4 ways to overcome writer’s block

I write a lot. Just look at your inbox. And I don't have time for writer's block. Here are my tricks and strategies. Focus your mind and thinking Mike Bennett, author of our Four Powers for Greatness: Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening course offers the RIM method: Rationale – Be clear on the reason for writing. Know who you are writing to and why you are writing. Tying your reason to an existing goal makes it all the easier. Intentions – What exactly do you intend to achieve? What effects would you like to achieve in the mind of your reader?  What actions would you like the reader to take? Methods – How will you be writing? What is your style or your approach? Formal, casual, scholarly, persuasive, active voice, passive voice, angry, cold, sarcastic, first person, second person, third person, blunt, diplomatic, empathetic, inspiring, entertaining. I'm generally clear on these before I write a single word. Just start writing Sometimes I start writing and everything flows out exactly as I would have hoped. Often I have many false starts, or I find the real beginning of the piece shows up some distance into the writing, which means I end up moving things around.  I don't edit or judge. I just write. And eventually everything flows. For this post I began writing about focusing your mind and thinking for writing. I soon realized that it would be more about writer's block, so I changed my intention, and voila! Listen to the Personal Genius Paraliminal To really get the juices flowing I'll listen to the Personal Genius Paraliminal. It gets me instantly into the flow state for writing. It gets my mind off everything else going on in my life and focused on what I need to write. My biggest secret! Way back in the mid 1980s when we first developed PhotoReading, I spoke with a mystery writer. Each day before writing he would PhotoRead several mysteries and he found it much easier to write. As a matter of fact, he began sending chapters to his editor after one or two drafts instead of his previous normal of four, five, and six drafts. PhotoReading made a huge difference for him. A graphic designer found that PhotoReading design books allowed creativity to bubble. Before writing a letter to introduce a product to you, I'll PhotoRead a Word document that has all of my favorite letters! Or, before writing a blog post I'll PhotoRead a Word document that has all of my blog posts. It really works. So there you have it. There is no reason to be hampered by writer's block ever again. Now get writing! Pete