Introduction: What Makes Habits So Powerful?
Habits give order to our lives. They help us reach our objectives without feeling overwhelmed, and allow us to prioritize the many things we have going on.
With all the options we have on a daily basis, having habits and routines in place can save us valuable time. They help us make immediate decisions, based on choices we’ve made in the past. When you determine that you want to go to the gym every day, the choice of waking up early is easier to make, since you have already made the bigger decision of working out.
How the Power of Habit Changes Our Creative Lives
Creative minds tend to wander around and sometimes it’s hard to stick to routines or create new habits. However, habits have a powerful effect on our creativity and can really make a difference when it comes to reaching our artistic goals.
Procrastination, creative blocks, and other affections for creativity can easily be shifted by implementing simple, but efficient habits in our lives.
5 habits to be a better screenwriter
1. Write every day.
I know this piece of advice might sound obvious and even tedious. However, writing every day is the best way to make writing a habit and reach your goals. Writing consistently will help you enhance your writing skills, sharpen your style and stay creative. It’s also a great way to extend your vocabulary, improve your grammar and spelling and overall, elevate your writing career.
2. Practice brain dumping.
Brain dumps are a great way to declutter your mind and help you focus on what’s important. They are easy to do and a great first step to creating your to-do list and planning your day/week. To do a brain dump, simply take a piece of paper or notebook and write down everything you need to do, don’t worry if it seems unimportant, whatever is on your mind, put it on paper. Then you can prioritize each item, define the tasks that need to be done and organize them in your schedule.
3. Meditate/clear your mind.
As creative people, screenwriters tend to have a lot on their minds. With stories that begin to form, possible plot lines and characters shaping up, and all those new ideas constantly developing up there, our heads can get saturated quickly and a lot. Meditation and mindfulness have a lot of benefits. They can give you new perspectives, reduce negative emotions, help you manage stress, and most importantly, create space in our minds. Allowing us to be more creative and stay sharp.
4. Track your goals and progress.
Screenwriting can be a solitary trade, and sometimes it’s hard to keep a realistic outlook on whether we’re doing it right or not. Keeping track of your objectives and celebrating your victories is key to a successful creative career. This allows you to measure your success which is otherwise subjective, and keep a clear view of where you are and where you’re trying to get.
5. Set time for yourself aside.
As creative beings, we need to be in constant touch with ourselves and our emotions, and with the rush of every day and the world racing around us, it might be hard to find time to be self-aware. This is why you need to make the time. In her book The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron proposes the “artist date”. A once-a-week moment that you dedicate to your artistic self. The idea is to go on alone and do something that interests you and excites you, and basically, spend time with yourself.
Whether you stick to the once-a-week plan or not, make sure to take a moment now and then to focus on yourself and create a space between you and everything around you. It will help you stay creative and allow your emotions out.
Conclusion. What’s in it for you?
These habits have helped me personally to boost my creativity, become more efficient and reach my writing goals, and they are the foundation of The Screenwriting Journal. A notebook I designed specially for screenwriters to keep track of their goals, organize their daily tasks, and practice mindfulness and gratitude.
You can buy a physical copy of The Screenwriting Journal on Amazon, or get a digital copy by signing up for my mailing list. *
I hope these habits can help you as much as they’ve helped me and, as always, happy writing!
*Once you’ve signed up, send me an email to get your copy 🙂