11 Surprising Habits to Improve Your Writing Mindset
Photo by Omid Armin on Unsplash
When we think of mindset we tend to think only about what’s inside – our mental models for developing resilience and a positive attitude.
That is only part of the story, however.
We can also support our brain health from the outside, which affects how we feel mentally.
I listened to a recent episode of Mel Robbins’ podcast, where she spoke with Dr. Daniel Amen, who is all about boosting brain health overall. In his view, a healthy brain = a healthy mind. He wasn’t speaking specifically about writing or creativity, but what he said makes sense for any creatives.
He says we can do a lot for our “mental hygiene” that will help us to feel better and our brains to work better, which will give us more clarity and focus – both essential for peak creativity.
A lot of his suggestions are to help reduce cortisol, the “stress hormone.” A little stress is healthy, but many of us live in a constant state of stress, which wreaks havoc on the body and brain. Lowering the amount of cortisol shooting through our bodies is helpful physically and mentally.
It is a two-pronged approach. Some of the external things that can help us achieve optimal brain health are:
Get morning light for at least 15-20 minutes per day. Preferably outside, but you can also use a lamp that mimics UV light, which can be a lifesaver in winter.
Take a 1-2 minute cold shower to increase dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that affects many parts of your brain, including the areas devoted to focus and motivation. How many writers want more of those? Most of us, I’d say,
Eat healthy – limit processed foods, eat more salmon, berries, nuts and seeds, leafy greens, raw cacao... Also limit sugar and caffeine, which can give you a burst of energy but then cause brain fog and energy crashes unless you keep them coming. I know many of us know this already – but how often do we actually follow this advice? Some are great at healthy eating, but most of us could probably do better.
Supplement good nutrition – Take a multivitamin and an Omega 3 capsule daily.
Exercise – even simply walking can make a huge difference. You can take a longer walk, or shorter ones throughout the day. I usually do a morning walk and then an after-work walk, anywhere from 20-50 minutes, depending on how much time I have. Getting the body moving also helps blood flow in the brain, which is why you might also find your breakthrough idea while walking. (Which means – no headphones. Let go of input for a while. Let your brain just be.)
Sleep – This seems like a no-brainer, but again, many of us know what we should be doing, but we’re not always doing it. Getting enough hours of quality sleep is a must for many health reasons, but of course it impacts creativity, focus, and overall brain function. I’ve always thought of myself as a night person, but getting to bed by 10:00 (10:30 at the latest) has been a huge game changer for me. I like to push it to 11:00... or 12:00... so I can watch TV, check social media, etc. before bed. No more. Now I know what a difference it makes, my phone is down and my lights are out.
Breathe – a 4-7-8 or 15 second breath can help ground you at any time of day, but can be especially helpful before sleep to slow your brain down. You can either:
4 seconds inbreath, hold 7 seconds, breathe out 8 seconds
OR: 4 seconds inbreath, hold 1.5, breathe out 8, hold 1.5
You only need to do this a few times to feel the effects.
The next thing is to focus on your internal mental hygiene. You can create new neural pathways in your brain by paying attention to your thoughts. Many people mistakenly think they have no control over what they think, but taking conscious control can slowly move your brain in a more positive direction, which will give you more energy and motivation and reduce that pesky cortisol.
The key is to direct your thoughts – as Dr. Amen says, don't believe everything you think! We often implicitly believe our thoughts without really questioning them. It can take some practice to recognize our thoughts, then redirect them if necessary. But it is possible! Think of it as a weak muscle that needs to be trained just like any other muscle.
8. Meditate – this is the classic way to become aware of thoughts. If you already have a practice, then you know how your thoughts arise and go away again, like clouds passing through the sky. But have you thought about doing on-the-spot awareness, specifically around writing and the creative process?
If you don’t have a practice, you may feel like “it’s too hard” or “I can’t control my thoughts” or just have some general anxiety around “doing it right.” It’s simple: You sit up straight. You close your eyes, or have them half-open, gently focused in front of you. You breathe in. You breathe out. You can focus on your breath, or just be aware of your thoughts as they arise. And they WILL arise. That’s what they do. Nothing wrong with it. Try to just observe what comes up – the thought and the emotion that comes with it, whatever it is.
Try not to follow it. Our brain loves to feed the story. It goes something like this: “I’m sitting here. I’m supposed to be – oh, ugh, that presentation next week. What do I need to – oh, my stomach is tightening. But I still have to write that report. And Bob will nitpick it like he does every time. I hate that guy. He reminds me of that fifth-grade teacher – what was his name? Anyway, I can never do anything right. Maybe that’s why I’m still not published. What am I doing again? Oh yeah. Meditating.”
Instead, let the thought arise. Feel it in your body. Feel the emotion it evokes. Recognize it – and then observe it fading, to be replaced by the next thought/sensation/emotion. If you get carried away by a story, recognize it, then come back to awareness. Over and over again.
You can try it for just 5 minutes. Or ten. But also be aware that even for experienced meditators, it can take 10-20 minutes for your brain to settle down and stop popcorning thoughts and emotions every few seconds. Whatever happens, it’s not wrong. It is what it is.
Recognize that our thoughts are what keeps us from writing! I suck. I’ll never publish. I don’t have time to write. It’s not that important.
Negative thoughts make us depressed, sap energy, lose motivation. If we believe them, they literally create deep neural pathways in our brain. The more we say them to ourselves, the more we believe them, the more likely we are to revert to negative mode every time we think about writing.
Meditation can help us recognize the thoughts, how omnipresent they are, and how we feel in our body and our emotions. Sometimes just recognizing our negative spirals is a big wake-up call.
But we can also work with them in a way that begins to reverse that negative tendency, and create new pathways.
Luckily for us writers, writing (especially by hand, pen to paper) can reinforce this by pairing the physical act of writing with the brain patterns.
9. Write down negative thoughts – Just let ‘em rip. Get them out of your brain and onto the page. Then ask of each one: Is it true? When you really think about it, probably not. Or there’s a “but” in there somewhere. “I never seem to make time for writing. I must not be a real writer.”
“Is it true?”
“Well... I do love to write. Why don’t I let myself do it more often? It’s not just the time, or that I don’t have ideas. I’m afraid I don’t have anything interesting to say...”
“Is it true that you don’t have anything interesting to say?”
“Well... what if I let myself tell the truth? Gah! That’s a scary thought...”
This is a suggestion from Dr Amen. Byron Katie has a four-step process that works with this as well (in her books Loving What Is, A Mind at Home with Itself, and others). It’s also a classic Buddhist exercise. The thought isn’t the problem. It's your story - the thoughts you attach to the thought - that causes suffering.
As in the example above, following the chain of thoughts can help you understand why you believe that thought, and then you can choose new beliefs that will nurture your creative self instead of beat it down.
10. Write down counteractive, positive thoughts. This may feel goofy at first, but it has a tremendous positive affect on your brain – and mental state.
Instead of “I have to write today” - “I get to write today.”
“I'm going to make this a great writing session”
“I’m stuck now, but I can figure this out.”
“I love my writing.”
11. Reflect on your successes. These might be past successes, no matter how minor: “Mrs. Hall, my 3rd grade teacher, really loved my poems.” “I got accepted to that one writing fellowship.” “I was published in that anthology.” Or it could be more recent: “I wrote 500 words today!” “I finally got a version of that scene down that I’ve been wrestling with for a week!”
It may seem silly – but ask yourself why you feel uncomfortable with focusing on your accomplishments, but just fine with putting yourself down (“I only write 500 words; I wanted to write 2000.” “The scene sucks and I’ll have to revise it ten times.”).
Like anything else, developing a positive mindset around your creative work is a habit. It must be consciously developed – especially since you are likely working against a lifetime of conscious and unconscious negative bias.
You can practice the external stuff on a regular basis, but don’t forget the internal exercises as well. Think of them like a warm up and cool down to physical exercise. Taking a few minutes every day, perhaps before and/or after a writing session, to work on your mindset will give huge dividends in the long run. You will become more focused, motivated, and likely to write and to persevere through all the challenges of the creative life.
Romanticized notions of the miserable, mad artiste aside, wouldn’t we all like that?
Dr. Amen website - https://danielamenmd.com
Dr. Amen brain health assessment: www.brainhealthassessment.com
Mel Robbins podcast: https://www.melrobbins.com/podcast
Byron Katie: https://thework.com
If you find this useful, head on over to the Contact Page and sign up to get my weekly email featuring tips on creativity, productivity, and the writer’s craft.
