Daily Habits That Stunt Your Growth As A Writer

There are a lot of things that can get in the way of your writing.

Maybe you're struggling with a plot or a character, or maybe you just feel like you're stuck in a rut. Whatever the case may be, there are many daily habits that can stunt your growth as a writer and make it hard to get past whatever's getting in the way.

As a writer, you probably already know that your habits can have a big impact on how much you grow and improve as a writer. But what kinds of habits are we talking about?

The truth is, it's not just about the things you do every day that can help or hinder your growth as a writer. It's also about the things you do every day that might be unconscious—habits that may not seem like much, but can actually have a big impact on how well you're able to progress in your craft.

Of course, we all want to get better at our craft—and we all have different ideas of what that means. But if we're honest with ourselves about what's holding us back from being truly great writers, we'll see that there are some habits that are actually hurting our growth as writers.

So let's take a look at some of these habits and see what they mean for your writing:

Writing without any structure or discipline

You may think you're being productive when you sit down to write every day, but if you don't have a routine or plan for how long you'll be writing and what kind of content you want to produce, you could end up wasting time on things that don't matter.

Not reading enough

Reading is the best way to improve your writing—and it's also fun! If you're not reading, you're missing out on all of the amazing things other writers have done and learned before you.

Not making time to write every day

Writing is how we practice our craft and grow as writers. If we don't write, we're never going to get any better at it!

Not taking advantage of critique opportunities

Critiquing others' work helps us identify our strengths and weaknesses so that we can improve them in our own writing. We also get valuable feedback from other writers, which helps us understand how readers experience our writing and what they respond most positively towards or negatively against in it

Not asking for help when you need it

It's important not only to ask for feedback from other people on your work, but also be open to their suggestions and advice about how they think it could be improved.

Being too hard on yourself when you don't meet your goals

Sometimes things come up that get in the way of our goals and schedules—that's just life! Don't beat yourself up over things like this—just figure out what went wrong and try again next time.

In Conclusion

In the book The War of Art, author Steven Pressfield talks about the "Resistance"—the things that hold us back from doing what we know we need to do. It's easy to let Resistance get the best of you and make you think that you're not talented enough or good enough to be a writer.

Whatever your situation is, it can be hard to stay motivated when all of the things that are supposed to help us become better writers seem to be getting in our way. We want those positive habits, but sometimes it seems like they just aren't working for us.

But the truth is that everyone can be a writer—it's just a matter of making sure your daily habits are working for you instead of against you. This means setting up realistic goals that keep your motivation high and making sure the daily habits you engage in are helping rather than hurting.