Four Habits That Block You From Making Money as A Writer

Have you been wanting to make a career or maybe a little extra money writing? I know I do. I joined Medium with the intention of writing oodles of articles expressing all my acquired wisdom. I’ve been a member of Medium now for two months. How many articles have I written? Two. Let me tell why so that you can do things differently and not repeat my bad habits.

1. Procrastinating

You are excited. You’re amped. You’re going to sit down and pump out that article, blog, etc… tomorrow. I have every intention of doing that. Then, tomorrow comes, and I find some justification/rationalization to put it off for another day. Just one more day. Rinse, repeat, and nothing gets done. The stress of a new project causes me to procrastinate. In college, I would put off a writing project until 2 am the night before.

Don’t be like me! Make time to write. Schedule yourself time, even if it is only 15–30 minutes, to hash out an idea or concept. You don’t have to publish it right away. Putting words down on the proverbial paper is the priority. You can edit later.

2. Allowing Distractions

This goes hand in hand with procrastination. When looking for a way to procrastinate, distractions come easily. If you’re like me, you can always justify that there is something else that ranks higher on the priority list. Kids need attention. The floor needs to be swept. I can even stress clean the bathroom as a distraction. If you and I are intent on being successful at this thing, we’ve got to focus and cut out distractions. It is an easy thing to say, harder to actually do. So…?

Be stubborn! Don’t allow distractions to dictate your life’s ebb and flow. My wife has taught me the value of a list. She makes lists for planning everything from grocery shopping, to chores, to weekend getaways. Make a list/schedule. It doesn’t have to be ultra-detailed. Just a guideline that highlights important daily goals.

3. Giving in to Self Doubt

I would bet that if you are taking the time to read this article, then you struggle with this. I tend to be overly self-critical. I have an unhealthy tendency to doubt my skills, abilities, and capabilities. I’m speaking from personal experience. I see that person make an awesome living writing, but I could never do that!

I don’t consistently believe that I am a “good enough” writer to earn money at it. I have to remind myself that I am good enough. I even sold a couple of blog posts!

You (and I) have to chose to let go of self-doubt and embrace confidence. I know what you’re thinking. It’s not easy for some of us. I could go on and on about that. Chances are, you could too. There are hundreds, if not thousands of articles that address how to be more confident. Motivational speakers make millions talking about it. We have to decide to follow their advice. You can find that on your own. Here is my advice. Start small. Set a small goal and know that you can achieve it. See yourself attaining that goal. Keep that cycle repeating.

If you are doubting yourself, I encourage you to follow someone that is successful in your field of interest or niche. Someone you are able to relate to and learn from. For example, while there are many successful writers on various platforms, I have acquired the most beneficial info from Zulie Rane. If you are a newbie and want to learn the basics, I highly suggest her helpful blogs, articles, and videos. She is upfront and honest about the steps you need to take to be successful.

4.Negative Self-Talk

Negative self talk refers to negative aspects of the conversations that we all have with ourselves throughout the day. We tell ourselves all sorts of things. From the time our alarm goes off and we get out of bed (or hit snooze) we engage in sort of self conversation. This conversation can be mundane, positive, or negative.

Sometimes negative self-talk helps to regulate our actions. I tell myself that if I eat that extra helping of dessert, I’m going to bloat up and feel awful.

If we make a habit of engaging in negative self-talk, then we are setting ourselves up for failure from the start. We will never be good enough. We will never be smart enough. Nobody will ever want to read, let alone purchase our work. This is a pretty big subject to tackle, and I will defer to the experts.

In “The Toxic Effects of Negative Self-Talk” Dr. Elizabeth Scott, PhD, describes many effective steps that you can take in order to gain control of that little voice in your head. One in particular that stood out to me was to give that voice, or inner critic, a nickname. Why would you do that?

Dr. Scott states that, “When you think of your inner critic as a force outside of yourself and even give it a goofy nickname, it’s not only more easy to realize that you don’t have to agree, but it becomes less threatening and more easy to see how ridiculous some of your critical thoughts can be.”

Now What?

Well, now is when the rubber meets the road. Now is the time when you and I have to decide to kick those habits. I’m sure that you may have heard that it takes twenty-one times to break a habit. I don’t know how true that is.

I do know that the very first step is to recognize the bad habit. You may not struggle with any of the items on this list. You may have other habits or negative mindsets that are holding you back. Recognize and then conquer them. You are a writer. You’ve got this! We’ve got this!