I’m lucky. I’ve been inundated with projects over the past week (which explains the slump in my posting schedule).
But yesterday I found myself taking way more time than usual to get my ideas out of my head and into the computer. I was stressing, feeling the pressure of an impending deadline compounded with the need to be absolutely brilliant. At the end of the day, I felt drained – knowing that I wasn’t nearly as productive as I needed to be and seeing deadlines piling up for the next day.
Today I awoke determined to make it a better day. I remembered a post I wrote a few months ago about covering your computer screen when you feel writer’s block. I debated in my mind as to whether or not I actually had the time to brainstorm ideas today. With the deadlines piling up – I was still feeling the time crunch.
So I made the decision to take 5 minutes to color a black piece of paper with the words “Just Think” in big letters. Then I scattered inspiring phrases around the page:
- You’re an excellent communicator!
- Just type it.
- There are no bad ideas.
- Edit later.
- Just get it down.
- You’re brilliant!
- Don’t overthink.
- It’s already there.
- You can do it!
- Listen to your muse.
- Write like you talk.
The result? I’m caught up. After allowing about 10 minutes of pure brainstorming, a phrase jumped out that inspired me.
I’m not sure why I stopped this practice in the first place, but I’ve learned my lesson – brainstorming time is essential to cranking out quick, quality copy.
