Freewriting - The 10-minute trick to finally start that project you're avoiding.

Why starting is the hardest part

Confession time. I have a tendency to avoid a writing task when I am unsure where to begin.

Shocking, I know!

For me, starting is often the hardest part. I find myself doing almost anything except the task in front of me. I find myself looking at YouTube and scrolling on social media.

A piece of work that should take days stretches into weeks. In the workplace, this resulted in my manager becoming frustrated by the lack of progress. Eventually, the deadline arrives, and I pull an all-nighter to finish it. Then I pat myself on the back because I think I have produced a cracking piece of work. In reality, I probably haven’t.

The reality is that to make it a good piece of work, I should have spent some of the time I wasted reviewing, challenging and improving it. Instead, my rough draft gets submitted.

The problem is my work might be just about good enough, but it doesn’t demonstrate what

I can really do. If that happens too often, it could affect my chances of promotion, which will inevitably lead to frustration with the “idiots who can’t spot talent".

Another novel way to resign.

The tool I come back to in this situation is freewriting. I now use it to begin almost every piece of writing, including this one.

What is freewriting?

Freewriting is a simple, low-pressure way to get thoughts out of your head and onto the page.

Set a timer for 5 to 15 minutes and write nonstop until it goes off. Don't stop to fix mistakes, don't worry about spelling or grammar, and don't think about whether what you're writing is "good".

No one else will ever see this piece of writing, so write in your natural language.

If you get stuck, you just write "I don't know what to write" over and over until you think of something else. The goal isn’t quality. It’s momentum.

Why freewriting works against procrastination

Procrastination isn't always a time management problem and definitely doesn't mean you are lazy. We do it because some part of our brain links the task to stress or boredom and doing anything else helps to reduce the pressure.

Freewriting removes the pressure to produce a perfect first draft. It gives you permission to create something messy, and something messy is easier to improve than a blank page.

It also makes the task feel smaller. You are no longer telling yourself to “finish the report”.

You are only asking yourself to write for ten minutes.

Once you start moving, you will often find a thread: an angle, an outline, a question, a first paragraph or a list of points. The next step becomes clearer, and the task feels less intimidating.

If you are still struggling, try answering one of these questions:

• What's on my mind right now?

• What problem do I have?

• What does my manager or customer need to know?

• What should I do first?

• what else can I say about this subject?

• what am I missing here?

• What do I think about that?

• How would I describe this to my mate down the pub?

Freewriting works best when you're not self-editing. Just pick a prompt, set a timer, and don't lift your pen (or stop typing) even if what comes out is rough or repetitive.

When the timer goes off, read what you have written and underline one useful sentence or idea. Turn that into your next action.

That might mean drafting the opening paragraph, gathering one piece of evidence or asking someone a clarifying question.

Freewriting is the beginning, not the finished product

Freewriting will not complete the work for you. It produces raw material that still needs to be organised, tested and edited. That's important to remember. The objective is to escape the blank page, not to submit your first thoughts as the final answer.

The next time you find yourself avoiding an uncertain task, just give it ten minutes.

Where to go next

If you want to explore freewriting in greater depth, Mark Levy’s Accidental Genius is a great book that sits on my bookshelf. It expands how the technique can be used to generate ideas and solve business problems.