This Tool Helped Me Beat My Writing Procrastination
The lesser the distractions, the higher your writing output.
Writing is hard.
Beginning to write? Even harder.
I laundered my curtains before I sat down to write my last article. Curtains.
Facing a blank page with a blinking cursor instantly makes just about any other activity more interesting.
For writers and creatives, the daily battle with resistance is real. And with so many ways distractions on our computers, it just doesn't get any easier.
I am on a journey to beat resistance and procrastination until I have a full-time writing career. Anything helpful I find along the way, I would love to share with others.
Recently, I found a tool that is helping me beat my writing procrastination by blocking out distractions until my writing goal is achieved.
The Tool
It's called Cold Turkey Writer.
I learnt about it from Neeramitra Reddy’s recent article.
Cold Turkey Writer is a mean tool. Once on, it forces you to do nothing but write on your device until your writing goal is met. A pure, distraction-free writing environment. No browser, no notifications, no YouTube. Not even Medium, until you meet your writing goal.
The free version provides all you might need but for a one time expense of $9, you can get the one with all the bells and whistles.
Meet your writing goals
The writer can be set up to block everything else on your computer until a certain word count or a time limit is reached.
And once you hit ‘Start’, the writer goes full screen and blocks literally everything else out until you reach your writing goal, leaving you with no other choice but to type your brilliant ideas out.
I managed to write this article using Cold Turkey Writer in under an hour. That’s a personal best for me.
You’ll be surprised at how much your writing output goes up once distractions go down.
It is not a magic bullet
Our tools are only as good as our intentions. While the tool may help, it cannot fix us from within.
Mindfulness to control your monkey mind and daily dedicated practise of your craft will build rituals and systems that will take you even further.
But thanks to this nifty little tool, I am finally on my way to having the coveted daily writing habit.
Sometimes the most effective solutions are the simple ones. Give it a try!
Getting a paid Medium account has been the best investment I have made lately. Get yourselves one here.
