Write, Write, Write: How a Pen and Paper Can Kick-start Motivation

Do you ever feel like you are in a funk or just lacking motivation? We all encounter slumps from time to time, and though we may deal with them differently, one helpful trick I have found to remedy the situation is taking a pen to paper and just writing. There's something about the concentration it takes to scrawl out letters, words, ideas, art...whatever your fancy might be, that just pops some perspective back into the picture.

Photo by qisur

It might surprise you how much focus you can recapture once you start scribbling. Even if you don't immediately find inspiration, the act of sitting, thinking, and writing removes your mind from the endless tasks at hand - from the computer, from the phone, from the to-do lists, etc., and just let's your brain and your hand do the creating.

Recently, while discussing the addictive allure of the Internet, a friend of mine named Jim who writes for Men's Health magazine, told me that he writes all of his articles longhand. He said that when he has a deadline to meet that he sets up a pad of paper on the dining room table and goes to work. Free from distractions and in synch with creativity, that's where each article takes shape.

To get started, just grab a pencil or pen, choose any notebook, journal, or sheaf of paper and simply write. Write about things you are happy with. Write about things that are upsetting you. Write about things you are proud of. Write about what you want to change. Or just doodle, draw, create...let your imagination kick into gear.

You might be shocked at what you have tucked away up there in your brain when it comes spilling out onto paper; and with any luck, a little motivation might start peeking through and be the start to something great.

Write, write, write...

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