Article Writing Secret

I’m going to share with you a tip to writing articles. I’m going to share with you a four step sequence that gets me in such a state almost every time. Here it is:

1. Clarity
2. Leverage
3. Confusion
4. Power

Clarity

First, I ask myself “What do I really want to get out of this, and whats stopping me right now from getting it?”. Almost every time I tell myself that I just want to write productively for six hours and enjoy doing it. Usually I find whats stopping me is I am focusing on the negatives of article writing instead of the positives. I realize that if I want to enjoy the process, I need to think of all the benefits I get from writing articles. This gets me pumped up. This means I’m ready for the next step.

Leverage

It’s not enough to realize what I want, and how to get it. I have to actually feel compelled to take action on this information. Here’s how I do it. First, I think of how painful it would be if everyday I did something I didn’t enjoy doing. I imagine how poor of a quality of life I would have if I never broke through resistance, and had a weak will. Scary! Then, I imagine how great it would be if I could work all day while having a smile on my face and feeling good about myself. I also think about how cultivating this habit will improve other areas of my life.

What I have essentially done is changed how I feel about the task at hand. I’ve deliberately thought about how bad it would be to not change my state, and how good it will be to change my state to get what I want. It’s the old pain/pleasure principle. Just doing these two steps alone will make the article writing process much easier. But let’s not just stop there.

Confusion

Obviously, I linked negative feelings to writing for 6 hours. I realized I wanted to enjoy the process instead. I realized how much pleasure I would gain from it, and how much pain I would avoid if I made it happen. But wouldn’t it be great if I completely removed the negative feelings from my mind? Yes it would. Here’s how I do it instantly. You can do the same, and you’ll find you automatically start laughing and have a smile on your face when you sit down to write your article. First, I picture myself sitting at my desk, writing my articles. Then I picture myself with clown makeup on, writing the articles. Then I create a picture of me writing the articles upside down, on the ceiling. In my mind I imagine doing cartwheels at breakneck speed, shouting out the words to an article, birds flying in the window whispering research into my ear, and any other crazy scenarios I can come up with.

Every time I do this, it makes me chuckle. I have now changed my association of sitting down and writing an article from dread to comedy. When I actually go to sit down and write the article, I am no longer thinking it will be tedious – because the silly pictures pop into my head, and makes me laugh. I have created a whole new feeling to associate with writing articles. Now there’s only one thing left to do.

Power

It’s sufficient to create confusion to laugh at the process instead of dread it. But wouldn’t it be even better if, when you sit down to write your articles, you felt powerful? Imagine what it would be like if every time you wrote an article you increased your sense of fulfillment in life?

The trick is after you have created confusion about the pain and pleasure you link to the task at hand, you can now replace it with a new, empowering alternative. I use a metaphor. I imagine that every word I write is a brick, which is building a golden pyramid. Each article presents another story on this pyramid. At the top of the pyramid I see my ideal self. Each article helps bring me closer to my ideal self. Each article is a way for me to strengthen my discipline, commitment, will power and focus. Each article also generates me money, which I can use to invest in other business opportunities, to invest in my own personal development, or just to spend on things that bring me joy in life.

Review of the Technique

First, I decide what I want to get out of writing my articles. The ability to work all day and feel happy. Next, I motivate myself to actually want to strive to achieve this, by thinking about how pleasurable it would be to do so, and how painful it would be to not do so. Then I interrupt the feelings I currently link to the process at hand, by thinking of a ridiculous and silly picture. This “unlinks” any negative feelings I would have about setting down and writing. What is left is for me to “relink” my feelings to something extremely positive, and empowering, so I feel with each article I write, I fulfill my sense of purpose.

I want you to know something. The first few times I tried doing this, it didn’t really work. That was because it was a new process I wasn’t used to. I didn’t have a “golden triangle” metaphor yet created, I wasn’t sure how to create confusion (by thinking of a funny picture), and part of me was skeptical that it would even work. But whenever I try something new, I always make a 7 day commitment. I just say, “For the next seven days, I am going to try this. I don’t care if it works or not. I am just going to do it whole heartedly for the next 7 days, and then evaluate its usefulness.” After trying this process for three days, I started getting good at it. By the end of the week, It would work for me almost every time.