How writers can stay focused (without cutting out all distractions)

First off, Happy New Year. This email will reach you on January 1st 2024 at 6 am. And no, I didn’t write this at 5 am to send it to you. This was scheduled last Thursday, so I could enjoy my New Year’s Eve, which I hope you did as well.

In this issue of the newsletter, I’m going to tell you how I stay focused as a writer without cutting out all distractions.

This has helped me create 2-4 pieces of content per day and a weekly newsletter for 3 months now. These techniques will help you stay on course and get things done. So you can get more from the time you have available.

Unfortunately, many productivity gurus and experts will tell you that you need to live like a monk and cut out all distractions, or cut out the same time to write each day.

You don’t have to live like a monk.

Don’t get me wrong, those things might be helpful, but demand a tremendous amount of discipline. There’s an easier way to start that doesn’t involve living like a monk.

Here are 6 reasons why writers struggle to stay focused:

• They feel overwhelmed by setting unrealistic goals.

• They overestimate their ability to multi-task.

• They fail to create an adequate plan.

• They don’t have a routine or system.

• They’re surrounded by distractions.

• They aim for perfectionism.

Those things are all solvable: And I’m going to show you how I’ve tackled all these issues.

Here's how I deal with distractions:

• Set daily goals

• Set time limits

• Block notifications

• Go somewhere quiet

• Negotiate with people for quiet time

And I’m going to give you three steps that will make focus easier to achieve.

• Step 1: Decide on a time to write.

• Step 2: Plan what to write before you write.

• Step 3: Make your own quiet time.

• Step 4: Throw perfectionism out the window.

Step 1: Decide on a time to write.

You don’t have to write at the same time every day, but you do need to decide each day when to write.

Once you’ve decided on a time it’s much harder for yourself to chicken out or procrastinate all day. And more than deciding when to write, remember to also specify how much time you’re going to spend writing.

Step 2: Plan what to write before you write.

Not only do you need to plan when and for how long you need to write — you also need to decide what to write.

Here you’ll see an example of what my to-do list would look like. I use an app called Things.

When I sit down to write, I like to jot down the writing projects I want to finish that day.

Remember these 3 pieces of advice:

1. Be realistic about what you can accomplish in your set time frame.

2. Work on one task at a time — don’t multi-task.

3. Make the task as specific as possible.

Step 3: Make your own quiet time.

Quiet is important for focus and concentration — especially if you struggle to get your writing done.

So it’s important to negotiate with the people around you. When I say negotiate, I mean you need to make it clear (in a nice and friendly way) that you’re serious about writing and you want to dedicate some time to it.

I did this with my girlfriend and she was super nice about it and helped me get the time to write.

Step 4: Throw perfectionism out the window.

As the last step, I want you to throw any notion of perfectionism out the window.

When you write, write, and don’t edit. Save the editing for a later time. When you start practising writing without editing every word, your writing speed will increase.

If you’re curious about my editing routine, I summarized it in this tweet:

Weekly Resource.

In 2023 I practiced silence.

While reading, writing and studying.

And I’m a person who, when I’m alone, always has something with sound on.

• A podcast

• A tv-show

• A video

Quiet time has been one of the most beneficial actions regarding productivity and my mental health.

It has made a lot of my negative thoughts and feelings disappear.

Weekly Highlight.

In 2024 I’m committing to do a lot more journaling.

I’m already gathering questions to ask myself in the new year.

Here are my 5 steps for highly effective journaling:

Free Resources.

• My Ultimate Guide for Building an Email Newsletter

• The Content Creation List (Template)

• The Newsletter Template

• Medium Article (Template)

Until Next Time...

Happy New Year.

I am glad to have you with me and I hope to see you reading this through 2024.