How to Build a Routine and Beat Procrastination

If you're having trouble creating a routine or habit based off of the lessons in Week 5, this suggestion may help.

You're likely just being too hard on yourself. If you don't already have a consistent writing habit (and 99% of students and first-time authors don't!), this is completely normal and fixable over time.

I recommend two things:

1) Be consistent instead of heroic.

It's generally much more effective to write for a small period of time (say, 20 minutes a day) 4-7 times a week, rather than for multiple hours, once in a while. Because you'll build the habit and muscle of discipline. And it feels really good to keep a streak going.

2) Come up with a schedule you think you can stick to -- and then divide it by two.

This is my "50% Rule."

Whatever you think is an amount of time that you think you can stick to consistently -- divide it by two.

Let's say you think you can write for an hour a day, Monday-Friday.

Instead, put 30 minutes in your calendar, Monday-Friday.

That way, you're extremely likely to hit your goal. And if you're feeling good some days, feel free to keep writing! Your writing schedule should be:

• realistic
• consistent
• written down in your diary/calendar/to-do list
• half as intense as your Perfectionist Brain wants you to be

If you use the 50% Rule and everything else in Week 5, you should be off to the races, one step at a time :)