After writing and publishing Breathe. Write. Breathe.: 18 Energizing Practices to Spark Your Writing and Free Your Voice, several entrepreneurs have asked me some form of the question, “How do I get unblocked or inspired with my business writing?” Today’s post offers three of my favorite solutions.
3 Easy Practices to Inspire Business Writing and Get Unstuck
Practice #1 Qigong Bouncing or Shaking
This first practice comes right out of Breathe. Write. Breathe.: Qigong Bouncing or Shaking. It’s my go-to and we usually make it the first thing we do to start our writing sessions in my “Get Your Writing Done” program.
Benefits are many:
- Mindful movement like this helps us breathe deeply, relax and exercise – all three being practices scientifically shown to stimulate creativity.
- Qigong Shaking gets us out of being solely in our heads and more into our bodies. Wait, isn’t writing a mental activity? In my experience, when we’re focusing just on the mental aspects, people can often get stuck in their heads. And if you’re writing for work, there’s a good chance you’ve been “in your head” all day, perhaps even entering in a fight, flight or freeze state without realizing it, which can make you feel stuck or self-doubt. The movement can change your mood, your outlook and open you to new ideas as well.
Practice #2 Imagine a Client
This practice comes from my Quick Start to Kick Start Your Book program. It’s often helpful to start writing after imagining a particular business client who is the ideal reader for your book. You might first think about your clients or readers in general: their demographics, psychographics, driving needs, biggest problem (related to your topic), concerns, interests, values, etc. Once you explore those aspects of your readership a bit, I suggest doing a simple exercise of imagining a specific client (or even make up an ideal client).
Imagine that person getting up in the morning, or arriving at the office, or heading home from work at the end of the day. Imagine this reader before they’ve read your book. What are they wearing? Feeling? Saying to themselves? Where are they? What are they doing? What are their fears? Hopes? Dreams?
Have fun with this exercise–get playful. See if you can use all your senses in describing their experience.
Now imagine that business client after they’ve read your book. What’s changed?
There are several reasons this exercise is so helpful for getting unstuck, overcoming self-doubt and becoming inspired and creative:
- When you imagine a particular person, it’s must easier to write to them and to find the voice you would naturally use in communicating. Your writing will also naturally be more conversational. And it’s easier to tap into flow.
- Just writing about your readers before and after gets you in touch with their challenges and how you can help them. Now you have a perspective from which to write your chapter.
- When you feel self-doubt or stuck, you’re often coming from the ego and focusing on yourself and, often, your unconscious fears come up. When you focus on your readers and the transformation you have to offer them, your fears take a back seat and you’re in a more inspired and empowered state. And with a specific person, it’s often even easier to get inspired.
Practice #3 Create a Detailed Outline and…
A detailed out line can help you get unstuck, develop confidence, write more efficiently, find your voice, write from an inspired state, save time and write better! Here are some specific ways the outline helps:
- With a super rough outline, or just ideas in your head, your writing can feel disconnected or even discombobulated and hard to follow. You’re much more likely to flail around and not necessarily write something you’ll use in your book (or blog post, article, etc.).The more detailed your outline, the easier it is to write it and have it flow, making a smooth experience for your readers.
- In addition, business writers–and any one writing for that matter–often get stuck on a particular chapter or section that’s just harder than the others to write. If you have a detailed outline, it’s easier to write out of order and not get confused or overwhelmed. You can examine your outline and ask yourself which section inspires you right now in the moment.
- One of the main things that tends to drag out a business writing project is the research part. Business people tend to get over-focused on reading all the research on a topic. This can be incredibly time consuming. I suggest you start by writing from what you already know–especially using stories of your own or your clients’ experiences. For now, unless you truly need to research now, just make a placeholder for research and return to the research portion near the end of your project when you’re more clear what research you still need to do to complete the book or article. Sure, there are times you’ll need to do some research first but, in general, the more you can put research off and write from your experience, the quicker you’ll complete the project and the easier it will be to write in flow and nourish a consistent writing voice.
Bonus Practice
Still feeling stuck? Try my “Meet Your Muse” exercise from Breathe. Write. Breathe. Come up with one or two questions for your muse such as:
- How can I get unstuck?
- I’m feeling lots of self-doubt; how can I feel more confident in my business writing?
- How can I make my business writing more engage, creative or interesting?
- Or any specific question you have about your work…
Get unstuck and inspired by listening to the brief Meet Your Muse meditation.
Reader Interactions