Why You Can’t Write 1,000 Words per Day

Not until you do a commitment of the best kind to yourself

Your goal for 2021 is to write two articles a day?

Try it for one month and then we’ll talk.

Being in front of a white paper is like you’re peeking into your brain. The horrible thing is that many times you don’t see anything. You know you have a lot to say, but somehow you see nothing, you think nothing, you are nothing. You’ve disappeared.

Before you find yourself again, you have to try to understand what’s happening. Why am I with a blanking mind?

When you think nothing for a minute or two, you feel panic. You’re in front of your screen, trying to write some beautiful words. Your audience is waiting for your advice, and it doesn’t come out.

It seems that you have unlearned everything you have acquired. So, you panic.

You promised to yourself you’d write every day, two articles a day, more a less 3,000 words, non-stop. What now?

My Mind Is Blank, It’s a State I Know

We’ve all experienced it at some point in our lives. It’s that frightful feeling when your brain goes blank. You stop in mid-sentence, and the words disappear.

Adrian Ward Ph.D., Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, describes the phenomena as “ . . . conscious awareness [that] is directed neither toward the present perceptual environment nor toward stimuli decoupled from this environment.”

Janis Leslie Evans wrote a fascinating article where she describes three central regions of that brain. The hypothalamus, the hippocampus, and the prefrontal cortex (PFC).

• Hypothalamus: The bridge between our perceived emotions and our physical sensations. The hypothalamus is strongly associated with our endocrine system. And the hormones that exist throughout our bodies.
• Hippocampus: The center of our emotions. The hippocampus plays a pivotal role in both learning and fact retrieval.
• Prefrontal Cortex: Controls the aspects that differentiate humans from other animals. Including planning, decision-making, impulse control, and social interaction.

This is our brain’s anatomy. But what about why does our mind go blank before we notice? What happens, and how can I avoid it?

When you’re writing, your mind can work in two states. Hot or cold cognition.

When we’re in our day to day routines, our brains engage in cold cognition. The hypothalamus slowes down, and we can enjoy our music or study while our stress hormone levels are low. So, risky, unpredictable situations place us in the realm of hot cognition. Someone who must choose between meeting a deadline or joining friends at a party may experience hot cognition. As a result of the stress and perceived threat, the hypothalamus activates the fight-or-flight response. Which subsequently releases cortisol and other exciting hormones into our bodies.- Janis Leslie Evans

Suppose you’ve read some of the most experienced writers, like Michael Thompson, Tim Denning, or Sinem Günel. In that case, you understand that they are always trying to transform their workspace into a minimalist temple. One space where there is no noise, points of distraction, or disruptive movements.

They seek the cold cognition state.

Some of the reasons your hot cognition is triggered are:

• Change: our brain prefers to be in a state of stability. When we change, for some reason, our brain sabotages to return to the initial state;
• Anxiety associated with performing before a group: I am one of these guys. I panic when I have to present something in public. It gives me a headache, diarrhea, and I try to make all the excuses for not showing up;
• Medication: I have allergic rhinitis. And the drugs for this type of disease cause a lot of sleepiness. In the springtime, when pollens travel through the air, I increase the medication and immediately feel my brain go numb;
• Lack of sleep: Sinem Günel has a fabulous article about how to sleep well. When I’m in a sleep-4-hour mode, I return to her writing to put some judgment on my head. According to Shawn Stevenson, there’s no facet of your mental, emotional, or physical performance that’s not affected by the quality of your sleep;
• Feeling Overwhelmed: If we’re not careful with ourselves, we can go through times when we don’t have the resources necessary for our brain to give us what we need.

To fight a blank brain, you need to workout 5 critical areas.

Understanding how your brain works: your brain can store an infinite amount of information. But cannot always retrieve it immediately.

Don’t take yourself so seriously: if you have to readjust your goals, do it. You’re not a machine, especially your brain. I use humor when I forget what I was thinking about. Another thing is to always remember your best achievements. If you need, go see a video of your best moments. Take a break to appreciate your best photos, remember who you are and where you came from.

Use specific techniques to assist you: every morning, I do 10 minutes of meditation. A perfect way to stabilize and maintain a sense of inner calm and lower my stress levels.

Know your stuff:

1. Explore a niche.
2. Write about something you’re familiar with.
3. Research and get profound knowledge about one or several issues.
4. Expand your social circles. You deepen your understanding of the subjects you want to become an expert on.

Know yourself: know better your flow. Reflect on your weaknesses and embrace them. Solve your problems by reflecting on them. And search for ways to optimize them. Be honest to yourself.

Always Remember, Your Focus Determines Your Reality

If you want to improve your focus:

1. Build a fortress in your office with weapons against procrastination.
2. Make you’re not working on a challenging task.
3. Cut all distractions away from your sight.

The formula for success: under-promise and over-deliver.- Tom Peters

Tom Peters used to diminish the long term perspective. He uses to say, excellence is the next five minutes or nothing at all.

Simple things practice every day, in short periods.

No human being can be focused on more than a few seconds. I mean, in a deep concentration mode. A few seconds. So, forget the philosophy that tells you can be focused on an entire morning. You can’t.

Yet, you can be an entire morning, creating super-intense periods of 5 minutes. If you know yourself that well, you understand a particular flow in your body’s energy.

Your brain can’t be 5 hours focused on something. But it can be concentrated for 5 hours, in short periods. Work hard, then take a break. Work hard again, then take a break. Know your flow, your energy, your capacity to focus, and for how long.

If you manage this skill, you can do whatever you want. But don’t work under the wrong premises. Nobody can be working hard, especially in writing, for 5 hours straight.

Unless you’re in the zone.

And if you’re in the zone, my friend, enjoy the ride. It’s the most beautiful experience a human can have. I played basketball for more than 14 years, and I know what is being in the zone. I experienced it several times. And I can tell you that it’s fabulous.

Being in the zone, it’s like flying. Different chemistry flows on your body for minutes or hours. You can do whatever you want. And you’ll do it the best way you can. Your mind is inspired, your body is full of energy. You think in the most precise way you can imagine.

If you’re writing and you’re in the zone, you can’t stop writing.

And everything you write it’s what you wanted to write. Your work thrives in a colossal flow of remarkable ideas you never thought were inside your mind.

Final Thoughts

Tomorrow you can be a better version of yourself.

Yet, to attract attractive people, you have to be attractive. You have to search for humor, knowledge, creativity, humility, will power, deep thought, and many other human characteristics.

To attract dedicated people, you have to be dedicated. To attract focused people, you have to be focused.

To attract loyal people, you must be loyal. But nobody can be loyal to others before being loyal to himself.

It’s a matter of attracting the people you want to fulfill the person you want to be.

You have to make a commitment of the best kind to yourself.

Only then you’re able to find focus in 5 minutes. Only then can you face up your fear of mind blanking.

Only then can you become a writer.

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