The 5 ways you hurt your own writing process

There are tons of outside forces that can influence your writing and keep you from turning in your best work. A last-minute deadline or an unclear assignment can trip up even the best writer. But that’s not what we’re going to talk about today. Today, let’s focus on the ways you get in your own way. These are all easy traps to fall into — but ones we can find our way back out of with a little awareness and thought. You don’t have a clear goal. Good writing starts with good thinking. And in most cases, that means understanding why you’re writing. If you don’t have a firm understanding of the purpose behind whatever piece of content you’re creating, you’re most likely going to end up with writing that’s aimless, disconnected from an audience and overall meh. If you’re struggling to define your goals, ask yourself these questions:

• Who is this for? How will they receive this information? (Email, social media, after a Google search?)
• What do I want that person to know/think/do after they read this? How will I know I’ve achieved the above goal? (We’ll come back to this one)

Taking just a few minutes on the front-end to answer these questions can make the entire writing process so much easier. You overthink it. When it’s just you and a blank document, it’s so easy to get into your head — to doubt yourself, to doubt your goals, to just feel paralyzed by that blinking cursor that demands so much from you. Maybe you over-research, going over the materials you need to write the piece until everything blurs together into a soft fuzz. Maybe you procrastinate on social media or by doing literally anything else, including organizing your emails from 2019. We’ve all been there. You’re not alone in those feelings. But reassure yourself that there’s a reason you have your job. Whatever the challenge is, you can face it. The most important thing is to […]

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