5 Tips for Staying Motivated

By georgelthomas on 10 Jun 2018 • ( 6 )

Writing is a lot of hard work, which can be made even harder by a lack of motivation.

Here are 5 tips to help you to stay motivated and keep you working.

1 – Be Accountable
Do you want to write a novel, short story or anything else for that matter? Then you have to do it. Thinking about it will not get the words onto the page. You have to actually do the work. You’re the only person who knows your story, which means you’re the only one who can write it. Nobody else can write it for you, so if you don’t write your book, it won’t get written.

2 – Form a Habit
Make writing a habit by writing every day. There’ll be times when you just can’t be bothered to write anything, but force yourself to do it anyway. Write anything, even if it’s not related to your current WIP and eventually writing every day will be routine and you’ll find you miss it if you don’t write.

3 – Goals
Set yourself small, manageable goals. For example, decide that you will not move away from your desk until you have written at least one hundred words and then make yourself sit there until you finish. If you write one hundred words a day every day for a year, you will have written enough for a solid first draft.

4 – Rewards
Reward yourself for completing even the smallest of tasks. Our brains are designed to respond to a reward system, and you will be more productive with something to look forward to or work towards. For example, tell yourself that you’ll write five hundred words today and then you can have ice cream, or if you finish a thousand words you can watch an hour of television.

5 – Distractions
Eliminate all distractions. Things like Facebook, Twitter and other social media applications are an excellent way to waste time -if that’s what you’re trying to do. If, however, you’re trying to write, then turn off the electronics and allow yourself time alone with just your work. You can even download apps, such as SelfControl (currently only available for macs at the moment) which can block your device from using the internet for a set amount of time.

As always, your valuable time is appreciated, so thank you for spending it with my words.

Until next time,

George