I’m a writer, but I never write…

By day, i’m a writer.

It’s how I earn a living, it’s what I love to do. In fact, it was always a dream of mine to become a writer for as long as I can remember.

So by nature of my job, and given that it’s what I love to do, you’d assume i spent a majority of my time writing?

Wrong.

Although I do plenty of writing for clients, I neglect writing simply for writing’s sake.

And so, because of that, i’m going to set myself a challenge to write every single day for the next 31 days, starting today. with this post right here.

I’m a big believer in SMART goals, and believe this fits in that criteria because:

• Specific (simple, sensible, significant). My goal is to write everyday, there are no limits or pressures about what I write, as long as it’s for myself and not client work.
• Measurable (meaningful, motivating). I’ve always wanted to be a writer and the best way to improve your craft is to practice practice practice. I’m struggling to think of a more motivating goal than that.
• Achievable (agreed, attainable). I already write everyday so it really is somewhat achievable.
• Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based). It’s a realistic goal simply because it’s inline with what I do on a day-to-day basis.
• Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive). I’m giving myself one month to complete this goal, with the view that if it goes well and I find it easy, i’ll continue afterwards.

For many, especially me, completing goals is hard because there’s no ‘why’. If your ‘why’ isn’t strong enough, you’re less likely to do it.

For example, you might not care about what your body looks like and so you don’t go to the gym as often as you’d like because your ‘why’ isn’t there. But then let’s say you have a health scare. Now, more than ever, you have a solid reason to go to the gym. Because you have that ‘why’ you’re much more likely to stick to it.

So it’s important to work out ‘why’ you want to complete your goal, and my goal is no different.

Why do I want to write everyday?

By writing everyday for 31 days, not including client work, I hope to achieve the following things:

1. Get better at coming up with ideas. If i’m writing everyday it means i have to consistently come up with ideas for my next piece of content. There is no room for “time-off”, there is no room for “i-can’t-be-bothered-today”. Everyday I have to have an idea, and i have to show up and actually produce the content.
2. Enjoy writing for myself. When I first started out in my writing career, i’d write all the time. You’d never find me without a pen and notebook in my hand (yes i do still use a pen and notebook). I’m hoping by the end of this month, i’ll have fallen back in love with writing all over again.
3. Understand that there is no such thing as “not enough time” rather “not using my time in the right way. Time management has always been a huge thing for me. I always strive to get projects finished on time, if not before the due date. However, this same mentality doesn’t cross over into my personal writing life, and so i’d like to learn how to better organize my “work-free” time to accommodate my new writing habit.

The question of accountability

Accountability is everything.

That’s why I’m choosing to document this goal on Medium. If i fail I’ll fail in front of an entire audience (well, anyone who’s reading this) and if I pass, well then I hope my journey inspires you to complete your own goals.

Over to you! If you have any tips for how I can best approach my new goal, drop a comment below!

And if you’ve read this far and are looking forward to following my journey, I’ll see you tomorrow!