Four ways to motivate yourself

For a writer, inspiration is the key to staying on course and finishing that novel, short story, or to begin generating ideas for a new project.

We have to learn and teach ourselves to push the boundaries of creativity beyond the page and look for ways to continue feeling motivated during those low moments.

Here are four tips to help inspire and motivate you to find ways to continue writing.

1) Why do you write

I wrote a post on this last week, Why do you write, find your reason and write it on a sticky note and have it dangling somewhere visible.

When I am juggling projects at work, home, and trying to meet a blog deadline, I feel drained of any motivation, much less, creativity to churn out a mere 500 words. During these moments, I catch myself and take a deep breath, think back to Why I write and then begin listing the reasons either in my head or on paper of all the positive things I glean from creating narratives.

2)                        Consistency is Key

Research proves that when an individual sets their mind to practice something new; they can create new behaviors. The same holds true for making it a habit to continually create new ideas. A writer’s idea factory has to continue churning new thoughts and be available to tap into the creative material, in order to continue pushing the limits of our writing.

Start making a habit to increase and foster your ability to observe your surroundings and assemble character traits, place and setting ideas, asking the ‘how, why, and what-ifs’, and keeping notebooks or journals with you at all times to log new ideas.

3)                          Set small goals

Nothing can deflate creative momentum like a lofty writing goal. When we set our expectations too high we inadvertently create an attitude of procrastinating.

Making a small goals will produce a lot of motivation as you complete these smaller tasks and feel a sense of accomplishment. It also keeps the sections more focused and increases the time you can devote to outlining research, writing, revising, and editing providing the opportunity to continue creating stronger work.

4)                        Quit worrying about it

Every writer is as unique as the individual themselves. We each observe and interpret the world around us in our own distinctive ways.

Let worry fall to the wayside, follow your instincts, and trust the ideas you have. Don’t lose sight of the way you want to bring your story to your audience. Your work will stand apart as you tell your story using your developing, unique voice.

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