How to Build a Writing Habit When You're Too Busy to Write

Something something something dark side. This is how I start all my brainstorm sessions. I hear Peter Griffin’s stupid voice in my head and somehow that kick-starts my writing.

Writing habits start embarrassingly malformed. They sputter and stall, it feels like you’re grinding down stone with your teeth. You feel like you’re making absolutely no progress, let alone contributing positively to the annals of human knowledge. It’s so easy to quit. Which is why so many people.

But those who don’t quit on their habits have a trick. They have figured out a way to jumpstart their routine. Cars can’t go from 0-100 without shifting gears. To keep your habits going, you need to figure out what your “first gear” is that gets you going.

People write about habits ad nauseum. It think it’s because a topic rich in drama and heroics—even for the seemingly smallest habits. I once built a habit of doing a minimum of 50 push ups a day. I did it for 280-some-odd days. There was a time I came home at 2am, drunk, and still got my workout in. That was my slaying my dragon. That was heroic… to me. I know you don’t care, but anytime you keep your habit in the face of danger, or even just life, it’s a victory.

Let’s go back to your writing habit. First, why are you writing in the first place? Are you working on a book? Clarifying your thoughts? Building your personal brand or online audience? Therapy? Catharsis?

Second, what is your current level of writing? It’s very important to acknowledge (truthfully) where you are today, because the #1 thing that will kill a new habit is to set a goal too large.

Finally? What tools and people do you have around you to help you maintain your habit? Building good habits is so much harder to do on your own.

Think about these three questions, then let’s get into habit-building:

1. Choose an embarrassingly small habit to start. 

Don’t try to go from 1-100 on your first try. Don’t even try going from 0-10. Start with 0-1. James Clear has popularized this idea with Atomic Habits, but it is timeless advice. Marcus Aurelius said, "Don't go expecting Plato's Republic; be satisfied with even the smallest progress." I like to emphasize “embarrassingly” small because if you aren’t embarrassed by the size of your habit, you’re probably thinking too big to start.

Here’s another example from my life: about 5 years ago, I set a goal to write 1000 words per day. I was early in my writing career and hadn’t built the best habits yet. I hit my goal for a couple days, but I quickly dropped the number down to 700. I remember staying up late and writing absolute gibberish to hit my goal, hating every second. I eventually quit this too.

Meanwhile, author David Kadavy pushes writers to shoot for 100 words a day. He even created a wristband to remind himself. This is a perfect, embarrassingly small goal. You can write 100 words in a few minutes.

Embarrassingly small goals help you do two crucial things:

1. They help you become a person to builds habits. This, imo, is one of the largest hurdles any person has to overcome. If you’ve always struggled with building habits, you probably think of yourself as undisciplined. Even the smallest habit can help you start to rewrite that personal narrative. Like I said, habits are full of drama and heroics.

2. They kickstart you. If you aim to write 100 words per day, you’ll often get into the groove and write much more. I’m currently doing a 500-word-per-day habit. This post is already over 600 words!

2. Choose Your “Something Something Something Dark Side”

All habits are made up of smaller “micro” habits that move you from Point A to Point B. Again, James Clear discusses this concept in detail. His main point is to identify the smallest first step you can take to achieving the goal. If your goal is to work out every morning, the habit to build is to set out your exercise clothes before bed each night.

When I’m struggling with a blank page while writing, I’ll just write, “Something something something darkside.” It makes me laugh and just gets my fingers moving.

When I was writing my book, Great Founders Write, my kickstart habit was walking to my nearby Starbucks, ordering coffee, and turning on the Deep Focus playlist on Spotify.

If you’re struggling to get started with your habit, you’re probably thinking too big. Identify the first step and focus on that.

3. Do it for 100 Days

This step really unlocked a lot of things for me. It may not be for everyone, but I’ve always struggled with “forever” goals. Like “I’m going to write 1000 words a day for the rest of my life.” Yes, that’d be great, but it’s really hard for me to commit to something that long term. It’s the same reason why I don’t have any tattoos. I like to reserve the right to change my mind.

The trick I’ve learned to build new habits while keeping my future options open is to set time limits. I believe the perfect time frame is 100 days. It’s long enough to form a strong habit around just about anything, but short enough that you don’t feel locked in.

My first 100 day challenge was going no alcohol. I had been drinking at least weekly ever since college and I knew I needed to break the habit. But I like drinking sometimes and I didn’t feel ready to give it up forever. Going 100 days without drinking completely transformed my relationship with alcohol and forced me to create several new habits in the process (like going to social events without drinking).

My next 100 day challenge was YouTube. Again, this dramatically changed my viewing habits and kickstarted my reading routine again.

The hardest 100 day challenge I’ve done is 30 minutes of exercise a day. I’ve done it 3 times now.

Whatever habit you’re trying to build, try committing to it for just 100 days. The limited timeframe may be just the psychological safety your subconscious needs to commit. You can do ANYTHING for 100 days.

My current challenge: 500 words a day

Last week I started a new habit challenge: Writing 500 words a day every weekday. I’m one week in and feeling great.

How did I set this goal? Let’s go through the questions at the top of this post:

1. Why: I realized that my best channel for growing my business is through referrals. Almost all my new authors have from from word-of-mouth. I haven’t been very online in the last 12 months, and writing daily should help. I also hired a VA to help me edit, format, and schedule these posts so I can focus on writing.

2. Current level: I am a pretty experienced writer at this point and have worked hard to build up my capacity. I’ve written 3 books in the past 3 years. So to me, 500 words feels “embarassingly small”

3. Accountability: Part of my purpose is to reconnect with my online community of friends and colleagues. My Twitter, LinkedIn, and this newsletter. YOU are my accountability!

Writing, in my view, is like exercise and healthy eating: It is a foundational goal that sets you up for success in every other aspect of life. It helps me think clearly and it kick-starts my productivity for other things as well. There is no downside in my mind.

What habits are working to build?