Got Writer's Block? Check Out These 5 Methods to Help You Break That Block.

byjmac86

224 followers

7 years ago

Writer's block is one of the biggest killers of motivation for writers, bloggers, students, and even teachers. Just about anyone that has written something over an extended period, or on a regular basis, has experienced this headache inducing phenomenon.Today I want to share with you some insight to the how's and why's of this, and how to overcome it. There are two fundamental steps to resolving your writer's block, and the problem is that most people are completely oblivious about or just generally skip the first step. This is why so many people continue to be stuck despite trying the solutions.

Step 1 - Try to identify the problem

The causes of writer's block can be various. They could be the result of your working environment, stress, energy, overworking, and many other reasons which will vary from person to person. Remember, it is crucial to identify the problem before trying to fix it. It's like trying to hot glue a hole on a leaky plastic bucket - you'll ruin the glue before it has time to set. SO! Let's start with the obvious:

Your Environment:

The environment in which you work often has a direct effect on the quality of your work and your thought process. For example, If you work in a home-office, surrounded by unorganized research documents and books, coffee stains, random food items, and trinkets - you are in a very distracting and obviously disorganized environment.

Perfectionism:

One of the things that I can honestly say affected me the most was my constant perfectionism, or trying to get everything spot on and correct on the first run or try. This killed many of my writing projects, not to mention my motivation to continue writing in the past. Remember that re-writing your work is one of the benefits of drafts, and allows you to get a better overall view of the idea you are working on.

Fear:

You may think that this applies more to first time writers, but if you're an established content provider with 500k followers, and have promised weekly content - There is always that underlying fear of not meeting with viewer expectations, or tanking with the content you provide.

Overly Stressed / Lack of sleep or energy:

Your energy and enthusiasm plays a large role in your ability to write. Stress is good for you, and often helps you focus and stay on task to meet deadlines, but becoming overly stressed starts taking a toll on your health as well as your mentality. The same thing can be said with lacking sleep. Staying up writing for 72 hours straight while relying on supplemental or alternative energy sources (caffeine, energy drinks, etc) does allow you to get a great deal of work done - but at the sacrifice of quality. A tired brain is prone to making a LOT more mistakes and you'll end up having to spend an equal or more amount of time trying to fix those mistakes in the end.

Other factors not listed above:

Other factors such as family or health issues, information overload, and many others could all be contributing factors to your writers block. I could sit here for hours futilely listing out every single one of them, but that will not help you in the end. You yourself need to take a moment to step back and analyze yourself and how you're working. Ask yourself questions about your work environment, health, and mental situation to assess what you need to fix.

Step 2 - Do something about it

Now that you've discovered the underlying issue or issues, it's time to do something about it. This will not be an all-inclusive list of solutions, and some solutions may not even work, you will need to do your own research on how to resolve your own situation. Still, here is a list of my top 5 methods to break that block:

• Take a break - You will find that sometimes even taking a short, 30 minute break from your writing will help dramatically. It will give your mind the time it needs to process and organize thoughts rather than having them all jumbled about within your mind. Go for a walk, watch a couple of your favorite short youtube channel videos, play with the kids, play a quick online game, call and chat with some friends, cook a meal - there are plenty of things to do. The key, however, is to make sure that it is something relaxing and allows your brain a chance to rest.

• Get rid of surrounding distractions - One thing that I still struggle with is keeping my desktop clear of old research materials from previous posts or content, and that often leads to me looking at it and getting distracted. This is not just limited to physical research materials, mind you! How many of you have 20+ tabs open in your browser at a time? Personally, I will have anywhere from 50 to 100 tabs open across 2-3 windows when I'm intensively doing research, and this is no joke. This is also a problem at times, as I'll get lost trying to find a perticular tab that I had opened previously.

• W5H Method - This method was actually suggested to me by several other WA members previously, and I'm sure you've heard this before as well:
  - Who
  - What
  - Where
  - When
  - Why
  - How
  These fundamental questions are the foundations of all written topics. Take a moment to ask your self WHO your topic is for, WHAT you are trying to write about that will help them, WHERE they would be or could be if they took this help, WHEN this topic can help them, WHY they will be better off after reading this topic, and HOW they can get more help if they need it.

• Brainstorm & Mind-map - This method is not for everyone. Sometimes the act of brainstorming and mind-mapping alone can take just as much time as writing the content, and sometimes much more!
  

• Work on something else for a while - Believe it or not, even if you take your mind off of the topic that was plagueing your mind, your mind is still subconciously working on it. Have you ever had a moment when you tried to remember something, but couldn't - only to suddenly remember it during a moment when you're not even thinking about it (like when taking a shower or eating dinner)? Your mind is more powerful than you might think (yes, the pun is intended).

That concludes my top 5 list of methods that personally work great for me. Got an idea that wasn't mentioned on here or a story of overcoming that writer's block? Comment below - I would love to hear some feedback from members :-)

- Jason (JMac86)