Few weeks ago I read a blog post wrote by one famous blogger I followed, he mentioned about what would you do when you are supposedly posting something yet you can’t or you are simply experiencing writers’ block.
Some of the tips like ask a guest blogger, dig out your past draft post or revisit some old topics then link it with the new post maybe write it with perspective.
Truth to be told, I tried those, yet the inspiration didn’t appear in my head. (Well not all of them, I don’t look for a guest blogger actually)
The last point from the tips was surprised me. It said, simply, don’t post anything.
At first, all defense mechanism in my head instantly shout “objection!” like in a court room. And followed by all the facts like, “blog post should be consistent”, “if you don’t post regularly then you will lose your reader”, bla bla bla..
But then, I really miss 2 posts since last week. My Thursday (last week) and Tuesday (this week) post.
Yet now I’m writing a post while I’m on my way to the office. The inspiration seems just appear like that.
Do you want to make a guess why?
Does it because of I really don’t post, or sort of taking a break from it? Or does it because I feel the obligation to post again on the same schedule so that I will not lose my reader?
I thought the main reason is taking a break, the first reason. Well if you think about it, for example you need to take some days to take break from you work. After you come back, you will fell refresh and you can work better than before.
The simile I heard is about the lumberjack and his axe. There are 2 lumberjacks, one of them is very diligent, he works every day from 9 to 9. He has short breaks but as soon as he finished he chops the wood again. He is very hard working chap.
The other one, he works from 9 to 5, normal working hour. He has same short breaks and in between that he will check his axe, sharpen it when necessary.
In the long run, the second one wins. Why? I’ll leave that for later.
Back to the topic.. But after some thoughts, it wasn’t because of that. Well, maybe it was, but it’s the second reason.
Can you guess? (we play a lot of guessing game here, hey)
Anyway, it’s simply when you have lots of things in your head, it’s harder for inspiration to come. Basically, we are too busy to listen all the voices inside out head.
Recently, I scratch my head to find out a solution for the an issue. The more I think about it, the more it seem impossible issue to solve. I gave up that day, and decided to leave it aside for a while and continued to other things. After finishing what I do, I was having my break, relaxing, then suddenly I found new idea. I tried it, and it worked. The inspiration comes when my mind is still.
I learned my lesson, I should set myself a limit to help me prioritize so that I can focus better on things that I really want. In that way, I will have my peace of mind too, and be inspired each and every day. How about you?