The power of 15 minutes in writing.

Just 15 minutes can improve the power of your writing.  Want to know how?  Tell me this hasn’t happened to you:

You have something important to write…could be a sales pitch, press release, email newsletter, note to your boss, marketing program, ad copy… anything. It may not even need to be lengthy – just important in some way. So, you sit down to your keyboard at the precious time slot you’ve squeezed out of your packed to-do list and you force yourself to begin typing. And then…

You type a few words. Backspace over them. Type a few more words…keep going… then backspace over all of them too. Then you stare at your monitor trying to focus, while your to-do list sends invisible smoke signals to your brain, reminding you that you DON’T HAVE TIME for backspacing nonsense…you’ve got a ton of other things to do, and you’re running out of the window you’ve allotted to write this damn thing and youknowwhatyouwanttosaysowhywon’tthewordsjustflowout#*%#@?

People. Chill out. In reality, you DON’T know what you want to say, and that’s the trouble. You know what the assignment is, but you haven’t decided how to approach it. And so you sit down to write before mapping out a game plan…and then you freeze because you’re about to start the car for a road trip, and you have no idea where you’re going once you pull out of the driveway.

Here’s a tip that will make writing less painful and more productive. Before you write, sit quietly for 15 minutes and just think about what you’re planning to write.

Sounds easy, right? Nope. When was the last time you sat quietly in your office for 15 minutes and did absolutely nothing else? Not check email, scan your list, get sucked into social media, read something, jot down 15 things you remember you wanted to add to your to-do list… literally just do nothing but think. To very busy people, 15 minutes of complete stillness feels like a jitter-inducing eternity. And in a way, it is. It’s 25% of an entire hour.

Sitting still and thinking for 25% of an entire hour – when there are 200 tasks awaiting your attention – could, at first glance, seem like squandering productivity. Not so. In fact, investing that quiet time in thought will actually UNLOCK your productivity and make your writing more effective.

Try it. 15 minutes may feel like an eternity, but in reality, it’s not a lot of time. You probably squander that every day without even being aware of it… chatting about reality TV, doomscrolling on your phone, sitting through an unnecessary meeting, and maybe even just checking out your favorite Instagram dogs.

But see the pattern? All of those things feel like “doing something.” Somewhere along the way, “thinking” lost the right to be considered “doing something.” Reinstate it. You won’t be sorry.

Want more writing tips? Here…we’ve got a few.