Writer's block

I've been having writer's block lately.

Not because I don't have ideas of what to write, I have a whole list of things I want to share, but more because I have less of the motivation to do the writing itself. I was about 80% through writing a different article over the last few days, but just couldn't get myself to finish that last 20%. Never have I been more tempted than in the last week to prompt my way through this newsletter 🤣 .

But going through this made me think about what actually causes "writer's block", and reflecting on it, I have a few thoughts.

When writer's block happens

You may think that writer's block happens when you're under so much pressure and just can't write due to being tired, stressed, or busy. But contradictorily, these past few weeks for me have been some of the least busy I've had this year. I'm transitioning between projects and I'm no longer on a strict deadline with my personal curriculum.

Funnily, I thought once I removed the deadlines, I would be free to write about whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, and that this would motivate me more. But it seems like it had the opposite effect. And this made me realise that this was actually the problem.

Why writer's block happens

Problem 1: Being less busy

Maybe it's just me, but it feels harder to do work when I have less work to do. It goes back to when I wrote about the importance of doing hard things, because doing hard things makes it easier to do more hard things. When my brain is more stretched, it's almost easier for it to stretch more and do more.

Which is a bit annoying to think about, because I feel like we are often waiting to have more time to do things. But then when we have the time, we struggle to do the things.

Problem 2: Having more freedom

This may be my "Type A" personality showing, but I think having more freedom, i.e. less deadlines, actually makes it more difficult to achieve things.

I've read much less than usual this past month, partly because I don't need to have read on any particular day, so it's easier to push things to the next day then the next then the next. It was actually easier to read when I had a busier schedule because I knew I had to schedule it in at certain times. Now, "whenever" becomes "never".

The result

All of this compounds into a result of being less inspired. Reading less, doing less, means there is less in the tank to draw on for inspiration. Because ultimately, you need to put something in, in order to get something out. You need to learn and grow in order to be able to teach and share.

So, what's the solution? Get more busy and have less freedom, I guess 🤷🏾‍♀️ . It hasn't really helped that I've been a bit destabilised by not being back home in a few months, but I plan to make a more concerted effort to have more structure in my life even in these relatively unstable times.