I used to write for this blog regularly—every month for years. But last summer, a big house move turned my life upside down and my writing took a backseat. However, that’s just part of the story. The real hurdle has been my own inertia and inner critic.
Writing has never been easy for me. Once I fell off my routine and weeks turned into months, it got even tougher to start again. Does this sound familiar to anyone? When you feel like you’re your own worst enemy?
I wish I had a guaranteed fix for this, but I don’t. As I slowly ease back into writing, I thought I’d share some strategies that are helping me.
My main tactic is to think of making small changes. The forces of inertia and my inner critic are too powerful to tackle head-on. Instead, I can take a mindful step back, breathe, and do one small thing differently than before.
For instance, when my inner critic says a sentence I wrote is terrible, I don’t have to delete or rewrite it immediately. A friend of mine responds to her critic by saying, “Thank you for sharing!” I might still think the sentence isn’t great, but I can leave it there and consider that it might have some value. That’s a step in a new direction.
Another approach is to respect how the brain naturally works, especially regarding productivity and willpower. According to research, the brain is most productive for about 90 minutes at a time. To keep this productivity up, you should take breaks. So, I’ve stopped forcing myself to sit for hours. I now get up, stretch, and walk around every hour and a half.
Daniel Goleman talks about willpower as a fixed budget. If you push too hard on one thing, you’ll run out of willpower for the next task, letting inertia and the inner critic take over again. But, if you exercise discipline in small regular doses, it strengthens your willpower over time. This gives me hope that writing in small, consistent amounts will help me get back into a routine.
I know it will take time to feel like I’m back on track, and I’ll likely stumble along the way. Above all, I’m being kind to myself, avoiding self-criticism and unrealistic expectations. I’m just aiming to move forward, knowing I’m doing my best. I have faith that these small changes will eventually lead to significant progress.
What about you? What are your strategies for overcoming your own obstacles? I’d love to hear from you.