How do I start writing? Daily 300-word writing challenge. (Day1)

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go. – Dr. Seus

Do you agree with Dr. Seus? I doubt it because the more I know by using the internet, the harder I make any decision.

Somehow, I hate the internet, but I need it desperately. I need it to learn new knowledge and skills at work, I need it for making my private life easier, like how to open a stubborn jar, I googled it and I did find a nice solution.

To open a stubborn jar, ware rubber gloves.

Writing is learning

Personally, I enjoy learning, as a UX designer/ researcher for online education product, studying 'how people learn' is part of my job.

Using writing as a tool for learning benefits us in many aspects. Writing not only helps integrate prior knowledge with new concepts, but it also improves our communication skills.

Okay, so I sat down and started writing......8 hours later, NOTHING!👿👿

Write it now, or you will never start

Why start writing such a tough work? Because I want to be perfect, right the first shot. 

🔥🔥 I blame the internet. 🔥🔥

I really want to write something that no one did before, and the internet just showed me that there are 10,000 people already wrote something similar and better. (What makes it worse, AI is also writing now, faster than humans, damn it...)

AI can produce 30,000 local news stories a month.

Make writing personal

Let's face the reality. The first try is always bad, and it is perfectly fine. Shortcuts are an illusion: there’s no quick road to success. 

Here is my mindset for starting writing:

Check in with yourself. You live in your own time zone, and you are not late or early. Just in time. 

In fact, this is a quote from a viral post. Unknown author. Check the lovely Illustration by 阿背:

So write for myself. It is journey of self discovery. 

Tips to make a smooth start

step 1
Start small, try to write 300 words a day for a week. If you have no ideas for what to write, just write down what you do today.

step 2
Find a writing partner who can do the 300-word challenge with you.

step 3
Make it public, no matter how satisfied are you with your writing. Using Medium or Note, they are both very user friendly. 

step 4
Use some technology to help you focus, like the Forest or Pomodoro.

Bonus tip
If you cannot find someone writing with you, try this youtube videos, called "Study with me". Sit down with the girl in the video and write together.

Thanks for reading, I hope this article give you some inspiration and feel like to start writing now. 

Well, actually, I was supposed to write just 300 words and for just 30 min today. In the end, I wrote for 2.5 hr!

Once you start writing, and with right mindset, you will forget the time and enter a state of being called Flow.  Amazing, right?