspiration from is email newsletters that I’ve signed up for. Currently, I’m signed up for newsletters from Tim Ferriss, Ramit Sethi, Matt De’Avella, and Neil Patel. Every week I get something from each one of them and 9 times out of 10 when I read them I get inspiration on a topic or multiple topics to write about.

The same goes for reading books or even listening to podcasts. There is an endless supply of topics to write about, you just need to open your mind up to the different mediums to get it from.

Studying is essential to stay ahead in the industry as well. There are so many small tips and tricks to elevate your writing and keep improving it. I’ve been writing full-time for 6 years now and I’m still learning.

developing a writing habit

Have a Set Time Each Day To Write

Nothing is more important to a writer than having a routine. First, think about what time is the best for you to write. In the morning or evening? Before/after the kids are awake? Set a daily reminder on your phone and/or to-do list. When it’s time, sit down and write. Once you have developed the habit of writing at that time each day, you don’t necessarily need to set an alarm.

For me, my time to write is during the morning hours. That’s when my focus, energy, and creativity are at their peak. However, since my full-time job is writing, I’m writing all day, so I have tactics in place to keep my focus, energy, and productivity firing on all cylinders throughout the day.

setting aside time for writing

Don’t Set The Bar Too High

A great way to get started is by using a writing prompt journal. It’s a journal that provides you with many different prompts, questions, and situations. It gets your mind moving in a specific direction instead of just sitting there staring at a blank page.

I’m currently writing 3000 to 4000 words per day, but I didn’t start there. When I began my writing career I think my first article was around 600 words and that was written over the course of a week, so maybe 100 words per day. If you try to go too big, you’ll burn out and become discouraged.

Set your initial daily goal to something easily attainable and go from there. Freewriting is a great way to start writing. No need to worry about grammar, punctuation, or sentence structure. Just start writing whatever comes to mind. Then, keep going.

Remove All Distractions

Once you’ve identified the perfect time of day to do your writing, be sure to remove any distractions during that time frame. Put your phone on silent mode and face down on a table or desk. That last thing you want is to be distracted by notifications that can wait.

I prefer to sit on my front porch because it gets me out of my house where I could be easily distracted by more than just my phone. Either way, whatever it is that can distract you from writing, be sure to take the necessary steps to reduce those distractions.

Wrapping It Up

Everyone can write for a day or two, or three. But there are very few people who write consistently for years. To see the benefits of writing, you need to write for a long time, which is why developing that consistent habit is critical.

So don’t just get started. Keep going.

By Published On: May 14, 2021Categories: Writer Development6.5 min read1268 wordsViews: 767