Why Rest Is Critical To Become A Better Writer

Article written by Sean D'Souza
===============================================

Every day at a certain point in my day my brain is exhausted.
And this tiredness has nothing to do with writing.
It's rather got something to do with walking. And listening.

===============================================
And yes, let me explain.
===============================================
Every day I take a brisk walk for about an hour. And I almost
always have my iPod and I'm almost always listening to a course,
some educational stuff, or learning a language.

But about 45 minutes into the walk, something weird happens. My
brain shuts down. No matter how much I try to focus, whole sections
of the audio seem to drop out. I get easily distracted. I try
harder than ever to concentrate, but despite my best efforts the
information seems to have no hold on me.

===============================================
My brain is overwhelmed with information
===============================================
And it doesn't even have to be new information. New information is
extremely exhausting, because my brain has to work out:
1) the relevance of the information.
2) the applications to my every day life.
3) how to use the information in the right manner (and not goof it
up).

This mental calisthenics takes enormous computing power. And by
the 45 minute mark, I'm exhausted.

===============================================
But when I go through the same information the next day I'm
refreshed
===============================================
And this is because my brain has rested. And it's had time to
absorb, sort out and tidy the information into tiny little brain
cupboards. Now I start to build on the previous day's work. And so
every day, a new layer is added.

And this brings me to writing articles daily instead of once a week.

===============================================
You are wasting your time if you try and write once a week
===============================================
When you're learning new concepts, the brain needs to struggle and
sizzle a bit every day. Then it needs a rest. The next day it
builds on that information it learned the previous day. The frying
and sizzling goes on.

And then it rests again. However, if the brain goes through working
on one factor day after day, for a week or so, it learns on a daily
basis. It adds to the knowledge, so that by the time the week has
ended it's pretty confident about the new learning.

===============================================
So let's take an example...
===============================================
Let's say you're in the Psychotactics Article Writing Course. And
on the first week, you only work with creating structure by
answering the questions: How, what, why, when etc.

You keep at it, day after day. The first few days are pure torture.
Then something seems to settle. By week three or four, the
structure issues concerning what, why, when etc. doesn't faze you
at all.

Nope, you've got something else that drives you nuts. Like creating
angles. Or creating drama. Or flow.

===============================================
If your brain tries to take on all of the concepts together it goes
into a state of confusion
===============================================
But if it handles one form of structure a week, day after day, then
you know what happens, right?

Yes, you get better. And the reason you get better is because the
brain gets time to rest. It gets time to resolve glitches. It gets
time to store. It gets time to layer the information without having
the burden of learning and applying it all.

===============================================
But surely you don't have time to write every day
===============================================
You probably don't. And I don't. And no one has time to write every
day. But we believe we can indeed have one big chunk of time in the
week, and that's when we'll get things done. And of course you know
what comes next. Not only will that chunk of time come and go, but
you'll be under more pressure than ever. And you're more confused
than ever.

Setting aside even fifteen minutes will get you to write three-four
paragraphs. It doesn't matter if they're crappy paragraphs. It
doesn't matter if the headline stinks. It doesn't matter if there's
no flow.

What matters is that you do the every day discipline. What
matters is that you're giving your brain the best chance to succeed
by giving it a break between successive sessions.

===============================================
Of course there's a story why I started writing once a day
===============================================
At one point I wasn't writing once a week. I was writing once a
month. And writing was torture. I'd struggle over an article for a
day or two, and there was no guarantee that I'd complete the
article.

And I'll tell you I wasn't having any fun at all. I did it
because I had to. I did it because it was helping our business get
more clients. But I hated the process of writing the article. Of
course once it was done, I'd preen around the words and be all
happy with my work of 'art', but the process, arrrrrrrgh I hated
the process. So I did something quite weird.

===============================================
I started writing more often
===============================================
I started up a membership site at 5000bc.com. There was absolutely
no content at 5000bc when I first started. So in a moment of
bravado I promised the members five articles a week. And though I
was petrified about meeting this deadline, I went about it
systematically and turned out an article or two a day.

Most of the early articles weren't long and structured. They were
short --a bit like blog posts. They had interesting pieces of
information, but there was nothing dramatic about the style and
structure. And then an amazing thing happened.

===============================================
I was able to write five-seven articles a week with more ease than
an article a month.
===============================================
It didn't make sense. Surely I was going to run out of material, I
thought. Surely that stupid Writer's Block would head-butt me
sooner than later, I thought. But instead my brain took over. The
discipline of writing every day forced my brain to think of
innovative ways to have an endless run of content and no fear of
writing whatsoever.

===============================================
Your brain is a lot like my brain
===============================================
It works. Then it shuts down.
Then it needs its siesta, so it can wake up refreshed and live to
write another day.

Try the discipline of writing every day, and resting every day. Not
because I say so, but because without it there's only struggle and
frustration.

=======================================
Product Offers: Links you should visit
========================================
1)"There are marketing books and there are marketing books -
I bet there are not many you have read many times over?

The Brain Audit really teaches you the art of persuasion because
it gives an insight into how people's brains work. I have used the
principles in writing WebPages, writing articles, making
presentations, networking, negotiating and even writing
submissions for a judge!

But the best bit about the Brain Audit is that it actually works.
The principles are easy to understand.

Would I recommend it to people serious about getting on in business?
Absolutely."

Michael Smyth, Approachablelawyer, Auckland
Judge for yourself http://www.psychotactics.com/brainaudit


2)"I started listening on my PC, and found it so compelling
that I downloaded the audio files, and put them on my
PDA to keep listening when I went out."

Eric Graudins, Webangel, Australia
Find out Why the Website Trilogy Series is so compelling?
http://www.psychotactics.com/website-secrets


3) How to Create Powerful Testimonials To Sell Your Internet
Marketing Product. Find out the sec'rets...
http://www.psychotactics.com/testimonialsecrets

©2001-2009 Psychotactics Ltd. All rights reserved.
Wouldn't you love to stumble upon a sec'ret library of small
business ideas? Find simple, yet electrifying ideas, on
copywriting, public speaking, marketing strategies, sa'les
conversion, psychological tactics and branding.
Head down to http://www.psychotactics.com today and judge
for yourself.


Has not getting enough rest affected your writing?