Create Your Future: Developing Your Writing Habit

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Are you tired of writer’s block? Imagine sitting down to your computer and the ideas start flowing out of your fingers. That is what happens when you start developing your writing habit. You train your brain and your body when to be creative. That is what habit we are developing this month. Don’t forget to grab your free habit tracker on Developing New Habits before getting started.

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Finally beat writer's block once and for all with these tips for developing your writing habit! Sit down and the ideas will flow out of your fingers!

 

[bctt tweet=”Finally beat writer’s block once and for all with these tips for developing your #writing habit!” username=”diyadulation”]

Step 1

Determine how long you want to spend writing each day. This will depend on what you are writing and why. I plan on writing for 2 hours a day but writing is my job. If you are trying to finally write that novel while working full-time then you might only plan 30 minutes. Choose a time-frame that fits with your current lifestyle.

 

Finally beat writer's block once and for all with these tips for developing your writing habit! Sit down and the ideas will flow out of your fingers!

Step 2

Choose the time of day you want to write. This needs to be a time that you are free everyday so that you can remain consistent. Don’t choose a time that occasionally conflicts with practices or church. That time-frame is during the kids’ afternoon nap for me but you could try getting up earlier in the morning or writing during your lunch hour.

Step 3

Next, choose your method. For example, I hand write all of my posts before typing them. If you can be inspired with a keyboard and computer screen that is your method. You could even go retro with a typewriter if that inspires you. Whichever method you choose, stick with it. Changing your method repeatedly can affect the success of forming your new habit.

 

Finally beat writer's block once and for all with these tips for developing your writing habit! Sit down and the ideas will flow out of your fingers!

Step 4

Decide on a trigger. Some people sit down to write after pouring a morning coffee. Other jump right in after waking up. Choose something that will trigger your daily writing. This is especially important for creative habits. After a while the ideas will come more easily during your daily creative time.

Step 5

Write. This may sound like a no-brainer but I’m saying not to worry about what you write. When creating your writing habit it is simply important to write. If you are stuck at first, pick a word or topic and start writing everything that comes to mind. Write about why tacos are so awesome or what your perfect day looks like. It will get easier to work on the projects you want as the month goes on.

 

Finally beat writer's block once and for all with these tips for developing your writing habit! Sit down and the ideas will flow out of your fingers!

These steps will help you with developing your writing habit. You can steal my writing habit strategy if you want the exact one. While my kids eat breakfast, I clean. After breakfast and getting the oldest on the bus I start outlining while the little ones play. The outlines are getting out general ideas and points. They can also be easily walked away from if the kiddos need me. After lunch it is nap time and putting the kids down is my trigger to write. The outlines give me a road map for my writing during nap time. That is my exact strategy for forming my writing habit. Before you go, I’d love to know what your favorite writing medium is. Do you go straight to the keyboard or are you a pen and paper chick?

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Create Your Future: Forming New Habits

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This month’s goals post is going to be a little different. Okay, a lot different. Part of creating your future is forming new habits. The activities that are important to you are easier to dominate when they become second nature. Believe it or not, there are specific steps you can take to turn activities and behaviors into habits. That is what we’re going to be doing for the next 6 months of create your future posts. Don’t worry. I’m sharing freebies to help you accomplish it all.

Affiliate links may be used in this post. Ordering a product through these links may result in a commission at no extra cost to you. Read the full disclosure here.

Part of creating your future is forming new habits. These steps will help you turn activities and behaviors that are important to you into habits!

Choose Your Habits

Right now we’re going to focus on the next 6 months. That means your first step is to choose sex activities or behaviors that you want to become habits. These can be anything from getting a shower first thing in the morning to working out each day. Choose the activities that you want to be a part of who you are. To give you some inspiration, here are the six habits I will be forming:

  1. Crafting
  2. Writing
  3. Fitness
  4. Cleaning
  5. 11:30 Bedtime
  6. Reading

Assign Months

The next step is to assign each habit to a month. There are 2 different points to consider when deciding this:

  1. If your habits build on each other you will need to create them in the order that they build. For example, I want to read for 30 minutes each day but I also want that to become my body’s cue for bedtime. That means I will need to develop the reading habit first.
  2. Think about your schedule. Would it be easier to get more active in the summer when your kids are home or is that the time to start a new writing routine? It is likely easier to start working out. Save the writing habit for when the kids are in school.

Now that you’ve thought about these things, assign each habit the month you will create it in. Here are how I have assigned mine (and also the order I will be sharing tips and tricks with you):

 

[bctt tweet=”Find out how to turn activities that are important to you into habits with these steps! #formingnewhabits” username=”diyadulation”]

 

Define Your Habits

You need to take the time to define your habits. For example, “cleaning” is too broad of a habit. Instead, list the specific cleaning tasks you are going to complete each day. You also want to define the time of day you will do the tasks. Here are some defining questions to ask:

  1. What are the specific tasks?
  2. When will you perform these tasks?
  3. Will you set a time for the task or will it be defined in a different way (word count, page count, task completion…)?
  4. What physical clues will you give your body to trigger your habit? For example, will sitting down with your morning coffee be your trigger to start writing? Will you start a load of dishes after clearing the dinner table each night?

Tips for Success

Simply having a plan isn’t enough to turn an activity into a habit. Here are a few pointers to be successful in forming your new habits:

 

Part of creating your future is forming new habits. These steps will help you turn activities and behaviors that are important to you into habits!

Part of creating your future is forming new habits. These steps will help you turn activities and behaviors that are important to you into habits!

Forming new habits also helps with your time management. By integrating the activities into your everyday life you become more efficient and will end up ahead in many areas of your life. To make this whole process easier, print out your free Monthly Habit Tracker so you can ensure that you are remembering your new habits each day! I will also be providing tips for the specific habits listed above each month so check back for those. You can also get weekly updates and inspiration each week in your inbox when you sign up below!

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Creating Your Future: March 2017 Goals

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You may be wondering why I would share my goals and evaluations each month. More importantly, you may be wondering how it helps you. I share my goals with you each month for many reasons. One reason is accountability. If you set goals each month but no one knows about them, it is easier to push them back and put them off. The second reason is that I want you to be inspired to set and achieve your own goals each month. The third, and one of the most important reasons, is that I want you to see the evaluation process at work. Not achieving a goal you set can be good if you truly reflect and take a hard look at why you didn’t achieve it. That is how you grow. So take a look at what worked for me last month and how I plan to achieve my March 2017 goals!

Affiliate links may be used in this post. Ordering a product through these links may result in a commission at no extra cost to you. Read the full disclosure here.

It is time to rock your goals again! Take a look at what worked for me last month and how I plan to achieve my March 2017 goals!

[bctt tweet=”Find out how I plan to achieve my March 2017 goals and how you can too!” username=”diyadulation”]

It is time to rock your goals again! Take a look at what worked for me last month and how I plan to achieve my March 2017 goals!

February 2017 Evaluation

Business Goals

Continue Product Work – Fail?

Do you ever get stuck on a project? That is what has happened to me. I set aside time each weekday to work on this and I sat staring at pages of notes and outlines. That is why I’m not sure if this is a fail. The tiny snippets that came to me don’t feel like accomplishing much.

Finish Posts in Editorial Calendar – Success

Okay, so I didn’t finish every single one. In fact, there are things for Easter posts that I couldn’t even find in stores yet. However, I am ahead on posts and I continue to get further ahead each day. This has been huge for me, as you can imagine.

Build Twitter Following to 5,000 – Fail

I haven’t cracked that magical formula yet. In the last few weeks I have been seeing progress but no huge leaps. I am continuing to see growth. I will preserver in this.

Finance Goals

Reorganize Finances – Success

This was definitely priority number one for me. I can’t focus on anything if I don’t know that my finances are in order. Thankfully, everything is re-organized and back on track.

Save Something – Success

It wasn’t much but I managed to save $50. The best part is that by the end of March I have it budgeted to save up to $500. Can’t wait to see that $1000 finish line!

Organization Goals

Finish Office – Fail

Why is this failing for the 2nd month in a row? TOO. MUCH. STUFF. I now have boxes of items and supplies to get rid of and still don’t have a place for everything. It is time to do a second round of purging.

Continue Purging – Success

I am like a machine. With every load of laundry I keep a box handy for outdated or unused clothes. As rooms get cleaned, excess items go into a box. By the end of March I plan to have a home that is thousands of pounds lighter.

Self-Improvement Goals

5,000 Steps Daily – Fail

I am super disappointed in this one. I have added more dancing to my day (which is pretty impressive considering how much I already randomly burst into dance). I’ve also made sure that I get up and move each time my Jawbone vibrates. We now have a treadmill that I plan to spend an hour on each day. I hope that this helps me reach above and beyond my step goal.

Make More Time for Friends – Success

I was much better at making time for friends. There is still room for improvement but I am well on my way to a more balanced life.

Family Goals

Continue Family Meetings – Success

We haven’t found out weekly rhythm but we are still having family meetings. I think that finding the day and time that fit best is the biggest challenge.

Regular Zoo Trips – Fail

We didn’t make it to the zoo once in February. This is one that I intend to try again in March. I’m hoping that going ahead and putting zoo trips on the calendar will make them more likely to happen. The eventually warming weather should help too.

 

It is time to rock your goals again! Take a look at what worked for me last month and how I plan to achieve my March 2017 goals!

March 2017 Goals

Business Goals

Finance Goals

Organization Goals

Self-Improvement Goals

Family Goals

 

It is time to rock your goals again! Take a look at what worked for me last month and how I plan to achieve my March 2017 goals!

There you have it! If you take a peek at November’s goals from last year you can see how far I’ve already come. You can have that, too. See a steady growth in your life and yourself with monthly goals. Don’t forget to grab your Free Monthly Goal Setting Planner to help you be as successful as possible. Creating your future is easy when you have the right tools. What are you waiting for?

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