Overcoming Writer’s Block
Suffering from writer’s block? Have a proposal to do and can’t quite get it started? Here’s a tip that works for me, especially when the work is creative in nature. I give myself a request before I go to sleep at night. For instance, if I’m trying to come up with a marketing idea for a client, or a logo design, or a newsletter concept, I ask myself for the idea right before I go to bed. I tell myself, “I’ll have the idea when I wake up tomorrow morning.” The trick here is to believe that you will be able to do it, and getting a good night’s sleep doesn’t hurt.
Anyone who does sales for a living will tell you that believing you will get the sale is an important part of the process. It doesn’t make up for knowledge about the product or service you are selling and doing research on your prospective customer. However, nothing can end your prospects faster than not believing you will get the sale.
Writing is similar. You still need the basic skills, but the ideas come largely because you believe they will. I’m not sure why this works. My guess is that stress makes it difficult to think creatively. Once you have convinced yourself that you will have the skills and the ideas necessary to complete your project or make your sale, you relieve the stress and allow the ideas to flow.
Try it the next time you have a big project. You may just find a winning solution. After all, how do you think I got the idea for this post?