Summary

The article outlines strategies for developing a consistent writing habit within three months, emphasizing daily practice, idea generation, and writing amidst distractions.

Abstract

The author shares personal experience on how they established a daily writing habit over ninety days, which has significantly improved their writing quality and audience growth. Key steps include a preliminary writing period to build confidence, generating ideas shortly before writing to maintain creativity, and writing in less-than-ideal conditions to foster discipline. The article suggests that these practices not only help in forming a robust writing habit but also contribute to long-term improvement in writing skills.

Opinions

The author believes that writing daily is sustainable and not necessarily leading to burnout.
They advocate for a preparatory phase of writing to understand one's writing rhythm and routine.
The author emphasizes the importance of on-the-spot idea generation to keep the content pipeline fresh.
Writing in chaotic environments is seen as a way to enhance one's ability to focus and maintain discipline in writing.
The author suggests that building a writing habit is crucial for those starting a writing business and is key to developing as a writer.

How to Build a Solid Writing Habit in Less Than 3 Months

And continue writing afterward.

This article marks ninety straight days of writing.

I didn’t even think I’d make it past ten. It’s crazy how I’ve gotten so used to writing that I can write on a whim now. I’ve developed an excellent writing habit to the point where I’ve seen my writing quality increase. I’ve also written for more publications and my following is growing faster than I imagined.

And it’s only up from here.

If you’re just starting, I know how hard it is to write daily. It feels like you could burn out any minute.

I’m here to tell you that’s a myth. You can write daily and improve.

Here’s how.

Warm-up a few days before you do it.

What I mean by that is write every day for five days just to get the hang of it. When I first started in June, I wrote articles nonstop at the end of May to get a feel for my writing chops.

By the time June started, I had a good idea of what I was getting myself into. I knew how long I needed to write and when I needed to write.

If you write a few days before you officially start building your habit, you’ll get a decent sense of your writing routine and you’ll be able to maximize your time better when you do it daily.

Come up with your idea a couple of hours before you write.

If you’re writing every day, it’s going to be hard to have a steady stream of ideas ready to go all the time. Even when I looked at other writing platforms like Quora for extra inspiration, I still struggled to write on certain topics.

I had to come up with the idea thirty minutes before I wrote it. Now that I’ve built the habit, It’s a breeze to do that every night. So it’s important to get used to generating ideas on the spot.

One strategy that really helped me is coming up with ten headlines per day. I got this idea from James Altucher and did this for about a month. The next thing I knew, I was shitting out more ideas than I could write.

If you come up with your idea on the spot, it’ll be easier for you to develop a writing habit because you don’t have to think as hard for new content.

Write with distractions in the background.

I went on a trip earlier this month to New York to help my sister move into her new apartment.

We had to take two plane rides with crazy layovers to get there. Once I got there, I realized I was in a small hotel room with three other family members making a ruckus with the TV on. So I went to the bathroom, closed the door, and started writing.

When we traveled back home, we took three plane rides (one of which was delayed) with longer layovers. I didn’t get home until 11 pm and we drove in a big storm. How on Earth did I write half an article in that car?

I’ll never know. But what I do know is that experience quadrupled my writing habit. If I can write a quality article with those types of distractions in the background, there’s no excuse for me not to write every day in my quiet room.

If you can write with big distractions in the background, you’re pushing yourself even harder to write with more discipline. A building on fire can’t stop you from writing. Just imagine how fast you’d build a writing habit with discipline like that.

Final Thoughts

Building a solid writing habit is the best thing you could do if you’re starting your business. You’ll feel like a real writer.

You’re teaching yourself the discipline early on so you can continue to refine your craft for years on end. All you have to do is warm-up for a few days, come up with your idea on the spot, and write with distractions in the background.

I know you want to be an amazing writer one day and so do I.

So let’s write.