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7 Article Writing Strategies To Get Into Zen Flow

by Christopher M. Knight

The more you write, the larger your impact. If that's true, why is it that so many authors find it hard to either start writing or to complete articles that they started?

You either buy into the perception of writer's block or you buy into the perception that it's easy for you to enter and exit an effortless state of flow (some call it the alpha mind state) or the zone when writing. It's always a choice and therefore you either set yourself up for failure or for runaway success.

Here are 7 strategies that can help you achieve the zone of flow when it comes to writing your best works:

1) Intentionally create and control your writing environment. This may include having the right clothing on or off, the right music or complete lack thereof, the perfect temperature that you enjoy writing in, your favorite chair or desk and the right amount of lighting or darkness.

2) Time Management: This includes being free for blocks of time without distraction or interruption from friends, family, co-workers, or whomever. You have permission to not answer the phone and it's also OK to shut off the ringer. It's also OK to not check e-mail, voice mail, your PDA etc.

3) Try writing off hours when you're beyond tired. Usually the sage advice is to only write when you're at your mental best, but glorious works have been created when burning the midnight oil. Consider testing writing a block of time when you normally would have gone to bed.

4) Prepare and invest in the best writing tools. If you want to create great works, you must have the best tools. This may include a fast computer, broadband Internet to do research faster, a large flatscreen monitor to be easy on your eyes, and Microsoft Word.

5) Create an anchor to get yourself in state. This is NLP or self-anchoring if you will, but you should have something you do, say, think, touch, or execute in order to instantly put yourself in the state of flow that allows your best works to come out. Imagine yourself the last time you were in flow and writing was effortless. That's the place you want to put your mind to begin writing.

6) Pre-write your way to success the day before you enter the zone. This means free writing ideas and thoughts about what you're going to write about in the future so that your unconscious mind can organize the thoughts for you. The creativity that is in you will often mentally pre-write the entire works for you or at least help you outline your major points so that it will be effortless when you begin to physically write.

7) Remove negative self-talk and mental chatter if you want to enter and stay in the zone. Deny yourself the payoff that you normally get from negative self-talk and be open to the possibility of allowing yourself to zero in on the purpose of your writing. This is a time to let your ego check out. Meditate if you must for a minute or two to focus on your breathing to stop the chatter. Raise your standards and only allow positive self-talk to keep your writing on target.

Conclusion

You can consciously choose to enter the state of creative writing flow and it takes a conscious effort to set yourself up for success. This includes controlling your environment, pre-writing, having the right tools to do the job, and only allowing your mental self-talk to lead yourself into positive questions that result in a creativity release of your very best written works. Decide and then execute to increase your creative writing volume in the Zen state of creative writing flow.

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