How to Combat Writer’s Block

10 min readMar 7, 2022

It’s a beautiful day outside. You can see it from your bedroom window as you’re sitting in your favorite chair in front of your computer screen.

You just came back from walking in the park or meeting with a friend. In your mind, you picture this magical scene or had a spark of inspiration.

All day, you’ve been longing to write it all down.

Now that you’re finally sitting down in front of your computer, all you can think about is writing.

So, you pull up a blank word document and you give it an arbitrary name like “Draft 1” or “Prologue.”

You start to write a little, getting down the details as they come to you.

You type and you type and you type.

You look at the bottom of the screen and you realize you’ve been typing for a few minutes. Things are looking good. You’ve written about a hundred words. Maybe more, maybe less.

But then, it hits. That dreaded feeling of not doing what to write next. Of running out of ideas and then stopping. Suddenly, you’re met with the feeling of being distracted. You have to do something else.

You reach for the mouse and next thing you know, you’ve typed “YouTube” into the browser. You’ve grabbed your phone and checked social media. Next thing you know, you’re looking at a funny cat meme, sending it to your best friend, and updating your Twitter account. A minute turns to five, five turns to twenty. And next thing you know, you’ve wasted half an hour going through social media and watching videos.

You wonder if you’ll ever finish your goal of writing 2k words today as you promised yourself. And it’s not looking good.

If only you had a few tips and tricks on how to combat writer’s block and get more work done.

1. Schedule time to write

The first step is to make time for yourself. You have to block out some time for your writing. Be realistic with it. If you know you can only focus for 10 minutes, then start there.

It is so easy to allow ourselves to become distracted from our work. We are in the age of the internet and digital technology. It’s so easy to pop on a video, turn on a video game, or read a blog post (when you should be doing work).

If you’re not strategic with your time, you’ll never get anything done.

For the entire duration of the time, you scheduled for yourself, just sit there. Commit to it. Heck, be bored even. But don’t do anything else but write.

Stare at the screen. Yeah. This is a painful one. You have to allow yourself to be bored.

Only with a blank screen staring back at you can the words come pouring out of you and onto the page. If you can’t hold yourself accountable to a set number of words. Hold yourself accountable for the entire duration of the time you set yourself.

The trick here is to start small. When you start small, you can increase your discipline.

2. Set small milestones

Most writers who I know set word goals for themselves. For example, I have a writer friend who writes 4,000 words a day. No excuses. If you have a goal to write 4,000 words a day, then I commend you. But for average people, that might seem like a daunting task. Especially if you’re starting from zero!

However, I believe anyone can achieve anything. But be realistic with yourself.

How do you set realistic milestones? Well, like with any skill, acknowledge that it’s going to take you some time to get better at it. So be patient with yourself.

If you set yourself the goal of writing 100 words a day, then start there. There is no shame in writing 100 words a day. But as you get better at writing, your word count will start to increase on its own.

Stick to a writing schedule. Give yourself the first hour of every day to get some writing done. Stick to the 100 words you’ve promised to do.

Then, when you’re ready, up that word count to 200 words a day, 400, 1000.

Everyone has a different work ethic, and you’ll need to experiment to find your sweet spot. Record yourself and see how long it takes to hit your word goal.

Let’s look at an example. If 500 words takes you about 20 mins to write, then 2,000 words will take 1 hour. If you commit to 4,000 words a day, then you’re looking at 2 hours of working time.

That doesn’t account for when you become bored or unmotivated. So tack on another hour to compensate for bathroom breaks and stress breaks. Now you’ve got a realistic expectation for yourself for how much work you can get done.

3. Have a plan

Set yourself up for success by using a to-do list. Successful people have been using checklists to get stuff done all their lives. They are highly effective and easy to use. All you have to do is write down what you want to do for the day and do it.

I’m not suggesting meticulously writing everything down that you need to do for the day. But every morning before you start your day, write down what your goals are. Again, be realistic.

Everyone has a different way of writing down their plan. Whatever works for you is going to be a product of trial and error.

I’m the type of person who writes down what they’re doing every hour. This gives me a way to organize my day so I know exactly what I should be doing at the exact time. I’ve learned that I can only work nonstop for 30–45 mins at a time.

So, for me, I need to break down all of my work in those time frames.

An example schedule might look like this:

8:00–8:30 am — Begin Chapter 2

8:30–9:00 am — Edit Blog Post

9:00–9:45 am — Break

9:45–10:15 am — Continue Chapter 2

You get the picture. Whatever works for you, try it. If it is easier for you to write down one goal for the day, then by all means, use that method. It’s important to be your own teacher and figure out what is the best method for you to get work done.

4. Take breaks

It seems like in today’s society working your ass off is rewarded.

Stop trying to live up to other people’s standards. Stop comparing yourself to other people. Especially to prolific writers. Focus on your own goals and aspirations.

What you want for yourself is going to be different from what others want for themselves. And only you know how much work you’re putting into something and how much you still need to get done.

But you also need to recognize when you need a break.

An artist can only produce their best work when their cup is full. When they’re burnt out, what kind of work do you think they will produce? Not the best.

Sometimes, forcing yourself to get the work done can put restraints on your creativity.

That’s why it can be just as productive to recharge your battery than to keep pushing.

Always have the mindset of thinking long-term when it comes to mastering your craft. You want to live another day so you can come back and try again. If you’re stuck on a project, you might just need time to reinvigorate yourself to come back and try again.

You might come up with the solution while you’re on a walk or going about your everyday life. Writing can be stressful. So why make it even more stressful when you’re forcing yourself to do something? Be rest assured that consistency will outweigh doing a bunch of work one day and not doing anything the next.

Go at your own pace, and when you’re feeling burnt out, think of tomorrow. You’ll need your energy to keep going. Take breaks when you need them. But after you do, come back and hit it hard.

5. Set deadlines

Say you want to finish a book in 1 month. Let’s assume you have 30 days. You set the goal of writing 1,000 words a day for a 30,000 book at the end of your deadline.

But then, something like this happens…You have your deadline for the end of the month and it’s so far away that you forgot you set it. One week goes by and you haven’t written anything. So now, you tell yourself you’ll write 1,500 words a day for the 3 weeks.

Then, another week goes by. Your quota jumps to 2,000. Then, another week. And now, you’re pushing yourself to write 5,000 words a day and you’re in panic mode and all the words coming out onto the page are garbage.

Why do we do this to ourselves?

Set realistic deadlines for yourself. Make sure you leave some wiggle room for rest days, especially when you’re not feeling up to par. You’re going to have those days — trust me.

When creating deadlines for yourself, have smaller deadlines in between so you can hold yourself accountable. Set weekly deadlines. Be firm with your deadlines. Get the work done.

On days you don’t feel like it, tell yourself it’s better to do a little bit than nothing at all.

You’re building character by putting in work every day. You’re doing more than just writing and finishing your novel, you’re building the identity of being a finisher, a writer, a producer.

It’s a delicate balance between taking inspiration breaks and setting deadlines.

Hold yourself accountable but be lenient when you think you need a break. Only you can be realistic with how much work you’ve done and if you’re to blame for your own self-discipline.

6. The first draft will always suck

Throw away the expectation that what you’ve written down is going to be amazing at first go. Most authors who have amazing work haven’t shown you all the stuff they’ve written before their final draft. And I can bet you it sucked.

To make a piece of writing good, you have to go over it a bunch of times to get the right feel. This can take days, months, heck, even years.

By allowing yourself to have a crappy first draft, you let go of the expectation that you need to perfect your writing off the get-go.

You’re free to write down whatever comes to mind with the knowledge you’ll come back to it later. Isn’t that a liberating feeling? You’re free to go where the wind takes you.

Remember not to compare yourself to a writer’s final draft when you’re only on your first. Writing is hard enough when you’re your own worst critic. All masters were beginners at one time. And if you don’t allow yourself to keep practicing your craft, you’re never going to start being a master.

You’ll get there. Just keep writing.

7. Keep the momentum going

There is an ancient eastern philosophy called Wu Wei. This means the flow state.

Maybe you’ve heard of it before, maybe you have not. But it’s an idea or concept that when you’re in your groove, the momentum of your efforts continues without much thinking of force.

It’s like when you watch a singer, or a piano player gets into their zone. They’re so lost in the music that things seem effortless to them.

Don’t we all wish we can always be in this flow state? It would make things so much easier.

The truth is, the flow state has to be earned. It has to be worked towards. And flow state can take years to master. But we all have felt the flow state at one point or another. It’s a matter of if we can enter it when we want to.

If you’re feeling motivated when you’re writing, keep on it. If you’re not, just know that you can unlock that motivation by writing.

It might seem counterintuitive, but the act of doing generates motivation. And motivation generates action. This constant cycle is what gets us into the flow state.

You are your own teacher, and you need to motivate and push yourself as you see fit. It’s going to be different for everyone.

Sometimes, we have to push ourselves a little bit. Especially when what you want is so monumental. Amazingly, you’re here and you’re looking for ways to be better. Small wins equal huge progress in the long run. You are accountable for your success in life. Figuring out how to motivate and discipline yourself is both liberating and unlocks all of your potential.