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Edition #218 – March 7th, 2024
​A newsletter by Anne-Laure Le Cunff​

The Writing Habit Loop

In 2019 I made a pact to write a hundred articles in a hundred workdays. Since then, I have written and published one new article almost every week, and I have kept with this cadence while running a business and studying for my PhD. This is my longest running personal experiment.

Over the years, a few people have reached out asking how I manage to write consistently without compromising on quality, so I wanted to share some strategies to build a better writing habit. Hopefully this may inspire more people to create content they’ve been meaning to put into the world.

Writing that matters

All the productivity systems in the universe won’t matter if you don’t care about your writing practice. You can think of this as your writing ikigai.

In my case, I want to help people live more fulfilling lives, and I believe this can be achieved by exploring our ambitions without sacrificing our mental health. Writing, to me, is a way to get these ideas out there and to build a sustainable business while doing so.

Every time I publish a new article, new people discover my work, sign up to the newsletter, and become a part of my community. Most may remain passive readers, others may contribute their own ideas, and some may even become friends or collaborators.

While each article I write is just that⁠ – an article ⁠– every time I hit publish, this simple action compounds to build a life that makes me want to get up in the morning.

Taking your writing practice seriously doesn’t mean you need a long-term goal. Rather, it means your writing needs to be aligned with the life you want to live; it needs to feel alive to you.

So before you can build a better writing habit, you need to ask yourself how you want writing to contribute to your life. Do you want to write to clarify your thoughts, to connect with others, to support a business you care about?

Take a few minutes to think about this question, and write it down in your journal or your note-taking app. Next, I’ll share the second important mindset shift you need to make to build a better writing habit.

Killing your inner critic

Many people struggle to create content on a consistent basis because they have an idealized view of what the output should look like. While it is important to put good content out and into the world, you can only improve through the process of creating.

I previously wrote about the importance of quantity over quality in the creative process. Research shows that the more you create, the more creative you become.

This means that instead of working for two weeks on one piece, you’d ideally first commit to publishing several pieces following a consistent schedule. Depending on how much time you have, this could be daily, bi-weekly, or weekly.

1. Commit to a schedule. Make a simple pact in this format:

I will write [number of articles] in [time scale].

The most important aspect is to stick to your pact as closely as possible so you can collect enough data to know what works and what doesn’t. So take your other commitments into account and go for a realistic schedule.

2. Tell someone about your pact. The best way I have found to achieve this level of consistency is to commit to it publicly. It doesn’t have to be very public! Just telling a friend or a colleague you’re making a pact to write regularly is a great start. You could even become accountability partners.

3. Make time to write. The last step is shielding time in your calendar for reading, research, and writing. It could be a couple of hours on Sunday evening, or shorter sessions throughout the week. This way, you won’t let your inner critic decide when you’re ready to write (the answer would be: never).

Building a writing habit

Now that you’ve made a pact, let’s break it down into smaller tasks. I call this the writing habit loop. Similar to any experiment, it consists in committing to an action, performing it, reflecting on the result, and implementing any changes during the next cycle.

Here is how I use the writing habit loop to write a new article every week:

1. Generate ideas. Jot down ideas whenever they pop up. I often have ideas when chatting with people and I often interrupt them with “wait a second, that was super interesting, let me just make a note of it.” And no, people don’t find it rude, quite the contrary! It’s quite flattering when someone thinks that what you just said is worth writing down.

2. Sit down and set a timer. Because you have shielded your writing time, you just need to sit down and open a new document. All of the mental energy you would have used to figure out when and where to write can be saved for the actual writing.

3. Choose an idea. Go through your list of ideas and pick a topic that feels alive and aligned with your current aspirations.

4. Create an outline. Start by writing a few bullet points based on your initial thoughts about the topic. Nobody will see this, so, again, kill your inner critic and just let your imagination flow. Ideally, you want to have 3-5 bullet points touching on different aspects of the idea.

5. Conduct extra research (optional). Depending on the topic, you may be able to just write about the topic without any further help, but often it’s useful to look it up. This is great for your readers, since you can link to further resources. But, importantly, it’s great for you: you’ll get to learn new things in the process of writing.

6. Re-read it once. Yes, only once. I usually re-read my articles in preview mode on my website, because seeing it with a different font and format makes it look brand new to my eyes. Just give it one good, focused re-reading. Do not spend too much time trying to make it perfect.

7. Hit publish. Don’t look back. Bring that baby into the world.

8. Share it. Try to get as much feedback as you can. Don’t be shy. Share your article with friends, on social media, or through your mailing list. Take notes whenever you receive feedback, and make sure to implement what makes sense in your subsequent articles.

That’s it! You have now turned writing into a habit loop. Keep on showing up and improving through each cycle of experimentation. Keep on exploring ideas that feel alive and align with your aspirations.

When you look back in a few months or a few year, you’ll be amazed to see how much your thinking has evolved thanks to your writing habit. And maybe you’ll even make a few friends along the way.

Tell me: what topics would you like to explore if you could build a consistent writing habit? Hit reply and let me know.

👀 Into the Mind of...

CAL NEWPORT

Each week I ask a curious mind about their habits, routines, and rituals. This week it’s Cal Newport, author of Deep Work and Digital Minimalism. I’ve always appreciated Cal’s advocacy for slowing down and doing great work without sacrificing our mental health, so I’m excited about his latest book, Slow Productivity, which comes out today. Here’s our little interview, and do check out the book!

One daily practice you can’t do without? My shutdown routine: At the end of each work day, I survey my plan, my calendar, and my inbox, convince myself that I'm not missing anything urgent, and then put a little check next to the phrase "shutdown complete in my planner." That little phrase now releases massive relaxation.

One strategy to restart your creative engine? I try as hard as I can to avoid overload. When I have committed to an excessive number of things at the same time, my ability to think clearly or harness creative inspiration dries up like the desert. Do less, but do better: a motto I try (and often struggle) to live by.

One mindset shift that transformed your work? Productivity is something best measured on the scale of years, not days. The question is not “am I being productive this morning?”, but instead, “was this a productive winter, or a productive last couple of years?”

Read Cal's latest book

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🤝 Brain Trust

If you enjoy the newsletter, you'll love our community of curious minds who grow together through interactive workshops and safe discussion spaces. Here is what we have planned next week:
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​• Stay motivated amid uncertainty. In this interactive workshop, Graham Norris will help you explore the sources of uncertainty in your life and strategies to set clear visions for your future to help you stay motivated when everything is in flux.​
• Build your personal learning system. Join Gosia Fricze for our next Creative Hour on Monday to explore how you can learn all the skills you are interested in, how to make time for learning and use that time best, and how to assess your learning progress.
​• Tackle your projects. Make progress on your to-do list while enjoying the company of fellow community members. Lukas Rosenstock and Javier Luis Gomez are hosting coworking sessions on Mondays and Thursdays, covering all timezones.

All of these and future events are included in the price of the annual membership ($49), as well as access to the recordings of all our previous sessions and past cohort-based courses.

🌊 Brain Waves

Have a friend who wants to make the most of their mind? Send them the newsletter using your unique referral link below and unlock Reflective Minds, a database of good questions from great thinkers and creators.

Until next week, take care!
Anne-Laure.

P.S. What’s your most natural type of curiosity?