Writing Daily May Well Be the Only Thing You Are Getting Wrong
#2: Pressure takes away freedom — and with that flies away creativity
I have been an advocate for writing daily for a long time.
But you know what, I now think writing daily is too exhausting to be productive. Maybe that’s why it appears to be productive from the outside.
With the rise of writing and productivity spheres, there’s also been a silent rise of “toxic productivity.”
If you aren’t writing every day, you are not doing it right. [I have been there, done that.]
If you aren’t reading a book a week, what the heck are you doing???
Popular opinions and advice have sprung up like mushrooms in the argument for “being productive.”
But at what expense? Your mental health?
Believe me, serious burnouts and loss of interest are what it may—no, no, no, WILL—lead to.
You cannot come up with something new every day
You can argue that one need not come up with something new every day to write.
Yes, I agree. But showing up every day is closely tied to doing something novel and amazing every day. And if for any reason you break the streak, your self-talk becomes toxic beyond limits.
That’s why it’s crucial to build a balance between repurposing your content and coming up with additional elements.
What I want to communicate through this point is that you should write every day, but not with the motive of publishing everything.
Having that motive of publishing everything will give you unnecessary anxiety and might also put you under pressure to perform.
Write anything and everything you want and publish everything that you think is above average and can provide value to the readers. Don’t hold yourself back there.
Double down on things that are performing the best and overlap with your interests. Pay special attention to the Venn diagram here.
Pressure takes away freedom—and with that flies away creativity
We saw above how putting unnecessary pressure to write every day takes away the freedom to explore and come up with better pieces.
But with freedom, your creativity also flies away.
I have observed that in myself. Whenever I force writing on myself, my writing starts to sound boring.
But when I take it easy, like now, not only am I able to write more effectively, but also I am more happy and satisfied with what I am doing and that creates a butterfly effect and broadly improves my entire day.
Listening to Dhanush’s Rowdy Baby on the loop while writing is just an incredible productivity booster for me. I don’t know why or how, but words flow like water with this music in my ears. Okay, that was fluff!
You are unable to see the forest for the trees
You lose track of the big picture. You are so focused on what you want to write the next day that you lose to pursue your other interests.
And that’s a colossal disaster in the long term.
I have quit writing thrice and I think the major reason all those times was my obsession with one topic.
It can boost your productivity in the short run, but that’s just* about it. It doesn’t work for too long. Insert been there, done that line.
*if you want to polish your writing, and don't want to add sound boring like this, check out this article by Saanvi Thapar.
I found it extremely informative, and I am sure so will you. Give it a read.
Yesterday I was reading this article by Eve Arnold where she talks about the ‘Flip, Shake, Bake’ method of creating non-obvious content. It’s fabulous and you should take a look at it. (The same framework inspires this story. Thanks, Eve!)
Okay bye!
