Writers have 3 enemies of productivity that we should be aware of each time we sit down to craft our words.

These enemies, are time wasters that sneak up on us over time.

It’s these subtle and disturbing time wasters that I’ve really struggled with over the past few months.

So if you’ve been wondering why you’re not as productive a writer as you’d like to be, I hope these tips help you too.

Be Aware of these 3 Time Stealers…

Imagine that you are all excited to start a new book. You have the start of an idea. You’ve done a lot of reading and research on writing and on your idea.

You sit down to write. You open up your document on the computer. Your fingers excitedly hover over the blank page staring back at you.

And… nothing. Suddenly you’re paralyzed. You don’t even know where to start.

The obstacle you face, could be one of the following:

1.Uncertainty. You might be unsure of what chapter or scene you’re supposed to be working on. This can cause all sorts of problems. What I’ve found that helps is to write a short summary of where the scene is going for the next time I come back to write.

If you sit down at your computer with no idea of what to write, it will stop your writing in it’s tracks.

Solution: prepare ahead of time for what you will write the next day. Whether it’s research, or digging deeper into your character arc, or simply doing more brainstorming by asking helpful “what if” questions.

2.Excuses. This is simply, coming up with many reasons why you can’t do something. I’ve learned that excuses are cunning things that have a way of slowly sneaking up on us. We say things like: I only have 30 minutes spare time, so I can’t write today; I have to answer this email and reply to friends on social media, so I’ll have to put off my writing for awhile.

Solution: Change you’re: “I can’t write because of this reason…” and change those words to say: “Okay I can see what I can get done in this short amount of time.” or you can say “Maybe I  can’t do what that other person is doing, but what tips can I learn from them and what can I try instead?”

3.It’s too Overwhelming. Anytime something seems to complex or hard to do, it becomes something that you don’t want to work on. It seems overwhelming and then it becomes frustrating to even try.

Solution: Take some time to sit down and write down everything you have to do. Whether you’re writing a book, or creating a project, or whatever. If what you’re working on seems too big, break it down. Make a chronological order of each of the small steps you need to take to carry out the project from start to finish.

As you become more and more aware of these 3 enemies of writing productivity, then you can get rid of the habits – one by one – and put them out of your life.

Seriously. Kick these three nasty time stealers out of your life. You’ll be glad you did.

That’s what I’ve been working on lately too. I’ve realized that when something is too complicated, then I feel overwhelmed… and it paralyzes me. If it’s a book project, I stare at the screen, feeling frustrated that no ideas are coming to me… oy!

So, with my book, I decided to write down more details of the outline and dig deeper into my main character’s fatal flaws, false beliefs, motivations and goals. And guess what, the ideas are racing around in my head again – and I feel excited to write again. That’s a big bonus.

I want to encourage you to try to catch yourself: 1)If you are uncertain and have no idea to write, begin your own Auto-Focus system. Take a minute to listen to this video by Jonathan Milligan on how to set up your own Auto-Focus system everyday. It has been super helpful to me. 2) If you make excuses on why you don’t have time to write, ask yourself what you can do to get your writing done? 3)Anytime something seems too overwhelming, break it down. Begin to make a step-by-step list of the next things you need to.

Then watch as your productivity grows by leaps and bounds as a writer.

Do you struggle with being productive as a writer? What are your tips to push past resistance? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. We can learn from each other 😉