There Are Only 3 Things A Writer Must Do Every Morning

3 Tiny things. Everything else is optional

There’s no shortage of people telling you what you “must” do in the morning if you want to change your life.

You know exactly what I mean, too. Wake up early. Have a cold shower. Meditate. Exercise. Plan your day. Set your priorities.

Blah, blah, blah. I call bull.

Those tips have been around for decades. Centuries, probably. Despite all the well-meaning advice, most of us are still tired, overworked, underpaid, disorganized and wishing we knew how to get it together.

It’s an easy slide into self blame. But it’s not your fault. It’s faulty information.

Know why all that stuff doesn’t work? Because it’s like trying to eat the proverbial elephant. Too much. That is not how the human brain works.

The human brain is infinitely malleable. Change is possible. For all of us and any of us. But mass rebuild works better for cars than people.

We have to change in small increments. Tiny steps. Even more important? Our brain needs to buy into what we’re doing. If your brain doesn’t buy it, your body isn’t going to follow through. Simple as that.

You can say affirmations about how “rich” you are until the cows come home, and your brain is saying yeah? Well then why is my bank account dry?

Know what I mean?

If you are a writer, or want to be a writer, there’s only 3 things you need to do every morning. Not big cataclysmic changes. Just 3 tiny things.

1. Take a few minutes for you

In his book, Miracle Morning, Hal Elrod says how we wake up each day dramatically affects us all through the day. Even more so, it affects the level of success at everything we do all day.

Ever have one of those mornings where the alarm doesn’t ring, or you turn it off and when you wake up already late? You’re rushing around trying to get out the door, and forget stuff, and traffic sucks.

And somehow, the crazy morning just affects the whole day. Know what I mean? We’ve all been there.

The opposite is true, too.

When I was caring for Dad at the end of his life I learned that the hard way. It was hard work, and that’s the understatement of the year. Juggling work and caring for a dying parent would test the patience of a saint. I am not a saint.

If I started the day bolting out of bed to him calling me? By the end of the day I felt like something the cat dragged in.

I learned to wake up early enough to take a few lazy minutes for myself and it made all the difference. Doesn’t even matter how you spend it. Watching the sun rise or feeding the birds. Reading a book, playing solitaire.

You get to pick how much time and how to spend them. But do that for yourself. So every day starts with your needs, not someone else’s.

“I always get up and make a cup of coffee while it is still dark — it must be dark — and then I drink the coffee and watch the light come… And I realized that for me this ritual comprises my preparation to enter a space that I can only call nonsecular…” — Toni Morrison

2. Eat something. Preferably protein

Did you know that 20% of Americans skip breakfast? Often, they think it’s a great weight management strategy. Just postpone eating. Trouble is, people who skip breakfast increase their risk of weight gain and type 2 diabetes.

People who eat 35 grams of protein in the morning enjoy favorable changes in the hormones and brain signals that control appetite for the rest of the day. Plus, breaking the overnight “fast” kick-starts your metabolism and energy.

“Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” — Jim Rohn

3. Write something.

When people sign up for my newsletter I ask them what their biggest struggle is. Know what the most common answer is?

Finding time to write.

Know why so many people struggle to find time to write? Because they wait until the interruptions have started, and interruptions kill focus.

According to a study at UC Irvine, it takes 15–25 minutes to get back into a state of focus every time we’re interrupted. In an office environment, we’re interrupted every 12–15 minutes.

Add to it all the interruptions that go along with not turning off your phone. Calls, texts, social media, email notifications.

It’s even worse for writers.

A recent study published in the journal Human Factors, showed that interruptions affect the quality of essays when writers are interrupted.

So here’s what happens.

You want to write. But you struggle to find time. And once the interruptions of a normal day start, you’re less likely to find “time” to write, much less have the frame of mind to do so.

Then you wonder how you can call yourself a writer, if you’re not writing. Self doubt creeps in. Self blame creeps in.

Make time to write. Every morning. Doesn’t matter what, how much or how long. Just write. When you show up to the page every morning, eventually the muse will kick in and start showing up to meet you there.

“If you wait for inspiration to write, you’re not a writer, you’re a waiter.” — Dan Poynter.

It all comes down to workable habits

B.J. Fogg has researched human behavior for over 20 years at Stanford University. He is the director of the Behavior Design Lab at Stanford.

According to his site TinyHabits.com, and his popular book on the same topic, there are only 3 ways to create lasting change.

— Have an epiphany — Change your environment — Form tiny habits.

​Epiphanies are hard to create on demand, which leaves changing your environment and forming tiny habits.

To form a tiny habit, all you need is a cue. Your alarm clock will work nicely.

Arrange those 3 any way you like

Combine then, if you like. In the summer, I love to head outside with breakfast and a notebook. A few minutes to eat while the birds chirp and then I write.

Pick what works for you. Just 3 tiny habits, but what a difference they can make if you long to write but struggle to find the time.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” ―Aristotle

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