Write of Passage Weekly - The Clock Silences the Ego

This month, we’re launching Writing Sprints — workout classes for your mind — to take you from an idea to a published piece of writing in one day. Join us on Saturday, June 10, or Friday, June 23. Enrollment is open until this Wednesday, June 7.

heIn conversation, you can sling ideas with ease. But when it’s time to put it on the page, do you become paralyzed by perfection?

Maybe you turn into a tiptoe-typer, an over-editor, and a stickler for standards. You can fill 15 pages, but then you rewrite your opening line 40 times. Editing your draft into a piece you're proud of feels like slogging through waist-high mud.

Can you imagine if you followed the same process in conversation? It would be a disaster. You would struggle to form a coherent sentence. That’s why, when you speak, you let your words flow and you lean into your intuition. Why not do the same when you write?

Writers often set their internal bar so high they can’t reach it. Consequently, they self-sabotage. Hours, days, weeks, months fly by as you meticulously craft the “perfect” piece of writing. Your ego whispers in your ear that your work needs to be flawless and awe-inspiring.

Our culture calls this perfectionism — but really, it’s procrastination. And this is the key to overcoming it: Practice analytically, perform intuitively.

Like an athlete, develop your skills by getting your reps in — long stints at coffee shops, late-night writing sessions, and productive Sunday mornings. Hone your craft in practice, as you take notes and have conversations. Then, when it’s time to write, let intuition take over. Keep the analysis out of the process and avoid paralysis. Don’t shoot for perfect. Shoot for “Publish.”

The most effective way to do this is to write against a deadline.

Working against the clock quiets the mind and silences the ego. It forces you to stick to one idea and follow it through. Just like a soccer player in the World Cup, the clock catapults you into a flow state, where it’s just you and the task at hand.

The result? Ideas pour out of you. What was waist-high mud turns to whip cream.

Are you ready for this breakthrough of clarity? Ready to get your ideas out of your head, and into the world? Ready to get off the sidelines, and into the stadium?

Join us for Writing Sprints, workout classes for your mind. You’ll work against a firm deadline to write, edit, and ship a piece you’re proud of — all in one day.

The first-ever workshops will run on Saturday, June 10, and Friday, June 23. To secure your spot, click the button below and enroll before this Wednesday, June 7. We’ll see you on the starting block.

Happy writing,

David

P.S. Check out this video to see how you’ll go from zero to published in a day:

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