{"id":534,"date":"2022-03-28T15:10:49","date_gmt":"2022-03-28T15:10:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/printdoctorafrica.com\/blog\/?p=534"},"modified":"2022-03-28T15:10:52","modified_gmt":"2022-03-28T15:10:52","slug":"how-to-form-a-morning-routine-that-works-as-a-writer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/printdoctorafrica.com\/blog\/how-to-form-a-morning-routine-that-works-as-a-writer\/","title":{"rendered":"HOW TO FORM A MORNING ROUTINE THAT WORKS AS A WRITER"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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<\/h1>\n

I just wanted to stop trying! It's actually frustrating trying to get a thing right only to get tired just a few days into it. Plus, I hated routines that make life boring! Have you felt that way before too? Being a creative doesn't even make that better!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But here I am, telling you how to form a routine as a writer. Should I tell you the truth? What I am going to tell you will look like another of those dumb advice until you sit down and ask yourself why morning routine isn\u2019t working for you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By the way, I am writing this post at night, it\u2019s precisely 8:03pm, after a very stressful day, outside my normal routine, to be sure how fast I can go without writing in the morning. And the truth? I am doing perfectly well. That\u2019s because a morning routine is no morning routine if it isn\u2019t helping you build yourself up.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So, let me give you this heads-up, some routines will never work for you if you don\u2019t understand how you or your brain operates.<\/p>\n

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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It is good to get pumped up after reading a book or an article but have you noticed the energy dissipates after a while? It isn\u2019t because you weren\u2019t motivated or want that success enough, it is just that there\u2019s a missing link that you aren\u2019t getting yet.<\/p>\n

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UNDERSTANDING THE POWER OF ATOMIC HABITS<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I struggled with keeping a morning routine in my first few years as a writer until I came across James Clear\u2019s book titled, Atomic Habits<\/em>. From his book, I learnt to fix my new routine right after my morning prayers because I know I can\u2019t do without it and I didn\u2019t try to change at once, I took it a step at a time, making small improvements on a daily basis.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude\u201d.<\/p>\n

- Colin Powell<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

After my morning prayer daily, I would pick up my notepad and start writing for just fifteen minutes<\/strong>\u00a0and stop anywhere my alarm sounds. This sends a message to my brain that I am not cheating on it.<\/p>\n

<\/blockquote>\n

James Clear said in an article <\/u><\/a><\/span>that we don\u2019t build new habits in the hope that our lives will become fully automated, repetitive, and robotic. We do it because habits are a tool for helping us do the things that make us come alive more frequently and more consistently. Habits are a method for accomplishing the things that provide meaning and purpose to our lives.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk about how you can fix your morning routine using atomic habits.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1.\u00a0<\/span>1% EVERY DAY<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As much as you want to make that big difference, it is important you understand that our brains and body don\u2019t operate like that. Instead of you forcing yourself to write 1000 words every morning, how about you write 100 or even 50 daily? When you accumulate this, it becomes bigger. It might not look like you are making any progress initially but it will eventually work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do you know why your morning routine hasn\u2019t gone past 5 days? You are trying to drastically change something that has been part of you for a long time. Decide to write just a few sentences daily and before you know it, you have written more than enough. Patience is the bedrock for mastery.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A man that writes for 15 minutes daily is better that one that tries to maintain 5 hours only to stop after a week. Writing automatically becomes a part of you, like brushing. Habits, as explained by James Clear, are the compound interest of self-improvement.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

2)\u00a0<\/span>USE THE HABIT LOOP<\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to James Clear, there are four loops associated with our habit formation. Cue, Craving, Response and Reward<\/strong>. Our brain is always in search of cues and we in turn look for how to satisfy the craving. In the search for how to satisfy it, we get our response and that response becomes the reward always.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take for example, you are writing a blog post (cue), you get overwhelmed and started looking for how to overcome the feeling (craving), as a result, you started watching a movie (response).Your brain picks that and associate being overwhelmed when writing a blog post to watching movies. Every time you feel overwhelmed from writing a blog post, your automatic response is to watch movies and that becomes your reward.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When you want to form a habit, you have to put these four in action. These four form what James Clear called the law of good habit formation.<\/p>\n