This guest post is by Paul Jun.
Coffee has been consumed (and hopefully breakfast).
Brain is revving, fingers are warm, your neck just cracked in the most awkward way, but it feels great.
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Go! . . .
G– . . . Sigh.
Nothing. Nothing is happening, fingers are paralyzed, brain feels disconnected from the spinal column, and the constant scratching of your head has turned into an everlasting burn.
Writer’s block.
We all suffer from it time to time, and we don’t really know how to overcome it when our nerves are constantly jumping one way and our brains are in sleep mode.
This is a subtle beeping in your body asking you to walk away from the computer or desk and get your mind off writing for a few hours, maybe even a few minutes if you’re lucky.
The outcome: clear head, clear thoughts, and a clear vision of what your next post will be.
Exercising both brain and body to mitigate stress
If the releasing of endorphins makes a person happy and feel better . . . need I say more?
If you aren’t the type to work out or do any physical activity, then I’m assuming you also can’t find the time to read..?
I noticed when I don’t do any exercise, my brain feels clouded, my mood is spontaneously foul, my attitude can change from positive to lackluster at the flick of a switch, and nothing ever feels okay.
When is the last time you had your heart pounding, or sweat dripping down past your eyebrow, and down your nose? If you’re familiar with the feeling, you know it’s incredible. The shower you take after: bliss.
You clean up, put on fresh clothes, sit in your chair and your mind is just empty. The nerves are calmed down, endorphins are flowing, and now you’re prepared to write . . . or at least begin the process.
I cannot stress enough how important it is for a writer to exercise both their brain and their body. That buildup of stress and constant weeks of working without exercise greatly impacts your train of thought.
You don’t need a gym membership. Go for a nice 20-30 minute run or walk. Punch a punching bag until you think it’s talking to you. Do as many pushups as you can until you fall flat on your face.
Do whatever you can to release that stress, and I promise when you begin writing the process will seem less dreadful.
Maybe today isn’t the day
There is a time and place for everything, and today may not be the day for you to write a thousand-word post.
If your attitude isn’t positive, do you expect your message to be?
Maybe it’ll motivate you to write a post on how to change that feeling. Give it a try.
But if today doesn’t feel like the day, then it isn’t.
In that case, today is a day for reading, gathering notes, doing something other than what you’ve been religiously doing. Watch a favorite movie or TV show. Finish up your reading or catch up with some friends.
Maybe sit in complete silence and meditate.
We are walking batteries, and over time, throughout the day, that battery gets drained by the minute. Being stressed is not a solution to this problem.
Today is just not a good day, so it’s time to redirect that energy to produce some productivity.
Notes on napkins
My PC tower and the thin border around my monitor have become a wall full of post-its.
If you’re like Don Draper, and you write random notes and ideas on napkins, today is the day to bring all that together and review what you’ve written down over the past few weeks or days.
Old ideas are the fuel to the flame. You can potentially create an incredible blog post, just with a few simple words or phrases you’ve jotted down. It’s almost like magic: hard to believe and at times shocking.
Organize your ideas and notes for relevant categories on your blog. Sometimes the notes that I write down are usually headlines or the first sentence of a blog post—the rest naturally flows, or at least kick-starts an idea.
Writer’s block can be mitigated and eventually overcome. These painless steps have proven to work wonders for me, and they don’t really cost you anything (unless I convinced you to sign up to the gym).
As writers, we overwork our brains and we don’t realize it. We are constantly thinking, constantly brainstorming, and constantly flooding our heads with superfluous information from blogs to books.
It’s not up for discussion—it’s time for you to take a break. Go to your room . . . or get out of it!
Paul is a writer/blogger on http://junhax.com. He focuses on sharing insightful stories and advice for writing, blogging, and personal development. You can also follow him at @junhax
