How To Tap More Of Your Potential As A Writer

How To Tap More Of Your Potential As A Writer

By Neal Martin/ September 11, 2014
Last Updated April 27, 2023
writing tips

If you could, would like to take your writing to the next level?

What I mean by that is, would you like to step up a gear as a writer, to tap more of your potential as a writer?

I’d like to think that you would. After all, we all want to be better writers, right? At least better than we are now.

I’m going to show you how you can tap more of your potential as a writer.

You may think you are firing on all cylinders at present but we can always do better.

Here’s how I managed to tap more of my potential as a writer, and how you can to.

I Decided To Take Myself Seriously As A Writer

If I didn’t take myself seriously as a writer, how could I expect other people too?

For years I approached writing like an amateur, like someone who didn’t have the confidence to stand out. My writing wasn’t bad, some of it was even good, but it rarely if ever had that spark that would ignite the imagination of the reader and make them feel like they had just read the best thing ever.

For a writer to really succeed in connecting with an audience, their writing must have that spark. Without it, the writing will be dull and lifeless.

It may be informative, useful even, but it won’t leave the reader with the feeling like they have just read something truly impactful and original.

Writing behind a veil of doubt, uncertainty, fear and insecurity will leave your writing lifeless. It will guarantee you won’t make a substantial impact on your reader, let alone inspire them to great heights.

For your writing to really inspire, you must have a hundred percent confidence in yourself as a writer. You must believe that your work will have an impact, that it will inspire and change people’s minds.

If you don’t approach your writing from that perspective, you are setting yourself up for failure. Why should a reader believe in you and your work if you don’t believe in it yourself?

Do you want to be a writer or not? Do you want to give it your all or not? Do you want to put yourself on the line or not?

If you do, you have to start thinking like a professional.

Professional people are professionals because they know their stuff inside and out. They are exemplary at their jobs. That’s why they are professionals.

They know they have their shit together. They know they can do what has to be done.

As a professional writer, you have to have your shit together also. There is no room in the life of a professional for petty fears and doubts, or self-indulgent insecurities. A professional writer has to get the job done and they have to do the job well. More than that, they have to do the job brilliantly.

As professionals, they don’t have a choice.

So I made the decision that I would start thinking and acting like a professional writer. I dedicated myself full-time to the cause.

I wrote every day.

More than that, I made sure I wrote with absolute confidence.

When I sat down to write I did so with the belief that what I wrote would be simply awesome. This engaged my brain and told it I wouldn’t be settling for mediocrity and never would.

Writing from such a positive mental space improved my writing no end.

But that’s just the start. No one got anywhere just by thinking. You also have to take action.

Massive action.

Professional writers write. You have to write every day.

If you tell your brain that you are this great writer but don’t actually write, your brain will come back with, “Yeah, right. What, you think I’m an idiot? You think I’ll just magically make you the next Hemingway without you doing any of the work? See ya…”

Don’t just think professional, be professional.

I learned to Trust My Subconscious and Myself as a Writer

Over-thinking is a killer. They should have health warnings plastered everywhere about the dangers of thinking too much.

Overthink will lock you up in a cage that gets more inescapable the longer you spend in it.

Overthink is anathema to creativity and flow. It will stop both dead in their tracks.

My writing improved massively when I learned to start trusting myself as a writer and gave in to my subconscious, allowing it to guide me as I wrote.

Before I did this, writing was an often painful experience. Sometimes the words flowed, sometimes they didn’t. Rarely did it ever feel like anything special was flowing out of me. It all felt forced.

Then one day I sat down and decided that I would just write without thinking. Literally, I allowed the words to flow on to the screen. I gave hardly any thought to what I was doing, trusting that my subconscious had things under control, that it knew exactly what to say and how to say it.

And it did. My subconscious, God bless its little cotton socks, practically led me by the hand as I just facilitated it getting the words out.

Let me tell you, when that begins to happen, when it feels like you are taking a back seat to your subconscious, that’s a glorious feeling indeed.

It’s also incredibly freeing. I can’t tell you how good it feels to know that when I sit down to write, I won’t be stuck for words or ideas anymore. No more staring at screens or scratching my head because I don’t know what to write next. Those days are over.

The Creative Flow

There’s a creative flow inside of people. We just have to learn how to tap into that flow.

Once you tap that creative flow, you will never again be stuck for words or ideas.

The creative flow is infinite.

It feels like a balancing act.

It takes concentration.

Let your subconscious take over too much and you will end up writing stream of consciousness nonsense. It’s still up to you to guide your subconscious along, but gently. Don’t try to force it to go anywhere it doesn’t want to go. It usually knows best, so trust it.

Of course this miracle of the creative flow can only happen when certain conditions are met.

To begin with, you have to start thinking of yourself as a professional. If you don’t have the confidence to do that, your subconscious will see this as a manifestation of fear and insecurity.

The subconscious doesn’t deal with fear. It wants nothing to with it.

The subconscious wants someone professional, a willing vessel; someone it knows will fully engage with the process and do what it takes to prove themselves worthy of the gift the subconscious can offer.

If you don’t let your subconscious see that you are acting like a professional—if you don’t make the effort to write everyday, even when you don’t feel like it or when you can’t seem to write anything good—your subconscious will ignore you.

You will never be allowed to tap into the infinite creative flow. You must earn your way in. You must deserve it.

Write Like Your Life Depends On It

Do you want your writing to have an impact? Do you want to produce great stuff?

First, start acting like a professional.

Believe you are one.

Do what professional writers do and write your ass off every day.

Second, cultivate a relationship with your subconscious. Show it you are worthy of its time and attention.

It may take a while for your subconscious to respond. Don’t despair; it’s just testing your commitment, to see how easily you give up.

Don’t give up! Show your subconscious you are serious about writing.

Third, when your subconscious begins to help you, allow it to take over.

Gently engage with it, but make sure it knows you are in control by not allowing it to go off on wild tangents. Keep steering it in the right direction.

Take this approach the next time you sit down to write and I guarantee great stuff will come out of you like never before.

Start writing like your life depends on it, because if you are a professional, it probably does.

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