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Writing Can Be Less Productive If You Just Write For No Reason

I feel extremely weird writing on my blog after a long time. I have been writing 750 words everyday for nearly 20 days. But, I’ve not written anything on my blog.

I find it very difficult to write here. I’m not comfortable posting posts which doesn’t make sense in the higher level. Or which doesn’t provide value to someone who’s reading this blog.

I either provide value to my readers, or I don’t write.

It’s interesting how I stopped writing. I was writing blog post every day for the past month. That was my goal.

Within that time, I did a Skype call with Radhika Morabia, and she asked me what my end game goal was for writing. Why was I writing in the first place?

I told her that I was writing to get my thoughts out in the blog. I want to put my thoughts online and that’s why I was doing it. And of course, writing and putting my thoughts online helps me be clear. I don’t have to keep thinking about it all the time.

So, I just put it out by writing. And she told me that writing is not necessarily the only bridge out there to put my thoughts online with the world. There are other mediums as well. For example, podcasts, audio, video, quotes, and all. There are many different ways I can put my thoughts online. It doesn’t have to be with writing.

In fact, writing can be less productive if you just write for no reason. You could have saved that time and worked on something that matters to you the most.

So, I thought about it and it was true. If I just want to get my thoughts online, I can do it with almost anything. Why am I only writing? So, from then, I thought that it’s better to post my thoughts through other mediums – whatever I’m comfortable with. If I feel like writing, I can post a blog post, if not, I can post a audio or video of me speaking.

And so, I stopped writing. I do regret that. I mean, I was writing for other reasons as well. To learn the art of expressing myself through writing. To make myself more creative in terms of writing stories. I wanted to improve my writing.

Writing was a good thing. I stopped it thinking that I was just doing it for putting my thoughts online. That was wrong.

As soon as I realized that, I started to write 750 words on 750words.com. It’s a site where you mind dump your 750 words everyday. I’m on a 18 or 19 day streak right now. That’s a huge milestone for me.

I’ve been writing there everyday. And since I was writing there, I stopped writing in my blog altogether.

It’s because:

  1. It’s hard to write quality posts for my blog, whereas it’s very easy for me to write a mind dump idea which I’ve been thinking for sometime.

  2. People might unsubscribe or think that I’m not worth following. If you keep writing bad posts, people will start to question your ability. And that’s what I was afraid of.

So, what I want to explain you through this is that, when you think of why you’re doing something, always think in terms of what you were thinking when you first started doing it. Don’t just think blindly within that time frame. Think broadly.

If I was thinking broadly when I thought that I was writing just to put my thoughts online, then I would have figured that it was wrong. I was writing to improve myself and express myself better as well. Of course, there are other mediums, but I choose writing because I think it’s the most promising.

While you be yourself, don’t be afraid. Never. Being afraid makes you want to settle for mediocre lifestyle, which is a big NO.

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  1. I’ve actually used 750words.com for a lot of different things. . Sometimes just the mind dump, sometimes drafts for letters or blog posts, and very often to record personal history.
    I’ve written a bunch of childhood stories that way, and a couple of other essays that I’m very happy with.
    English not being my native language, but the language I write in, it’s also very good practice to find the right word quickly.
    I’ve been writing MUCH more since I’ve been doing this.. even of I only count the writing outside of 750words.com.

    • I’ve used 750words.com for a lot of different things as well.

      At first, I started to write to create a habit of writing everyday. I didn’t last long, so I quit. Later, I started writing again to track my life. For example, what I did during the day, what I want to do, what I felt, etc.

      Sometimes, I find it fun to write, sometimes I have to force myself to write. Whatever the case, the post I write has helped me a lot in terms of improving myself.

      However, after 61 days streak on 750words, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake hit us in Nepal. And then I haven’t written anything there.

      I’m writing on Evernote right now. 🙂