Welcome back to the Morning Writing Challenge Tips series.
If you haven’t joined the challenge, it’s not too late to join us. Find all the details here.
Either way, these tips are useful for building and sustaining a lasting writing practice.
Morning Writing Challenge Tips #3 & #4
Today I’m sharing two new tips, #3 & #4.
Tip #3: Be ready for the “day after perfect.”
In Jon Acuff’s book Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done (affiliate link) he describes how the “day after perfect” is the make-or-break day.
Acuff says this “day after perfect” issue often turns up as soon as day two of pursuing a goal. I see this happening with writers who put in a big burst of enthusiastic writing for their first day, then crash and burn the next day by going into massive writing aversion and avoidance… or flat out despair and giving up. Often this is because they’ve either written so much they’ve tired themselves out or exceeded their target writing time for the day, triggering fear and resistance as a result.
Here’s what this means for us in the Morning Writing Challenge right now: If you succeeded in writing today for the challenge, don’t be surprised if you bump into EXTRA resistance tomorrow morning. Just don’t make it mean anything. It’s really just fear cropping up because you’re taking your call to write seriously. :) Just get up, and write anyway.
In the future, just remember that first days of writing (and big bursts of writing) often have a backlash, and the next day is likely to be harder.
Pro tip: If you wrote for longer than you’d planned today, you may also find that you’re feeling averse to performing at the same level. That’s okay! You don’t have to. Remember the goal here is to WRITE. Writing at all = winning. :) Go ahead and go back to a smaller amount of writing for tomorrow.
Tip #4: If you didn’t write today, start over tomorrow.
If you didn’t write today, notice how you feel. Sometimes when we plan to write, but don’t, we walk around with a low level of guilt or anxiety ALL DAY which just… sucks.
👉 Here’s the good news: You can 100%, guilt-free start over tomorrow, jump in, and write.
In fact, this is a skill I want you to take forward with you into the future too. In writing, as in life, STUFF HAPPENS. The only real problem is if we let it stop us indefinitely. I used to be someone who would set a New Year resolution and then “blow it” on Day 2 or 3 or 14 and then write it off for the rest of the whole year! When I look back on that I see how silly it is; so all or nothing, black or white, and perfectionistic.
Instead, as Acuff says, we have to focus on “moving forward imperfectly,” and if that means “trying again… today, tomorrow, or next week,” we do it.
So, if you don’t write one day, don’t make it mean anything bad, just start over the next day. :)
