This Is the Best Advice if You Want to Be a Successful Writer

Develop a writer’s mindset.

If you write daily, you are a writer.

If you don’t publish daily, but you pour words from your soul on paper, you are a writer.

If so, start acting and thinking like one.

How would you start your day?

What would your morning routine look like if you had deadlines or meetings with the publisher?

It is time for your imagination to step in.

How would you answer if somebody asked you what you did for a living?

I am a writer, you would reply.

Then start saying that.

What would your bio read on your Instagram or LinkedIn page?

A writer. A creator. Then design your bio accordingly to your new life.

To become who you want to be, you need to detach from your current identity.

Before becoming a successful YouTuber, Aaron Doughty would schedule his day around making videos and grounding himself into a new mentality.

He would think and act as already a successful mindset coach. Then, after being consistent with his new identity and his new actions, his YouTube channel took off. Now, he has over 1.3 million subscribers.

When you change how you view yourself, you change your behaviour.

Make writing a part of your new identity.

A successful writer is made of habits. Your habits are consistent with your self-image. Change one and you will automatically change the other.

Changing self-image does not mean changing who you are, but shifting how you think about yourself.

Your habits shape your identity, and your identity shapes your habits.

— James Clear

Stop Waiting. Start Writing.

If you wait for the perfect time to write, you will be waiting forever.

It is not enough to think positively. You have to combine it with positive actions.

In the same manner, it is not enough to think about writing. You have to start writing.

You don’t hope for the writing to happen. You make it happen.

Carve out time and space to write.

My holy grail lies in the mornings. The world is still asleep. I open my window overlooking the forest, make a cup of coffee and sit down to write.

If you are a writer, your writing should be your priority.

Schedule time and space to write every day. Find out what time of the day serves you, put your kids earlier to bed or wake up before they do.

Start with an hour of uninterrupted writing.

Commit to your success. The power lies in your schedule.

When you make writing a part of your daily routine, your thinking changes from I can’t to I can, and I will.

The more you write, the better you’ll get.

When you establish a consistent time and space for your writing, you accustom your brain to creative thinking at that time of the day.

Keep Your Space Tidy.

Silence and solitude are triggers for deep thinking that supports the creative process.

Your attention is your superpower.

Leave as few essentials as possible in your working space. It boosts your focus and productivity.

A study completed by Staples found that 94% of people feel more productive in a clean working environment.

Be regular and orderly in your life, so you may be violent and original in your work.

— George Flaubert

Preferably, turn off all notifications on your phone and computer.

Make writing your priority, this means allowing as few chances for distractions as possible. TV? Gone. Wi-Fi? Gone. Chat? Disabled.

Create associations in your brain that this specific space is for writing only. Don’t write where you sleep. Don’t write where you eat. Don’t write on the sofa where you watch TV. Create a special space for your craft.

Silence lowers your blood pressure. It boosts your concentration and stimulates brain growth.

Kids are locked up in the room. Soft music or no music is playing. You are all set.

Make Deadlines Your Allies.

Keeping deadlines for yourself can be a great way to keep your workflow in check.

Start a daily planner where you can schedule topics you want to research and subtitles of your potential articles.

As long as you don’t stress about having a deadline, you can plan out how many articles in a week you want to write.

Today, write down topics and ideas you want to work on tomorrow.

Stick post-it notes with prompts on your desk or your mirror.

Notes become hints to your subconscious mind.

My personal favourite: before drifting off to sleep, I go through my notes from today on the topics of tomorrow.

Next, I dive into a 10-minute meditation and focus on my breathing and third eye (the space between my eyebrows).

Then, when I relax and go to sleep, the unconscious mind works on new ideas with seeds planted before.

Never understate the power of your subconscious mind.

Write Now. Edit Later.

Be playful about writing. Yes, this is your profession, but the one you enjoy.

Don’t take yourself too seriously. It is the best advice you can get in life.

Creativity means flexibility. Thoughts flow effortlessly when rules and grammar are not your concern.

After all, excellent writing evokes emotions. But to capture feelings on the page, allow yourself to feel. Emotions and logic don’t go hand in hand.

Express yourself through your writing, pour your perspective onto paper and edit later on.

Take time between splashing your words onto paper and giving them structure through editing and grammar-check.

Experiment with writing. Go against the rules. Deviate from your niche.

Dig out information on an unfamiliar topic. Approach the same subject from a different angle. Incite the discussion among readers.

The comfort zone breeds stagnation. Discomfort makes us grow.

Forget About Money or Recognition.

If financial benefits are your sole fuel for writing, you will burn out quickly.

Money isn’t supposed to be your main beef.

When you become obsessed with stats and claps, you abandon your purpose of writing — communication.

Focus on what you want to communicate through your writing.

What emotions do you want to evoke in the reader?

Then pour your soul onto the keyboard.

Don’t get me wrong. Money is not bad. It is a reflection of your creativity, and your ability to add value and receive it back.

But money should not be on top of your priority list. It should come organically from being of service to the world.

Then, the abundance that comes from your craft will always serve you, instead of controlling you.

Follow the rhythm of your favourite writing routine until it sticks.

Start small and build your way up with longer periods of writing and stay consistent with your new routine.

It is how progress is made.

As Margaret Atwood reminds us:

A word after a word after a word is power.

Thank you for being here, — Kate

Do you want your schedule clear and easy to follow?

Check my Daily Planner with Hourly Schedules.