Mental Health & Writing
Here’s How to Cure Writer’s Block with Proven Techniques.
How I fixed it, transformed myself into a prolific writer, and helped many writers improve with six easy tips.
Introduction
Even though some deny it, writer’s block is real. I struggled with it years ago, and I observed it in many writers in my circles. However, nowadays, I experience the opposite pattern of writer’s block, known as hypergraphia in the literature.
As the term “hypergraphia” is a medical condition caused by altered brain chemistry associated with temporal lobe epilepsy, I’d like to redefine the medical term associated with mental health within my article’s context for clarity.
I have no epilepsy, and neither do many prolific writers that I know. So, my urge to write is not a brain condition. Instead, it is a lifestyle choice. Like many professional writers, I rewired my brain for the intense desire to write years ago. This skill was essential for me. It helped me become a prolific writer in my discipline, serving as a vital capability for my professional and personal life.
Writer’s block is a psychological situation. But it also has a biological component as it is related to neurotransmitters in the brain and correlated to affecting the energy capacity. Therefore, the problems regarding writer’s block need to be addressed on multiple levels to fix them efficiently.
I studied writer’s block as part of my research in cognitive science. However, rather than going into theoretical details, I prefer to focus on practical aspects and provide a few valuable tips that anyone can use at their convenience.
If we understand the symptoms and root causes of writer’s block, my tips might resonate better with you. There are two common symptoms of writer’s block. The first one is the difficulty to start writing. And the second one is the struggle to continue and finish a writing task. Both symptoms might have different root causes.
From my observations, we can classify the main causes under two categories: external and internal. Some people only have internal, some only external, and others have both. The internal and external experience makes it more difficult both for starting and finishing a writing task.
The internal causes could be both psychological and physical, or both. For example, psychological aspects include anxiety, fear, lack of motivation, and physiological characteristics such as hormonal, mental fatigue, or lack of physical energy. External causes are usually psychological relating to motivational factors. However, they also relate to social and economic conditions.
Here are the six broad categories with helpful tips and examples to overcome writer’s block and transform into a prolific writer.
1 — Forget Perfection but Aim for Excellence
This is the most critical point of my experience. No matter what some delusional people say, there is no such thing as perfection in this world.
Frankly, considering my decades of writing and reading experience, I have yet to meet a perfect writer. None of us is or can be a perfect writer whatever we do. However, we can be excellent writers with more skills, experience, inspiration, and motivation gradually.
An excellent writing piece starts with a single word with an intention. The critical point is to intend to write and begin with a single sentence and continue writing naturally without editings, such as not worrying about grammar, spelling, or typos.
The first draft is the brain dump of your article, a blog, or a book chapter. With gradual improvement, a draft can be turned into a masterpiece. I always use the minimum viable product approach widely used by entrepreneurs.
Minor mistakes do not mean much in the big scheme of things. Most discerning readers would forgive minor mistakes. Big thinkers do not sweat the small stuff. They are after inspiring and insightful ideas to influence their decision-making.
Only a few narrow-minded elitists and aspiring grammar police might do the nit-picking, but who cares about the opinions of those miserable people. No one can make them happy. So, the effort for perfection is not justifiable.
Here is a story explaining how I fixed my perfection disease which was about to ruin my life: Do Less Achieve More: Secret to success.
2 — Start with a Quick Structure
This point might sound very simple, but it is a powerful technique to cure writer’s block. Our brains love structure. A structural approach can activate the logical part of the brain. Let me share my simple approach briefly to give you an idea.
When I start a writing piece, I give it a temporary title, create three to six topical headings, and write one paragraph about what I plan to write. This one paragraph forms the purpose of the piece. I might change it later as the content develops.
Under each heading, I write one or two sentences. Then add more sentences by linking the ideas. This initiates the flow state by activating the emotional part of the brain and integrating it with the logical part.
Once we enter the flow state with a whole-brain focus, the words and sentences come naturally and effortlessly. When I enter this zone, I don’t want to stop writing. If I am passionate about a topic, I stay in this zone for hours. Several hours look like minutes.
3 — Schedule a Short Writing Time
When we have deadlines, our brains create hormones to give us energy if the task is important. I am assuming you see your writing as necessary in your personal or professional life.
People tolerate a different amount of time for work. Usually, the concentration capacity of the brain is around half an hour. We can improve it. For example, I trained myself to endure 60 to 90 minutes based on the type of activity.
Like everyone, I experienced procrastination in life. The best way to beat procrastination for me was by tricking the brain by scheduling a very short time such as five minutes for writing. I have quick self-talk: “ Look, five minutes is nothing. Just start and write a few sentences.” No healthy brain would argue with five minutes of work. So, I believe anyone can schedule five minutes for writing.
However, this trick works well and serves different purposes. After five minutes, the procrastination might disappear. You may notice your mental and physical energy increase. The key point is just to write anything coming to the mind during the five minutes without worrying about the content. You can see it as a warming-up activity before a workout.
Then I schedule 25 minutes using the Pomodoro technique. It is a well-proven technique and is used by millions. In earlier days, I used to write 25 minutes non-stop and have a five-minute break. This 25 minutes can be the first draft of a piece for beginners.
Then I schedule another 25 minutes and start self-editing the piece. In this period, new ideas come, and the chunk grows. Depending on the size of a writing piece, we might need another 25 minutes. This timing example is only guidance for beginners. Nowadays, I complete a 1,500-word article in 30 minutes. However, a few decades ago, it used to take me six to eight hours.
I wrote thousands of articles and blog posts, several books, and scientific papers using the scheduling technique.
4 — Challenge Your Inner Critic
We all have this inner critic. It is part of our survival mechanism coming from the primitive part of the brain amplified by the limbic system.
However, we can challenge this critic using our cortex (thinking brain). Recognizing the voice of our inner critic is critical. It starts with thoughts and feelings. Capturing those thoughts and interpreting the emotions can be a great start.
One of the most effective techniques for me is labeling thoughts. This is a meta-thinking skill, meaning thinking about thinking. This method helps me question my thoughts. For example, a thought such as “you are too tired now, just relax, and the work can wait”. When this type of thought comes to my mind, I know that I am in my comfort zone.
I take a deep breath and say, “How could I be tired? I slept eight hours, had a shower, and now have plenty of energy. I am not sick or have no pain.” This simple self-conversation changes the thoughts, beliefs, and associated feelings.
We can use this technique when our inner critic talks to us. The inner critic usually underestimates our skills, compares us with more successful people, and undermines our capabilities. Challenging these types of negative thoughts can change our emotions toward positive ones. In a short time, we can see improvement in our mood.
Moods play an essential role in motivation. When we are in an uplifting mood and positive mindset, we feel more energetic and get motivated. Finding inspiration in a good mood is much easier than in a low mood.
5 — Maintain Physical Energy
This point is an individual matter. Some people use coffee, food, or supplements to get the energy to start a task. There is no right or wrong way as we are all different with different metabolisms, genetic predispositions, and lifestyles.
However, I’d like to give a few examples to increase and maintain my physical energy. But, of course, we all can customize them based on our needs and lifestyles.
It might sound unusual, but I don’t drink coffee and cannot get energy when I eat food. So I replaced my coffee with cold showers in the morning and even in other parts of the day. I produce better on an empty stomach. But I love sipping water when I work.
I share my experience because, in the past, I followed the standard advice of drinking coffee and eating a snack before work. Ironically, when I ate snacks, I felt more hungry and lethargic. When I drank coffee, I had stomach pain and felt agitated and uncomfortable. Even though coffee and snacks worked for many, they did not work for me.
Therefore, after identifying these offending items and replacing them with habits suiting my needs, I had more motivation and a better mood for work. So my point is rather than following the patterns of others, we need to customize our habits based on our needs.
Other great contributors to my physical energy are exercise and a short meditation. I usually do light exercises for around ten minutes and have five minutes of meditation. These two habits instantly increase my energy and motivated me to start work. So, physical power is important to overcome writer’s block.
6 — Remove Distractions
This sounds like a no-brainer, but many writers who have writer’s block suffer from distractions. Distraction is the enemy of writers. Unless we remove distractions, our creativity and productivity will suffer. This is a non-negotiable item for writers and any other professions.
Multitasking is also a myth and hype in the business world, even though some self-help gurus tout it. This is a scientifically proven point. The brain can do one activity at a time. However, intentional task-switching is a skill all of us can develop. There are many tools and practices to help us develop this vital skill.
We might experience many types of distractions, both external and internal. Mobile phones, social media, and the Internet are the most common distractions for writers. Other distractions include noise, an uncomfortable working environment, hunger, thirst, and psychological problems, e.g., worries and concerns.
Understanding distractions and taking necessary measures to prevent them is critical for creativity and productivity.
In addition, this item relates to all previous points. For example, 1) perfection, 2) lack of structure, 3) lack of timing, 4) inner critic, and 5) lack of energy can cause distractions.
Conclusions and Takeaways
Writer’s block is real and a treatable condition. Many writers experience it, and those who can’t cure the condition, unfortunately, give up writing.
However, it is possible to rewire our brains and transform into writers with a constant desire to write using proven approaches and making them habits. This lifestyle design is different from a medical condition known as hypergraphia.
Writer’s block is both a psychological and physiological condition. Anxiety, fear, lack of motivation, hormonal changes, mental fatigue, lack of physical energy, and distractions are a few causes of writer’s block.
The best approach is to understand symptoms and root causes which might be different for each person. Then, the following proven techniques can help us cure the situation.
I introduced six tips under the categories of 1) perfection, 2) structure, 3) timing, 4) inner critic, 5) energy and 6) distractions.
A soft and mindful approach with self-compassion and self-love, using gentle self-conversations, can be valuable to trick the reptilian brain that might create false alerts for our survival and adversely affect thriving.
Writing is an excellent skill, but it might not be for everyone as a profession. However, expressive writing is a scientifically proven healing tool for many people.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a joyful and prolific writing career.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
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Sample Humorous Stories
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