What to Do When You Don’t Feel Like Writing

Even though I make my living writing copy for badass entrepreneurs, there are days when I find it incredibly hard to write. If you don’t even like writing, I can imagine it’s 100x harder. So how can you power through this demotivation enough to write words on a Google doc?

Unfortunately, even if you’re “not feeling it,” the work isn’t going to finish itself. And the paycheck isn’t coming without the deliverable, right? So here are a few of my favorite tips for finding the motivation to write what you need to write, even when you don’t feel like it.

Set Simple, Attainable Goals

Set a simple, easy goal for yourself. And by simple, I mean simple. Give yourself some low-hanging fruit. This could be something as simple as writing down three sentences. That’s your goal for the day. 

Most of the time, the hardest part is just starting. Once you start writing and get the ball rolling, you’ll ride the momentum until you’ve finished, or you’ve at least gotten a lot farther than you expected. 

Maybe you’ll start with one word and add a few more to make a sentence. When you have a sentence, you add a few more to make a paragraph. When you have a paragraph, you’re more likely to keep going. Before you know it, you’ve written an entire page. 

You are taking the pressure off yourself by allowing any type of progress to be good progress.

Remove Obstacles

If you know you write better at a particular time of day, rearrange your schedule so you can write at that time of day. If you need absolute quiet like I do, shut yourself in a room with soundproof walls or write when you know your partner or kids will be out of the house. If you’re the opposite and work well with white noise, make time to head to your local coffee shop and write there. 

If you get distracted by social media, put your phone in the other room and set up website blockers on your computer so you can’t click onto social media for an hour. Honestly, any excuse you can think of, I probably have a rebuttal. Do what you need to do to achieve your writing goals!

Reward Yourself

Tap into your inner child and treat yourself for a hard day’s work. Whether it’s a piece of cake or a nap, reward yourself for completing a writing task. This requires a bit of self-control by not caving in and binging the latest Netflix series before the end goal is met. When you set up a strict reward program with yourself, and stick to it, you’ll get a lot more writing done.

Suck It Up & Write

This one is a bit harsh, but it’s the truth. If your income depends on you meeting a writing goal, you’re just going to have to suck it up, start writing and get it done. Some days, all the tricks and rewards in the world will not motivate you to write. You’re just going to have to tap into your own self-motivation (I promise, you have some) and start writing. The words aren’t going to write themselves. 

One thing I do that helps me through this is copying and pasting from the client questionnaire onto the Google doc. It helps me feel like I have something to work with and I place it in the order I want it to flow. Then I’m no longer staring at a blank doc! 

Don’t Write What You Don’t Like

Those creative juices aren’t going to flow if you don’t enjoy what you’re writing about. You have to find some element within the material that lights a fire inside you, even if it’s just a tiny wisp of a flame. 

Maybe you aren’t resonating with your client’s content material, or you have no purpose or reason behind that email you need to send your list. This lack of enthusiasm is hard to overcome. It might help to get to the root of the problem. Ask yourself why you feel obligated to write it? What would make the content more interesting to you if you were reading it? How can you change the content but still have it be relevant and useful for its original purpose?

Pay attention to what you’re writing and why. Sometimes a different perspective can help get those juices flowing. If these tips still make you cringe, maybe you need to hire out your copywriting tasks! I’ve got a few different ways I work with clients you can check out right here!