How to get rid of writer’s block?
5 ways I’ve been getting out of writer’s block without even realizing
I’ve been in writer’s block for the past couple of months now. I just cannot write something really good. The last time something really amazing & natural came out of me was months ago. You can feel that lightness when you publish something from bottom of your heart.
The main reason I think behind writer’s block is lack of inspiration & clarity about the subject you want to write about.
There’s something called ‘Flow state’, to get into that flow state, you should create an environment for your brain to think in the direction you want to write about.
That can happen only if there’s something inside you craving to flow out of you onto the keyboard in front of you.
I didn’t even realize how I’ve been ducking the writer’s block for all these years until recently I observed a pattern.
Here are the five ways I’ve been able to get rid of writer’s block
#1 Watch movies
I’ve been ignorant about movies for a very long time. I didn’t find time to watch movies. I totally ignored the fact that movies are the product of a lot of brainstorming of some of the most exquisite people on the planet.
There’s surely at least one thing you can learn from even the worst movies of all time. Just this small change in the way I think has led to me not finding any movie ‘useless’. I learn from something or the other from it. Of course, I’m vigilant of what types of movies I watch, but the ones I fail to decipher in the beginning also teaches me something.
I’ve found myself tweet my thoughts while watching movies. Sometimes so much comes to my brain that I have to pause the movie (if I can) to tweet everything. This means movies trigger thoughts in my brain, the thoughts of the creator inside the movie are communicating with mine. Heck! I’ve even got ideas for my blog posts from movies. It gives me a different perspective, scenario & use case for the people I care about.
#2 Read articles
Anything in excess is poison, even if it’s the knowledge that’s in abundance. I’ve personally been there & met a lot of people who’ve felt overwhelmed by the information they have.
I’ve been in the paralysis mode because of the abundance of information/knowledge, I couldn’t do anything. The same happened with all the people I came across with this issue.
A most common trait of a wrtier’s block is staring at the blinking cursor. You know you have it inside of you, you know what you want to write, but can’t find that right start.
You just need something that opens up the tap & lets the meat of your thoughts flow. That something is reading literally anything that can have your attention for just a couple of seconds.
I came up with these articles while reading headlines on Udemy. The headlines were absolutely irrelevant to what I’m writing.
More on the importance of reading in point #5. You’ll be blown away.
#3 Good music
Again something I ignored for a very long, especially recently. I used to listen to music to be ‘in the flow’ while working. Music has helped me be in the state of flow, so much so that I forgot to look at the time, forgot to eat & finish what I started in one sitting without any physical or mental distractions. Even if I had to sit for hours together.
That’s how powerful music is. I was surprised how listening to the same music can’t make me feel bored. I can’t work with music that has lyrics I can understand. So I rely on EDM here are some playlist from Spotify for you:
- Lofi coding
- Lofi Studying
- Code-fi on YouTube is also an amazing playlist to rely on. No distracting lyrics, only ‘thought-triggering’ music.
#4 Go for a walk
I didn’t need to do this often & I knew it since the time I started my career as a blogger. I got for cycling these days, thanks to the lockdown, I have enough fats to burn.
Cycling is a skill that’s stored in form of muscle memory. You don’t have much to do. This is where your subconscious mind kicks in & takes control. You don’t have annoying thoughts of your crush, your income next month, self-doubt, discussion with yourself on that rude comment you got on your post on Instagram from the conscious mind.
You’re most fruitful while in this state of mind. So go for a walk or do something that’s in your muscle memory, like cycling.
Now, get ready to blown away!
#5 Take a power nap/shower
My favorite spot to get out of writer’s block (after I realized its significance). I read a post I can’t recall where. It discussed “Why we’re most creative when in the shower or in the loo”?
The reason behind that was we have the least amount of physical or mental activity while in the shower/loo. The body is still, you don’t have to anything. That’s when the subconscious mind kicks in & takes the driver’s seat.
I couldn’t realize it until I read that post & since the day I’ve read it, I’ve mentioned this process so many times.
I had no block while talking about the process. I had the process in mind, had the question or person in front of me & I made the whole point contextual for the reader/listener.
That’s why reading is helpful to get out of writer’s block, and of course, taking a shower.
TL;DR — Final thoughts
Writer’s block is one of the most feared things. This is where many writers give up, thinking writing is ‘not their cup of tea’.
If you too are facing writer’s block just like me, these 5 habits will help you. Even after practicing these for years, I still face writer’s block. Which of course wears off upon doing any of the above muscle memory exercises.
I can’t say these will work for all. There’s no science for exceptions. I’ve found the best results with these & I’m sure these will work for 9 out of 10 for you guys.
If you’re that 1 guy, we can talk about it. Find me on Instagram & Twitter. If you’re not a social guy, you can always email me. I’ll be more than happy to help & we can figure it out together.
P.S: I’ve written this post after a couple of days long writer’s block & the small trigger that I mentioned in #5 was hardly a second long & I ended up writing over 1100 words long post in less than 30 minutes.
