How to discipline yourself to write a book by following this one simple habit adjustment.

“There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in something, you do it only when it’s convenient. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.”

Ken Blanchard

I have an alarmingly simple habit adjustment to help you discipline yourself to write a book.

This is the opposite of starting a book, getting frustrated by the book writing process, and shelving the thing. Metaphorically in a dusty drawer and in real life, somewhere deep on your computer’s hard drive.

The habits tip I’m about to share with you will not only prevent many of you from ever quitting writing your book, but it will also keep you from quitting any of your other habits too, whether it be exercise, nutrition, or anything else you want to do on a regular basis. Discipline yourself to write a book and then apply your learnings to your other habits!

Ready?

Reschedule – Don’t Remove.

I told you it was alarmingly simple. Well, there is a caveat to that and that is the assumption that you schedule your habits, like your daily writing habit. That which gets scheduled is more likely to get done. Put your writing caves on the calendar. I recommend doing this on Sundays or whenever you design your upcoming week. That’s the first part – schedule your habits.

But what happens when life happens and disrupts your schedule? Because life happens sometimes – it’s undeniable. And it is up to you to be able to tell the difference between negotiable life happenings, things you can say ‘no’ to, and non-negotiable life happenings, things that simply can’t be avoided (usually of the children, spouse, family, health, or pet variety).

When a non-negotiable life ‘happening’ – happens – at the time when your writing cave is scheduled, don’t REMOVE it from your schedule – RESCHEDULE it. And do so for the same day. That’s the key part since “tomorrow” tends to become a black hole of nothingness when the clock hits midnight.

For instance…

… say you have a writing cave scheduled for Monday at noon but at 11:45 you get a call from your kid’s school with some sort of an emergency. Of course you’re going to tend to your child and please do so without feeling guilty about your writing cave.

In this situation don’t do what too many people would do and simply give up on your writing cave for the day. Resist the urge. Recommit to yourself. And RESCHEDULE your cave instead – for that day. Even if it’s at a rather inconvenient time, maybe like 8pm when you’d rather be kicking back and binge-ing Netflix. But technically, you know in your heart, it would be possible to do your originally scheduled noon writing cave.

Don’t overthink it, don’t over analyze, don’t allow time to talk yourself out of it, don’t give up on yourself or your book – just do it. Reschedule it on your calendar with the same system and commitment that you schedule all your writing caves – calendaring, alarms on your phone, letting anyone you need to know about it, etc. Make the thing that absolutely would have happened at noon, absolutely happen at 8pm. (Going with our hypothetical scenario.)

And, by the way, one daily habit I am personally committed to is movement. Which means if I end up working until 11pm and realize I haven’t moved my body yet – guess who’s doing a yoga video at 11:05pm? Rescheduling rather than removing is that important, and it strengthens habits in such a powerful way. Aiming to create a lifelong writing habit? When life happens, reschedule, don’t remove.

Beyond Writing Habits

Imagine if more people did this with their daily habits – rescheduled rather than removed daily habits when life gets in the way?

Think about all the people with January gym memberships who start with the best intentions, but then life happens one too many times. Then, by March, “oh well, I guess that didn’t work out – wasn’t meant to be.”

It could have worked out though. Think about all the habits that could have worked out if they had just been rescheduled rather than removed. Like I said – alarmingly simple. But alarmingly simple is rarely easy.

PS: I have seen for myself, over 21 years, the magic that happens when you lock in a daily writing habit and discipline yourself to write a book. It’s the difference between carrying around a book dream, and holding a published book in your hands. 

Do you need help locking in your writing habits (writing fundamentals, productivity, and mindset) and finishing your book? Now is the time to get on my calendar to learn more about my newly revamped author coaching program and reserve your spot!