How I write every day

I don’t think writing every day will change your life…
…I know it will.

— Peter Suhm

Occasionally, you stumble upon a piece of content, that flips a switch in your brain. It may not be life-changing per se, but right at that moment, it certainly feels like it.

That’s how I felt when I first discovered writinghabit.com, a simple one-pager on how to build a writing habit (who would have thought?) by Peter Suhm.

Previously, I’ve consumed a ton of content that revolves around writing regularly. And the fact that it might actually be the one habit that could change your life. It’s a simple habit, but keeping consistent at it is not easy. Yet over time, you create a ton of serendipity and a plethora of content, that speaks way more than any CV ever could. Additionally, writing is also just a cool skill to have.

Sure, writing has a ton of upsides. But when it actually comes to taking the time every day and write, even when you don’t feel like it, is hard. That’s precisely how Peter felt as well when he wrote a blog post titled “How I’m going to build a writing habit in 2024”. This post is the basis of the principles he outlines in the one-pager.

These principles are not all ground-breaking, but there are two that made all the difference for me. Or really only one because the first plays into the second rule.

The first important principle to start writing more is to lower your standards. Peter makes this illustrious example where the quality of your writing sits on a scale, somewhere between the best prose ever written and literally writing the word “fuck” 500 times, just to keep the streak going. Both technically qualify as writing.

Obviously, you should not just write the same word over and over again. But simply knowing that you could theoretically start your writing session this way takes the burden of coming up with something unique. Because, when you’ve jumped the biggest hurdle, starting out, the motivation usually kicks in and so does inspiration and ideas.

This principle of lower standards translates into the main principle that resonated with me and made all the difference in my relation to writing. It’s titled write, don’t publish. From the website:

The main reason you have writer’s block is because you’re writing with publishing in mind. Forget about publishing and write for the sake of writing. Most of your words should be going into the bin. Otherwise, you’re spending too much energy editing while you write.

That’s essentially already it. Separate your writing from editing/publishing. These are two separate skills. You want to get better at writing, so just write. About whatever you want. Something that you just discovered, what you ate yesterday, what you are going to do today or what you see when you look out the window. Literally anything.

Establishing the new habit

All this brings me to today. I’ve now written daily for almost two weeks, a thing I’ve never accomplished before. And I attribute most of that to following the tips from Peter.

To not neglect this blog totally, two things count as “writing” for the day:

1. Writing 500 words. This can be fully freeform or with a concrete blog post idea in mind. Not all writing has to make it onto the blog, though. As already stated, the main goal is just to get that writing muscle activated.
2. Or alternatively, editing and publishing a previously written post. This way, I force myself to separate the writing from the publishing process. And although it looks easier – proofreading, rewriting and actually publishing a post is often times more time-consuming than just jamming 500 words onto the page.

Finally, as with all the habits I try to establish, I follow the Two-Day Rule by Matt D’Avella: It’s ok to miss one day if life happens. The streak only breaks if I miss two days in a row.

I hope this piece inspired you to start writing regularly as well! Check out writinghabit.com to get you up and running and alternatively listen to Ali Abdaal’s podcast episode with Nathan Barry for inspiration.

If you happen to start a blog as well, please send it to me. I’ll be your first reader!