You may not think that being a productive writer is a long-term goal, but trust me, it is.
What I’m talking about here is becoming more efficient with your time and setting yourself up to be more effective.
This means that you will need to become a better writer and avoid wasting time on tasks that don’t serve you.
Here are five key ways to be a better writer:
1. Never stop learning
What I’ve just told you about getting more productive is just scratching the surface of what you can learn.
Becoming a better writer means that you have to know how to read, write, edit, and market your content.
You have to be a student of the process and pick up the skills of a writer. You also need to expand your skillset.
You don’t have to be the best writer out there, but you do have to be competent at what you do.
But here’s the deal: you are always learning.
Every day you are learning something new about writing or marketing, and your goal should be to develop a well-rounded skill set.
When you start learning new things, your experience with a certain subject changes, and you’re able to write about it in a way that is easier to understand.
You should never stop learning. Every day is a new chance to learn something new, and this leads to writing being more natural to you.
When you’re a beginner, your writing could be awkward, but when you are advanced, it’s clear and easy to understand.
If you want to become a better writer, then you need to continue learning and absorbing everything that you can.
Don’t stop reading. Don’t stop taking courses.
Keep pushing yourself.
The more experience you have, the easier it will be for you to see the differences between people who are good writers and people who are great.
There’s no difference at all.
2. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable
I have a friend named Jeff Goins. He’s a marketing guru.
But he’s also an author, speaker, blogger, and leader in the marketing world.
You might be thinking that this guy doesn’t have much experience with writing, but trust me, he does.
He has published multiple books and a blog that helps people learn how to write and market their products.
What I love about Jeff is that he is comfortable in being uncomfortable.
When we are challenged, he writes about it and he teaches others how to do what he is learning to do.
He can tell when he is in a situation where he doesn’t know what to do and he steps up and teaches himself.
That’s how he became a great marketer. He kept working at it and working at it.
A few years ago, he started blogging about marketing. He was fresh out of college and just got his first job.
He didn’t know what to write about. He started blogging about what he was doing, how he was learning to market, and what it was like to work in marketing.
One thing that he did was to turn his back to his blog readers. He would write a post and turn his back on it.
This way, he wouldn’t see any comments or anything that might distract him from what he was trying to do.
We can learn a lot about being a better writer by getting comfortable being uncomfortable.
The things that we are struggling to learn are just as important as the things that we are strong at.
As a writer, you are never done learning, so be comfortable with doing just that.
3. Be your own resource
Let’s face it. Even as an experienced writer, you’re not an expert on everything.
You might be good at writing about one specific topic, but you have little experience in how to do things outside of that.
You may know how to make a cover letter, but how does it look for a job posting?
Or how do you create an elevator pitch for a small business?
You don’t need to be an expert on everything, but you do need to know where to turn to get advice and answers to those questions.
As a writer, you can be an expert resource for your industry.
By not only writing about that subject but also offering insight, you can become a leader in your field and be the go-to person for that subject.
As an expert resource, you can help your readers and colleagues who are in the same situation that you were when you began.
When you write about it, you are offering the answer to a common problem that lots of people are experiencing.
When you write about it, you are solving that problem for those who are struggling with it. Your experience shows others how to solve that problem.
4. Know your limitations
If you’re like me, you don’t have time to get deep into the world of marketing.
But you do know what your strengths are. Don’t compare yourself to the best marketers in the world.
You don’t have time for that. Be sure you know what you’re good at and what you’re not so good at.
Then you can pursue writing, marketing, and teaching that area.
5. Be brave enough to ask for help
I am constantly learning from others. I might learn about writing from my writing coach, but I will still seek out advice from other writers.
I listen to podcasts and read blogs that are relevant to the area that I’m writing about.
When I feel like I need more information or want to get more detailed on a subject, I seek out others who have written about it. And when I need help, I ask for it.
We don’t have to be experts on everything, but we do have to learn.
The fact that I’m a blogger means that I need to know more about marketing.
But this means that I have to ask for help from those who are experts and share what I know with them.
We aren’t meant to succeed at everything that we try.
We are meant to learn and grow and we are meant to do the things that we can do well. Write a blog and write about what you can do well.
Ask for help.
