Non-Writer's Block, and How Not to Overcome It

Most of the writers, bloggers and intellectual influencers are talking about a phenomenon called "writer's block", which can be defined as the period of being stuck at where productivity is lower than usual. Everyone seems to have their own way of getting over it, tips and tricks are flying all around. There is absolutely no shortage of advice raining from the people who made it already. As usual, the main claim is: "Anyone can do it if they just followed the advice".

Some common advice examples are:

• Take a walk
• Write through the block
• Keep notes... and a notebook at hand
• Research more
• Force yourself
• Set goals
• Find better tools etc...

In a way it's not that different from a professional boxer talking about difficulties of losing weight before a match. How the boxer is spitting off prescriptions on losing that last half a kilo. That final bit sticks for days, and there are many ways to lose it... if you just listen carefully and follow the advice.

Now imagine that there's a rookie on the receiving side of the table who is just getting interested in boxing. Rookie is excited to learn from the pro and he is willing to give it all to get there. However, there's a catch. The afore-mentioned advice only works if you yourself are a professional. For a rookie, it's not about losing that last 0.5kg. It's about losing their first, a challenge of an entirely different game.

Being a rookie boxer is like being a non-writer: the well-meaning advice (instructions) coming from professionals is not actually relevant because the problems are different. A professional's baseline might be beyond a rookie's wildest dreams.

But since the rookie does not have any other source, and since everyone is looking up to the people who already made it, it's not easy to navigate this path ahead before falling into a trap of good-sounding advice. Being able to see that could make all the difference.

What is a non-writer's block

A non-writer's block is a phenomenon that cannot be observed because it does not exist outside the non-writer's personal world. Since this sneaky type of a block does not like to take chances, it is smart enough to make sure no production ever sees daylight.

A non-writer's block can be defined as the act of not writing for a person who hasn't written before. So it is like the continued lack of motion of an already not-moving object. Writer's block in contrast is the temporary loss in the speed of production compared to past. Writers usually overcome their blocks — check their advice 😏, but once a non-writer hits a non-writer's block — and checks their advice — that's a sure path to failure.

A Non-Writer's Guide to Certain Failure

Here's a non-exhaustive guide for the ones headed towards failure:

1- Never let the notepad out of sight and never stop taking notes

• Take notes every time you think you had a great idea. Make a note every time an idea pops during a conversation, while reading a book, halfway into listening to a lecture, or while taking a walk...
• Use as many of the note taking apps like evernote, relanote, apple notes... as possible. (Possibly all together at once) The more the merrier.
• Go over the notes from time to time and create new notes from them. Make sure you don't throw away the originals, the originals might be found after your death and someone may create a trilogy from them...

2- Never tell anyone that you're thinking about writing

• Make sure very few people know about your plans and keep them updated infrequently and randomly. This is to make sure they lose hope on you.
• Moving in secrecy is the key, this way you won't feel any pressure to deliver. Pressure might get you out of your comfort zone, you really don't want that.
• Telling your plans to other people will create a sense of excitement and joy, deprive yourself of that so that when it's dark, it gets darker.

3- Never stop searching for inspiration on instagram and twitter

• Make sure you can discover as many content creators that you are interested in as you can, and follow them all. Make sure the algorithms know all about you so that they can offer you more of those to follow. Make sure you follow who they follow as well, find the root they all follow, and then follow the most popular followers of the root.
• Spend all your time reading those feeds, blogs and make sure you take notes (remember rule#1). Even better, take screenshots, and save urls, possibly in separate places.
• Make a list of the ones that you would want to read but have no time yet, so that you don't miss out. Make sure that list is ever-growing, this is a secure and sustainable way to postpone creation.

Wait, if you're a non-writer, how come this post came to life?

There are certain defining moments in peoples lives that change them once and for all. If you're waiting for one — stop now. These moments can only be identified looking back. What made this post possible — despite the non-writer's block — could be summarized as follows:

Stop Consuming

Anyone with a pinch of self-awareness would know that we acknowledge who we are by comparing and contrasting ourselves to others around us. This is a nice tool that allows us to find better ways of dealing with the world. But there should be a limit to that. As knowing got easier, being able to find the energy to start doing got harder. For some people — (you know who) — being aware that there are many better ways of doing something may keep them from actually starting. If this rings a bell, consider a break from feeding on the information about how to do things.

Go With the Toolkit You Already Know

Some people have the tendency to optimize their processes. Although beneficial, often it's a blessing that can turn into a curse within a blink of an eye. Once you start looking for spots to optimize, it's easy to become the hammer man seeing everything as nails. It can become so indulging that you might forget why you started optimizing in the first place.

Getting to the bottom of the optimization goals as quickly as possible and with the minimum cost is crucial. Early optimization is not a good trait! Optimization nerds can detour here.

Stop Making To-Do Lists and Start Tracking Done Lists

There is a moment of truth when you realize your to-do lists are now longer than what you can accomplish in a year. That realization should be the signal that you're late.

The next list you should ever think of should be the list of things you have done. You will feel the relief of removing items from the ever-growing lists while adding to the motivation to do more.

Make Sure You Have a Way to Save Everything You Create

Your creations are important (to you), so make sure nothing is ever lost. Once you lose important work, it gets disheartening to continue.

If you are a software developer, for example, treat your creative work like you treat your code; if you're a student, treat it like your homeworks or term projects. Make sure everything is recorded and semi-structured. Semi-structured means that it is not hard to add more structure when the base grows, but also it's not complicated to navigate from the beginning. Don't create folders from start if they are going to live empty (see early optimization sin).

If You Have Other Ways of Creation Make This One Look Like It

This one is for people who already are creating regularly in different forms. If your daily work involves any form of creation, make writing as close to that as possible. If you're a teacher, for example, write like you are preparing lecture notes or record yourself speaking the idea you want to write about. This is simply to mitigate the initial set-up costs of getting into a new domain, and keep the comforts of old processes.

The creation process feeds on itself. On the way to improvement, the more iterations one goes through, the better they become at overcoming blocks. As a courtesy, make sure to document your process for other people who might need it.

rehas

Dec 26 2020