How to stick to your writing schedule by @leap8

Hello Steemians :-)

Some days it feels like you don’t feel like writing or maybe not making your posts as good as your previous ones. Especially, if you just wrote some good posts and start to wonder how you’re going to pull off another one that’s just as good. This is when many writers just give up and call it a writers block because they’re not feeling creative. However, feeling creative is something that can be achieved by different means and you can find inspiration just about anywhere. It’s not even about inspiration, it’s about deciding that you are going open that text editor and you’re going to start typing to get that post done. This is where discipline helps a lot. If you know that you must sit down and start typing no matter if you have that creativity flowing, you’re going find ways to get creative.

I used to listen to Tony Robins a lot and I use a lot of his wisdom to get going when I start slipping. One of the things that he said that really helps me understand why I’m not feeling like doing something I know is good for me is this:

People always do what they think is less painful to avoid pain and do more of what they believe will bring them pleasure.

Let’s take posting good posts on steemit that help and inspire others, for example.
It seems like sitting down and writing that post is painful, so your brain starts coming up with all kinds of excuses and making you feel like it’s just one of those days when you don’t feel creative. That’s an illusion, in this case you’re just trying to avoid the pain of not writing a good enough post.
What helps me in this case is to step back and realize that what’s painful is not having a post done and not helping and inspiring people the way I know I can. Once I realized this, the excitement and inspiration for a new post started coming back.

Set up a support system

It also helps to have a strong support system of people who will give you feedback on your posts and will be on your back if you don’t get that post done or don’t do it to the standards you know you’re capable of. I would like to thank @hopehuggs and @valorforfreedom for pushing my limits and everybody in the Berserkers https://discord.gg/KsWuDMN group. Also, the whole community on steemit is great and supportive with their comments on posts and in chat rooms.

Know Yourself

Also, discipline is not just about pushing through obstacles. That’s what happens on the surface but on a deeper level it’s about knowing yourself. The more you pay attention to your habits and your thoughts the more you can adjust and work with them to create a more effortless discipline that you enjoy. For example, you may set up your schedule to get your post done at a specific time, but you never feel like writing at that time, so you post quality suffers because of this. If you pay attention to when you usually get some flow of creativity going and lots of ideas, then you can set up your schedule to write at that time.

Thank you @leap8