The Writer’s Well

Did you know that the biggest battle a writer has is their own ability to stay focused? Often, writer’s block is nothing more than a problem paying attention to the task at hand. There are several things writer’s recommend to each other to help writer’s block, but they all often overlook the simplest solutions to a focus problem: a reward system and regular breaks.

That’s right, taking breaks at regular intervals actually helps you focus on the tasks you need to complete. It also helps prevent circulation problems, eye strain and back issues from occurring, all common problems sedentary writers face.

Make yourself take a five minute physical break every half hour or so. Stand up and stretch. Walk around the house or office. Start a load of laundry if you work at home. Wash some dishes. Check the mail box. Walk up and down your stairs a few times. Whatever you can do to stand up for five minutes every so often will help fight the fatigue that causes lowered productivity and physical problems.

Combine your breaks with little rewards for completing tasks. Lets say you need to write 1000 words for a client in a day, and you are having trouble making yourself buckle down and write. Reward yourself for completing the task. Make the award finite, though. You don’t want the award to turn into a time sink. For example, I belong to a game web site called Pogo. For every goal reached on the days I can’t quite focus, I allow myself to stop and play one round of a game, which usually takes about ten minutes.

The key is to set reasonable goals – you want your working time to outweigh your playing time so that you get more done, but your brain flat out just needs the break. Physical activity rewards are even better, and better for you. I love my afternoon walk – it makes me feel better, and I miss it when I don’t get it. I make myself write a certain number of bids and proposals for new work each morning and do a certain amount of marketing, getting that out of the way early. Once that is done, I am cleared to take my walk for an hour.

Do you have a reward system in place to help you focus? Do you take breaks? What do you do to help you write better? Share it with us in the comments!

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