I recently published a webinar on my YouTube Channel, Passionate Writer Coaching, explaining why you are stuck in your writing and how to set up a lasting writing routine. You can watch it by clicking this link. But I talked about something in that video that I wanted to highlight here as well: the 4 mistakes you’ve been making when building a writing routine with ADHD.
Are you curious yet? Let’s get started!
The first step to creating a routine with ADHD
The first thing I want to help you do is to make a mindset switch.
You’ve probably been telling yourself that you are incapable of starting a perfect writing routine. But honestly, I don’t think you are. What we need, however, is to shift your mindset a little bit.
We need to move from “YOU are incapable of starting a perfect writing routine,” with an emphasis on you, to a way of thinking that shifts the blame away from you.
You were never the problem! The problem is your focus on perfection.
When you find it hard to stick to your writing routine, remember: the problem isn’t you. The problem is that your routine itself needs to be changed.
You can’t fail your tools
If there’s only one thing I can teach you about how to create a writing routine without the shame, guilt and stress, it is this one sentence – and I want you to grab a sticky note and write this down for yourself, because this is important. The sentence is, “you can’t fail your tools.”
Your tools are here to serve you. You are not here to serve them. If you don’t stick to your writing routine, or if you change your writing routine, your writing routine won’t care. You can’t fail your tools.
And that can be incredibly liberating, because that means that the problem is no longer you. You no longer have to feel bad about yourself for not writing consistently.
You’re incapable of starting a perfect writing routine, but you are definitely not incapable of starting a writing routine if you have the right tools, strategies and mindset to make it happen.
So we know now that if you can’t stick to it, your writing routine needs to change. But where do you start? Well, let’s start with the four things you need to stop doing.
Mistake 1: Buying into the fiction of "Needing a whole day to write"
Many of the people I’ve worked with tell me things like,
- “I will start a writing practice when I have a whole day to write,”
- “I will make progress on my book when I have a whole day to write,”
- “I have booked a week off, a month from now, and during that time, I’m going to make so much progress that I don’t have to start writing now.”
Does any of that sound familiar?
But the idea of needing a whole day to write is a fallacy. And the reason why this is a fallacy is that usually people with ADHD, with our affected time sense, are a lot more capable of getting a lot of writing done in a short period of time than we are in a long period of time. I see this often with my clients. People whose full-time job is to write are often a lot less productive than those who write in addition to another job.
Why is this a problem?
The problem is: the fiction of needing a whole day to write is actually keeping you from writing in the now. And when you do have a whole day to write, you probably won’t be as productive as you imagined, and that, again, is going to be a source of shame and guilt because of all the pressure you’ve put on this one writing day.
Instead, schedule shorter time spans to write. This comes with the additional benefit of reducing procrastination, because we avoid any project that seems overwhelming. With shorter chunks of time, we are no longer overwhelmed and instead focus on one small step instead, not the big picture.
And that leads us to the next thing you do wrong when creating a writing routine with ADHD.
Mistake 2: Making things too big
If I would have told myself in February that I would have to start a writing routine that I would have to keep up for the rest of my life, I probably would never have started because that is incredibly daunting. This makes it virtually impossible to do it. So, what you need to do is start small.
To the rescue: B=MAP
A useful tool here is the B=MAP model that B.J. Fogg introduced it in his amazing book “Tiny Habits.”
When it comes to starting a writing practice, many people with ADHD feel swamped by the idea of committing to long writing sessions or producing large amounts of text. This is where Tiny Habits can be incredibly helpful.
This model says that a behavior (B) happens when Motivation (M), Ability (A), and Prompt (P) are all in place. If you don’t get a prompt, if you’re not reminded by something, internally or externally, that you need to write, you won’t do it.
But even if you do have a prompt, that doesn’t mean you’ll write. You’ve probably ignored enough timers and alarms to have learned that lesson.
Paraphrased, B.J. Fogg says that a prompt succeeds if your ability to do the behavior exceeds your lack of motivation. You’re here reading this and seeking my guidance, so it’s safe to assume your motivation is low. Therefore, you need to make it ridiculously easy for yourself to do it. If it’s super easy, you don’t need a lot of motivation!
And that is why starting small can help: your ability to write one sentence today is a lot greater than your ability to start a writing routine that will work for you until the end of your life.
Remember, the goal isn’t to write a masterpiece in one sitting. It’s to make writing a natural part of your daily routine. By starting tiny, you’re more likely to stick with it and eventually build up to a sustainable writing practice.
3 Ways to make your writing routine smaller
Let’s make this more concrete with three ways you can make starting a writing routine less of a burden.
- Tell yourself, “I’m going to set half an hour aside today for writing, and I’m going to do the same for tomorrow.”
- Take a look at output: set yourself a small goal that you can achieve every day, such as: writing 100 words. Keep it small, bite-sized.
- Don’t focus on the amount of time that you’ll be writing, instead focus on how long you want to keep up your writing routine. Start something now and see how long you can keep it up. That’s how a lot of people accidentally build long streaks, because at first, they do something small and playful, and that results in a habit or routine that they are so used to that they barely even have to think about it anymore.
STORY TIME! Starting small and anxiety
One of my past clients was incredibly intelligent. She had so many different ideas for blogs and articles that she wanted to write. She had a lot of knowledge and insights that she wanted to share with the world, but her anxiety disorder was keeping her from achieving her goals. As a result, she invented the 10-minute rule. Whenever she’d start something, she’d tell herself: “You only have to do it for 10 minutes. If after those 10 minutes you want to stop, you are allowed to.” However, nine out of 10 times, after those 10 minutes, you’ve gotten in the flow and you don’t want to stop anymore.
This is a great example of a technique that could work for you, as well. This technique can be used in other circumstances, not just for managing anxiety. Not only does the focus help reduce stress, anxiety and fear. Making the task bitesize helps with task initiation, which is tough for writers with ADHD.
That is why the 10-minute rule can be a great tool for writers with ADHD.
STICKY NOTE REMINDER: Grab a sticky note. Write this: “start small.”
Mistake 3: Not choosing a designated Place & Time
The third mistake you’re probably making when trying to create a writing routine with ADHD is to not choose a designated place and time.
Now that we have put these two principles in place: don’t wait until you have a whole day to write and start small. I want you to make a plan for when and where you are going to be writing. And there’s a reason why I want you to make a plan.
Why you need a plan
Why? Having a plan takes away the choice element of whether or not to write and eliminates the energy sucker of making the decision to write. A plan dictates when you will write. When that time comes, you sit down and start. Time for the fun to begin.
So how do you choose the right time and place to write? Well, when it comes to creating habits, there’s a few things that you need to keep in mind;
1. Create a regular schedule
Firstly, writing at the same time every day or week is super helpful. Having a regular schedule builds the habit and makes it increasingly easy to keep going.
In order to do this successfully, discover what time of day suits you to write. There is no right or wrong answer. Some people write better in the mornings when they’ve just woken up, while others are inspired to write in the evenings. If you aren’t sure what time you are inspired, do an experiment. Write in the morning tomorrow, in the afternoon the day after, and in the evening on the third day. After the experiment, see which one you enjoyed the most and was most productive.
2. Identify your keystone habits
Secondly, set up a writing reminder at your previous habit.
Once you have your designated writing time, think about what other things you do during that time. What habits have you already established that you do every single day or once a week – depending on whether you want to have a daily or weekly writing practice.
Let’s assume you want to write daily and in the morning. Write down all the habits you consistently do each morning. For example, without fail you wake up, get out of bed, go to the bathroom, wash your hands, and so forth. All of these are habits that you’ve already established, even if you do not acknowledge them as such. What you need to do is add your writing habit to the list of established habits. What is the last habit you will execute before you start writing? What is the absolute last thing you do? Wherever it is, leave a writing reminder in the place where you do it.
For example, if you want to start writing first thing in the morning, your last habit might be going to the bathroom, so you’ll wash and dry your hands, then start writing. So, you will leave your writing reminder on the mirror or next to the towel rail.
Other possible places might be the drying rack in the kitchen, on your coffee mug, or on your computer screen. And don’t worry, I know that you’ll start to become blind to this reminder after a few days or weeks. But by that point, your previous habit should have become the prompt to start writing.
3. From the when to the where
So, we’ve figured out the right time to write (which is right after an established habit).
Finally, you need to figure out your place to write. Again, this doesn’t have to be set in stone, but it might be helpful if you don’t have to make a decision every time you have to start. It is better if a decision is already made for you with your plan.
Just because it’s part of a plan, however, doesn’t mean that you can’t change your mind. So, what you can say, for example, is, “For the coming week, I’m going to be writing at my kitchen table. But if that doesn’t work, then next week, I’m going to try to write at a local coffee shop.”
You’re allowed to change the plan, in advance, as long as you have one.
Mistake 4: Using negative emotions to motivate yourself
And finally, there’s one other mistake that almost every ADHD writer makes: To think that the only way you can get yourself to do anything is with negative emotions – discipline, anger and frustration.
This attitude will create a toxic relationship with your writing practice. When your writing practice is making you unhappy, frustrated, insignificant and incapable, it needs to be changed, as it makes writing increasingly hard.
Instead, think about joy as a productivity tool. Stop denying yourself the joy of writing. This will not make you a better writer. If you want to establish a habit of writing with ADHD, you’re going to have to make it pleasurable for yourself. Writing will have to be fun.
A good example of this is a conversation I had with a client. (Jane, of course, is not her real name.)
Writing coach (Me): “How much have you been writing?”
Jane: “Well, actually, I have stopped my writing routine.”
Writing Coach: “What happened? Let’s go back to when you’re going to be writing. What is the last habit you do before you start writing?”
Jane: “Well, up to a couple weeks ago, I started writing right after I stopped journaling. But now it’s fall. So, it’s so dark in the morning when I wake up at 6am, I just want to snuggle in bed a little bit longer. And because I stay in bed longer, I don’t have time to journal. And because I don’t journal, I don’t write, and I just go straight to work, because I feel like I’m already behind. I just have to be hard on myself, and get back into getting up on time to write.”
Writing Coach: “What if we do it a little bit differently? What if, instead of being hard on yourself, you think about joy as a productivity tool. How can we bring excitement to your journaling, not despite the dark, but because of it being dark outside?”
And her eyes started shining. Her face lit up.
Jane: “Oh, I got it. I still have candles lying all around the house. So, what I can do is I can get up early in the morning when it’s still dark outside, I can light a candle, and I can journal by candle light, and that sounds incredibly exciting.”
So, that’s what she did the next morning. She woke up and jumped out of bed with enthusiasm, lit a candle, and she got back to her journaling practice.
The moral of this story is she did not succeed because she was harder on herself. In fact, she succeeded because she made the task enJOYable again.
You can DM me on Instagram, to share your own writing struggles and what you think you are doing wrong.
Your 4 mistakes when you're building a writing routine
Building a sustainable writing routine with ADHD doesn’t have to be a constant uphill battle. By ditching the perfectionism and focusing on joy, you can unlock your writing potential and make consistent progress. Remember to start small, choose a designated time and place, and leverage your existing habits to make writing a natural part of your day.
Grab this free workbook!
So these are the things you shouldn’t do. Do you want to know what you SHOULD? Grab my free guide, “10 Simple Steps to Creating a Writing Routine with ADHD.”
Just fill out this form and I’ll send the workbook through email.
