5 Mins of Writing a Day Keeps the Imposter Syndrome Away

The morning was bright and the birds seemed almost too excited. Kate was excited too, the extra chirps seemed like motivation, motivation for new habits, habits that will help her reach her dream.

She remembers the first time she thought about becoming a writer. On a day like this one, the idea struck her while reading The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. As inspiring as it was, it reminded her how words can have such a powerful effect on humans, and how words don’t die. It made her detest her grinding finance job even more.

It’s not like she hadn’t tried before, but hearing “you’re not good enough” from everyone around would make anyone give up. Kate stuck to reading and made peace with being a fan of great writers, even if she can’t become one. Having a stable career was a compromise she indifferently took.

Nonetheless, reading that book did something to her. It made her ask the question “what if I can be better?” Yes, maybe there is no limit to how better she could be, but starting somewhere couldn’t be too wrong.

Her schedule didn’t leave her much time to do things she loves. She read up on all the ways she could become a better writer. The number of sources she found which said she could improve her writing in 5 minutes a day was astounding. Just 5 minutes, doable 5 minutes. Anyone could spare 5 minutes a day for something good. She read up more and more and created a schedule for her week. 5 minutes of investment each day towards her dream.

Day 1: The Captions
Kate wanted to start simple. Her first task was to pick 5 images from a gallery and write captions for each of them.

She quickly pulled out her phone, scrolled until she picked 5 photos, and began writing.

The image of the view from her window — “Bliss, every day, no compromise.”
She, working on her laptop in the office — “And the grind continues…”
Her, enjoying a day at the beach — “the waves speak to me sometimes”
A street dog — “give me some pats?”
Her, in the middle of a flight of stairs — “When will the climb end?”

Kate knew these captions aren’t perfect, far from it, in fact, but she was happy she took the initiative and started somewhere. She felt good about herself after quite a while.

Sighing, she closed her notebook and got ready for a long day at work.

Day 2: The Thesaurus
After a long day and a long refreshing shower she, sat down to write at 8 in the evening. Today, she was going to expand her vocabulary. Everything she wrote so far had repetitive words. She wanted to avoid that.

Her task was to find the 5 words she used the most and look for their replacements.

She quickly skimmed through her writing and opened the Thesaurus.

However — Nonetheless
Other — Disparate
Best — Unparalleled
Important — Significant
Many — Numerous

Kate believed that to become a good writer one should keep increasing their word bank. This was a step in that direction.

Day 3: Self Reflection
As usual, Kate got home all excited about following through with her new habit. Today was the day of self-reflection.

The task was to highlight her favorite paragraphs from her favorite books and reflect upon what appeals to her in those pieces.

She picked up three books, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Her favorite quotes were from these books but she just never gave any thought to what appealed to her about them.

“Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt.” — Slaughterhouse-Five.
“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.” — Little Women.

“It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” — The Alchemist.

Kate read these lines over and over again, along with the rest of the paragraphs. What was it, exactly, about those lines that appealed to her?

She came to a conclusion all by herself, but it was hers, a very personal opinion. Everyone can have different perspectives and relatability with words.

The exercise was just supposed to last 5 minutes, but she kept thinking about these lines till she fell asleep.

Day 4 — The Lyrics

Kate’s regular shower was accompanied by music today. Her favorite song played on loop. She wanted to inhale the music and imprint it on her soul. All her focus was shifted to ignoring the lyrics as well as she could.

Her task today was to re-write the lyrics to a song.

You Found Me, by Kelly Clarkson, seemed like a good choice.

Listening to the music so much helped. Kate had decided what she was going to write about. It was the rhyming she was nervous with.

After pondering for a while and going to the internet for rhyming words over and over, she came up with something she really liked.

Kate made sure she didn’t use the repetitive words she always turned to. The result was a victory for her.

Day 5 — Free Writing
The task for day 5 was fairly simple. She tried not to think about it all day at work for the sake of spontaneity.

She sat down with her notebook. Her job was to just write. Write whatever she wants, however she wants, without thinking about any hiccup, any technicality whatsoever.

She Googled “writing prompts” and a plethora of choices came up. She went through them carefully and made up her mind.

Kate chose the prompt “a breakup letter”, and started scribbling. After 5 minutes, she had a solid piece of her heart in her hands. Her handwriting was abysmal, her Grammar was all over the place, but her heart was full.

She recalled her feelings from the time she had left writing for good and channeled those feelings into her writing.

However that page from her notebook looked like, Kate loved it.

The Weekend — Reading And Writing
With all the time she had on her hands, Kate dedicated the weekend completely to improving her writing.

She was gonna read, and read some more, and then write, whatever came to mind, on whatever prompt she could find.

The weekend went by better than she could have expected. She got more done than she had hoped. Pages after pages were filled with her words.

Pages after pages of books were being absorbed by her mind. Kate knew, that if she could keep this up, she had a real shot at being a writer.

After 6 months of following the routine diligently, Kate could see a considerable improvement in her style of writing. All the “you’re not good enough”s became “you’ve got potential, keep it up”. She could feel her dream getting closer. Her imposter syndrome slowly melted away.

Here are some prompts you can try:

1. Write about writers’ block.
2. Write down a list of murder methods. Choose one at random from the list to use in a story
3. Write down a paragraph each describing two wildly different settings. Write a story involving both settings.
4. List five-strong emotions. Choosing one, write about a character experiencing that emotion, but only use the character’s actions to convey how they are feeling (no outright statements).
5. Write from the point of view of your most-loved possession. What does it think of you?

It took Kate 6 months of continuous practice to see tangible results in her writing. It might take others less or more time for it to work. The important thing is to try and keep trying till you get successful.

Kate is important to understand that anyone who wants to write with all their heart but gets pushed around by circumstances, can take steps to fulfill their dreams.
All it takes is 5 minutes a day.