039 • How I force myself to write every morning
039 • How I force myself to write every morning
Welcome back,
This is a quick trick that I’ve been refining recently to make sure that I’m in the mood to write every single morning…
I make use of a piece of software called Cold Turkey Micromanager. Developed by Felix, the same person who made Cold Turkey Blocker, this is a simple program with one function. To lock you into certain apps when you need to focus.
You see, I’ve used Cold Turkey Blocker for a long time to block certain websites that regularly distract me. I have a list that is blocked permanently, a list that is blocked until 10 am and a list that is blocked until 1 pm.
But you can still get distracted by obscure sites on the internet that you didn’t know you needed to block. They’re rabbit holes that suck your time away almost as effectively as the sites that normally distract you.
So you need a little extra restriction. This is where Micromanager comes in. When you open up the app you choose the programs on your machine, the duration of the effect and whether you want breaks or not, then you click start.
At that point, you’re locked in. There’s no leaving your chosen apps for the time you’ve specified. And there’s no way around it. You have to work.
Of course, the caveat of this method is that many people work inside the browser itself. This means you can’t segregate your work tasks and distracting browsing time, but you can change your system and sanction a different program for all your deep work tasks.
Obsidian is that program for me - I have all the notes, outlines and drafts that are used for all of my content on there. It’s an offline app, so I don’t access the internet, and it means I can be alone with my writing whilst I’m blocked from all distractions.
But ideally, we don’t want to reach a point where we’re forced off of certain apps. A more sustainable way would be effectively motivating ourselves to work so that we don’t feel the want to distract ourselves in the first place.
For this, you should try and program your brain into loving writing (if you don’t already - but I know that some days it just gets difficult). You do this by giving yourself rewards - if you like to drink a coffee before writing, do so. If you want classical music, put some on.
The idea is that we create a great physical and internal environment for ourselves, so we look forward to engaging in the writing process every day.
As mentioned, this is more sustainable than having to block websites and apps so that you’re forced to get the work done. But the latter does work too. I’m being shoehorned into Obsidian as I write this, and it’s done wonders for me to turn this piece of work over so that I can get on with my other projects.
I hope that this tip helps you to get more done. I’m not affiliated with Cold Turkey in any way and have paid full price for their products. This doesn’t stop me from recommending them because each tool is fantastic.
I’ll see you next week!
What I've written this week...
Why I *Still* Use Obsidian For Notes - Revisiting the Piece That Started It All - I wrote a piece about Obsidian that recounted the almost-year that it's been since my first published piece about Obsidian on the internet. I still use the app for taking notes, and this article is the up-to-date reason why.
P.S. From next week we’re moving to Substack. I was unsure about how I was going to approach organising all my internet endeavours into something easy to navigate but also cheap.
In the long term, I’m looking to create a custom website for Fundamentalised but for now, it’s going to be a Substack.
You never know, I might stay there because of the great community features that are going to allow you all to interact with my writing.
Some time next week before the issue is out you're going to receive a welcome email just confirming that you've been added to the new list.