Tag Archives: exercise

8 Ways to Build Self-Discipline in Writing, or in Anything

Writing requires self-discipline. If you lack that, can you develop it? Let’s find out.

I’ve blogged about discipline before, but that post discussed its importance. Today, I’ll tell you how to increase your self-discipline.

Image generated at www.perchance.org

Definition

For this blogpost, self-discipline means your ability to control your behavior and actions to achieve your writing goals. This requires you to suppress immediate desires and ignore distractions, to make conscious choices to do what is necessary, even when that’s difficult.

Eight Skills

I found inspiration from this post by Zen advocate and blogger Leo Babauta. However, I’ve reworded his points and focused on their application to writing. Even so, if you practice these skills, you’ll strengthen your self-discipline in general, not just as a writer.

1. Write regardless of your mood

If you wait until you’re in the mood to write, you’ll wait forever. We find it easier to procrastinate than to do what we need to do. Gain mastery over this tendency. Sit in the chair and write.

2. Make time to exercise

Being a sedentary activity, writing for long periods without exercise can weaken your body. In the long run, you’ll write many more years if you keep in shape. You might find it beneficial to set a timer, take a break from writing, and perform light exercises before writing again. Try the Pomodoro technique: twenty-five minutes of focused writing and five minutes of mild exercise.

3. Write hungry

Break or avoid starting the habit of eating while writing. Write first, eat later. Let your stomach grumble awhile. It’s not your boss. Food will wait for you.

4. Have the difficult conversations

Many people, even writers, avoid or put off disagreeable confrontations. Don’t stew in solitude, harboring a grudge over some slight. Deal with the person in a direct way, while being pleasant and understanding. Learn to think about problems from the other point of view. Not only will this help to prevent or resolve misunderstandings, but the practice will help your writing. Readers cheer for characters who don’t shy away from the tough talks. The best fiction writers take us into the minds of disagreeable characters in a convincing way.

5. Form and stick with good habits, break bad ones

Ah, human nature. So easy to break good habits and to start bad ones. I’ve blogged on this topic, too, and I still advocate a system of cues to trigger a good writing habit, and little self-bestowed rewards for completing the action.

6. Tackle that problem you’re putting off

We tend to ignore the elephant looming over us in the room. When a problem appears too difficult, we turn from it, fail to face it, hope it goes away. When it doesn’t go away, we make up reasons to neglect it. Then it nags us, causing guilt and more procrastination. Instead, face it and work the problem. If you can break it into parts, work on the biggest part first. That way, you’ll be closer to done than if you’d started small.

7. Seek joy in work, not external rewards

Why do you write? If you write for fame, fortune, or awards, then what will you do if those things elude you? Give up writing? Consider shifting your focus and find enjoyment in the act of writing itself. That source of joy will never desert you. It blazes from an internal fire, not an unreliable, external source like the other rewards.

8. Meditate

Leo Babauta recommends daily meditation. Set a quiet timer for two minutes or longer. Sit without moving while focusing on your breath. When thoughts wander away, bring your mind back to your breathing. This practice can calm your mood and strengthen your mental discipline.

Putting it all together

The word discipline comes from the Latin disciplina, meaning training, and from discipulus, meaning student. In the case of self-discipline, you’re the student and the teacher, and you’re training yourself.

What’s that I hear? The sound of one hand clapping for—

Poseidon’s Scribe

October 19, 2025Permalink Leave a comment

Alone With Your Writing

Most writers write alone.  Some collaborate, but for the majority it’s a solitary thing.

Do you like being alone?  Those who tend toward introversion prefer solitude to recharge after the drain of being around other people.  However, even the most introverted person is still a bit of a social animal; we all need company now and then.

Extroverted writers face a more complex dilemma.  Their need to write compels them to work alone to complete it, but solitude exhausts them emotionally until they can recharge by being around others.  There certainly are some extroverted writers, but it must be a struggle.

Being alone, of course, does not necessarily mean being lonely.  Aloneness is a condition, but loneliness is an emotion under your control.  If you enjoy what you’re doing while alone–writing, in this case–then you won’t be lonely.

Most writers would argue they’re not completely alone when they write.  They’re surrounded by groups of “virtual” people.  First are their story’s characters.  For a writer who is “in the zone,” the characters can seem very real and almost present.  Rather than feeling alone, then, a writer is actually transported to a different world, the world of his story, which might be very crowded indeed.

To some extent, writers also feel the presence of their readers.  The writer shares the reader’s eventual emotional reaction to the story as if the reader is looking over his shoulder.

Lastly, while alone, the writer can also be “accompanied” by an editor or critique group member.  Each time he types an adverb or mixes a metaphor or creates an awkward point of view jump, he’ll hear the disapproving voice of that person in his ear.

If you are considering becoming a writer, my advice is not to let the prospect of spending all that time alone deter you.  If you have a story to tell and something inside is driving you to write it down and share it with the world–if the passion is that intense, you’ll welcome the solitude rather than fear it.

One note of caution:  not only is writing a solitary endeavor, it is also a sedentary one.  It’s pretty much the opposite of physical exercise.  It requires hours and hours of sitting.  Here’s my advice on dealing with that:

  • Make yourself as comfortable as possible while writing, so you’re not straining any particular muscles.
  • Take pacing or stretch breaks when you can so you’re not in one position for too long.
  • Don’t eat while you write.  Once you begin mentally associating writing with snacking, that will become your normal mode and undesired weight gain can result.
  • Find time to exercise.  It’s true that both writing and exercising consume time, which is precious for us all.  But think of it this way–your eventual readers will want you healthy enough to keep cranking out more books!  Besides, you might be able to take a small digital voice recorder with you as you exercise (particularly jogging or walking) so you don’t lose the ideas that occur while your mind is otherwise unoccupied.

In summary, sitting alone is what writers do.  If writing is what you love, then you’ll be able to cope with the sitting and the solitude.  On this and in all other matters, you know you can trust…

                                                                        Poseidon’s Scribe

December 18, 2011Permalink