Lesson 1: Your Writing Zone

Lesson 1:
Build Your Writing Zone

In Lesson 1, you learned:

 How to train your brain to recognize the rabbit hole of writing – and fall into it
willingly.
 How to enter your writing zone easily and fuss-free, so you can whip out
awesome work.
 How to build a routine that lets you do your best writing at your most optimal
time

This worksheet will help you put your new knowledge into practice. Print it out and use it
immediately for tangible results.

You'll also want to print a copy of this worksheet and keep it handy in a folder, as you may
need it later in the course.

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 Lesson 1: Your Writing Zone

S
tarting now, you’re going to begin building the perfect environment for all your writing
efforts. You'll start crafting patterns of behaviour and routines that train your brain to
write on demand, and to healthy levels of productivity.

You're going to create a writing zone that rocks.

Never, ever underestimate the effect that your immediate surroundings and environment have
on your ability to write, and to what level of quality – don't dismiss this lesson.

Be open-minded to change. Your current preferences may be working for you right now, but it's
quite possible that you could achieve more or do better by altering your usual routine. Try,
experiment, explore.

Even hardened experts are surprised at how much more easily they write or how quickly they
crank out thousands of words after making just a few simple environment changes.

Also, be patient. It may take time or effort to find your perfect writing zone, and you'll likely
experience some trial and error as you figure out your best writing time, location and routine.

The payoff of experimenting to achieve a perfect blend is well worth it. Imagine how fantastic
you'll feel when you can sit down and write on demand, just like that!

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 Lesson 1: Your Writing Zone

Find the Time to Write

E very single person has 168 hours of time to use each week. No matter how busy you are,
you have no less time than anyone else. And most people have more available time in
their schedule to do what they want thank they think – they just don't realize it.

You're going to find at least 30 minutes to write, each and every day. First, list your typical daily
activities below:

5:00am _________________________________________________________________

5:30am _________________________________________________________________

6:00am _________________________________________________________________

6:30am _________________________________________________________________

7:00am _________________________________________________________________

7:30am _________________________________________________________________

8:00am _________________________________________________________________

8:30am _________________________________________________________________

9:00am _________________________________________________________________

9:30am _________________________________________________________________

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 Lesson 1: Your Writing Zone

10:00am ________________________________________________________________

10:30am ________________________________________________________________

11:00am ________________________________________________________________

11:30am ________________________________________________________________

12:00pm ________________________________________________________________

12:30pm ________________________________________________________________

1:00pm _________________________________________________________________

1:30pm _________________________________________________________________

2:00pm _________________________________________________________________

2:30pm _________________________________________________________________

3:00pm _________________________________________________________________

3:30pm _________________________________________________________________

4:00pm _________________________________________________________________

4:30pm _________________________________________________________________

5:00pm _________________________________________________________________

5:30pm _________________________________________________________________

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 Lesson 1: Your Writing Zone

6:00pm _________________________________________________________________

6:30pm _________________________________________________________________

7:00pm _________________________________________________________________

7:30pm _________________________________________________________________

8:00pm _________________________________________________________________

8:30pm _________________________________________________________________

9:00pm _________________________________________________________________

9:30pm _________________________________________________________________

10:00pm ________________________________________________________________

10:30pm ________________________________________________________________

11:00pm ________________________________________________________________

11:30pm ________________________________________________________________

12:00pm ________________________________________________________________

Look at the above schedule. Find an empty block of 30 minutes that you could devote to
writing every day. 30 minutes isn't a big deal and won’t interfere with the rest of what you have
to do.

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 Lesson 1: Your Writing Zone

If you can't see any free 30-minute block, is there an activity you could switch out for writing
instead? For example, instead of watching TV with your morning coffee, you might replace TV
with writing instead. If you usually have a break at 10am, could you follow that with 30 minutes
of writing?

A warning: some people slot in their 30-minute writing time at the end of the day or even at
night. But keep in mind that doing so means you've just spent about 16 hours using up your
energy and creativity. You'll have little energy or creativity left to work with, and you won't
produce your best work. Find another time instead.

If you really can't see ANY time for writing at all, you don't need Damn Fine Words; you need
the book 168 Hours: You Have More Time than You Think, posthaste. Click here to get your
copy now.

Found a time? Great. Consider that 30-minute block as 'reserved for writing' and write down
the time here:

My 30-minute reserved writing time happens daily at: ______________________

Right now, immediately, get out your usual schedule or calendar and block that time for the
next two weeks. You’ve just made a daily appointment with yourself, and you need to treat it
with the same respect and consideration you'd give any other appointment. Guard this block of
time like a bulldog – don't let anything get in your way.

If you can’t reserve the same time every day, that’s okay. It's best to keep a consistent routine
and write at the same time daily, but you can sometimes vary it for other obligations, when
necessary.

Now that you know what time you'll write, you'll determine where you'll write.

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 Lesson 1: Your Writing Zone

Find the Perfect Place to Write

Y
our writing environment – the place where you choose to write - is just as important as
the particular time you'll be writing.

Where were you planning to write? What does that space/location look like? Describe it
here:

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Focus on comfort and a place with few distractions. If you wrote, "I'll be writing from my kitchen
island," you probably want to rethink that and find a better place to write, ideally in a low-traffic,
calming and no-distraction area.

Clean out a spare room and turn it into an office, buy a room separator, move some furniture
around… do anything you can to have a proper writing location.

If you have an office already, clean it up. Get organized. Decorate it to your tastes and buy a
few knick-knacks that make you feel awesome. Add some nice pens or coloured Post-It notes.

Think mood over matter. Design a pleasing space you enjoy being in that makes you feel
good. It changes the game for your creativity – and your writing.

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 Lesson 1: Your Writing Zone

Test Your Optimal Time and

Environment

D
on’t assume that what's worked to date is ideal. Try working from different locations
and different environments. Remember: test, experiment and try.

Try writing early in the morning before you go to work. Try a mid-morning writing
session, say, around 11am. Try writing mid-afternoon, or in the evening. (Note: writing at the
end of the day often doesn't produce great work.)

Try working with music and without music. Test drive various musical genres – not all work
best. Put on some 70s rock for a few days, then classical music for a few more, then your
favourite talk radio station, and then silence.

Which time and environment feels best and right to you? Which gets you more in the groove of
writing? You might settle on dead silence at dawn or blaring techno at noon – who knows?

As you test environments, fill out the following for each location. (Print a few copies of this
page and keep them handy.)

1. Location: ___________________________________________________________

2. Date and time: _______________________________________________________

3. What am I writing? ____________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

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 Lesson 1: Your Writing Zone

4. How do I feel when sitting here? _________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

5. How do I feel while writing here? _________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

6. Are there any major distractions? ________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

7. Can I eliminate or reduce these distractions? How?

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

8. How did my writing turn out? Was it difficult to write or did the words flow?

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

9. Was there music playing? If so, what type?

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

Once you find your optimal writing area and environment, stick to it!

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 Lesson 1: Your Writing Zone

Train Your Brain to Write on Demand

T
his next part is incredibly important – you've done the environment experiments and
found your ideal writing time and space. Now you're ready to begin training your brain.

Establishing a solid, habitual and predictable pre-writing routine preps your brain to know
your writing time is coming up soon. A habitual pattern creates a cool psychological response
explained in Robert Cialdini’s book, Influence. He calls it “click – whirr!”

For example, you might build a routine that includes waking up, making coffee, taking a
shower and then writing for 30 minutes. Your brain comes to recognize this pattern. Repeat it
often enough, and your brain will soon expect, it, predict it and flow with it. While you're making
coffee, your brain will already thinking, "After coffee is shower time, then we write. Got it!"

What will your writing routine be?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

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 Lesson 1: Your Writing Zone

Stick to this routine like glue. Maintain your writing routine for at least two weeks. (Read "The
Power of Habit" if you need help.) Follow your specific pattern without sway, each time you
prepare to write. If you've decided your pattern is coffee, email, walk, write, don’t let anything
veer you off track.

If something does? Go back to the beginning and start your pattern over. (You can take just a
sip of coffee and shorten your walk, if you'd like. Just don't skip anything in your usual pattern!)

Finally, stick to your guns. Hold a family meeting and tell everyone how important this new
routine is to your goals and that you'd like their support. They may need reminding at first, but
when they see you holding firm to your decision, they’ll start respecting it.

For example, I once had to stress to family and friends that I’m not to be disturbed between 9
and 11am, my optimal writing time. At first, no one liked my new rules and didn't take them
seriously – so I put my foot down. I'd lock my door, wouldn't answer the phone and wouldn't
get up if the doorbell rang. Soon everyone realized that I wouldn't respond if they tried to
interrupt. They began respecting the rules, and I now write at my best time interruption-free.

Do the same. Your success – and peace of mind! - depends on it.

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