How I Write 5,000 Words a Day Even When I'm Lazy.

#007. It's not discipline...

Writing 5,000 words daily sounds impossible, especially when you're feeling lazy and unmotivated all day like me.

Trust me, I've tried everything: from time blocking to the Pomodoro technique to the 2-minute rule, but none of them worked for me.

There were always articles I knew I had to write, but I didn't. I always waited for motivation to kick in, but it never came when I needed it most. "I'll write tomorrow" often turned into days, sometimes even weeks.

After many trials and errors, I finally found a way to write more than 5,000 words daily without any motivation or discipline.

Don't Worry, It's Not You, Everyone is Lazy

Feeling lazy and unmotivated is okay. Even top writers feel this way.

The main problem is not knowing the reasons behind your struggles with motivation and procrastination.

Without understanding the cause, it's like taking medicine without knowing why you're taking it.

Rather than trying every writing tip you see online, it's better to first understand what's holding you back from writing more.

Here are the full steps to writing 5,000 words daily without any discipline or motivation:

1. Writing Clarity

Most writers, including myself, struggle with clarity because we're taught by big writing gurus that the more we write, the better it is.

But it's not completely true.

Learning to focus on things that generate the most output and eliminating everything else is more effective than just writing for the sake of writing.

Use the Brain Dump method to get your Writing Clarity first:

Brain Dump

Start by dumping everything in your mind onto a paper or digital note. I like using Obsidian for my brain dumps.

Start your day with a brain dump. By doing this, you'll easily eliminate the feeling of overwhelm.

my today's writing brain dump…

Doing this even once will bring immediate results in your writing clarity.

2. Quadrant Your Writing

It usually takes 5, 10, or 15 minutes to do a brain dump. Once done, it's time to quadrant your writing using the Eisenhower Matrix.

This filtering will help you list out your brain dump and find the key writing tasks you need to accomplish.

The Eisenhower Matrix

This matrix helps in dividing all the brain dump writing tasks into four quadrants based on their importance and urgency:

• Quadrant 1: Important and Urgent tasks that require immediate attention and bring great output.

• Quadrant 2: Important but Not Urgent tasks with no deadline. Schedule these tasks for a perfect time, or they will never get done.

• Quadrant 3: Urgent but Not Important tasks. Batch these tasks.

• Quadrant 4: Not Urgent and Not Important tasks. Eliminate these tasks.

Make sure that there's at least one writing task in Quadrant 2. This ensures long-term progress on your writing.

For me, I always put "1 Newsletter Issue Writing" in Quadrant 2 and schedule it in advance so I don't have to worry.

My today's quadrant writing list.

3. Time for 'Focus Writing'

Now choose one key writing task that will help you get closer to your long-term writing goal, like writing long-form newsletter content or working on your offer.

My first quadrant writing tasks…

'Focus Writing' will make you feel more fulfilled and happy once you complete it.

If you have an all-or-nothing attitude like me, writing a lot one day and doing nothing the next, focus on building the habit first.

You can't write 5,000 words a day if you don't have the practice of writing that much. Start small, like writing 300 words a day, and slowly increase it day by day.

4. Eliminate The Rest

Out of the writing tasks on your list, eliminate those that are non-essential.

Even if you think, "No, I have to do this today," you can often do it the next day without any problems.

If you've been procrastinating and piled up a giant mountain of work, and even if you try to do it all, you think you can't.

Pick the important ones, eliminate the rest from the list, and schedule them for later.

5. Writing Progress

The end goal doesn't matter; it's the progress that does because it leads you to the end goal. -

Sid

At the end of each day, go through your writing task list and see how many you got done.

See if you completed the top three main writing tasks for the day. If yes, give yourself a tick; if not, give yourself a cross.

Tracking your progress, whether it's on Notion, Obsidian, or Notes, helps you know where you are and keeps the progress in mind.

Don't Forget, Own Feedback Matters

Write down in one sentence what went well and what could have been better. This takes 2-3 minutes but helps you improve for tomorrow.

By writing a "Writing Feedback" on what went well and what didn't, you give yourself a chance to do better than yesterday.

Did You Notice Something?

I didn't share how to write fast or use specific tools because I know that you know how to write. Everybody does, and if not, the only way to learn is by writing more.

That's why I didn't tell you how to write but what to do before and after your writing.

I guarantee that even if you're feeling unmotivated and lazy, if you go through the steps from brain dump to feedback.

tTe next thing you'll realize that you've already completed all your writing tasks for the day—in my case, 5,000 words count.

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If you found this helpful, I'm currently working on creating a “Free Community” to connect like-minded writers like you.

I'll also add a few master guides, maybe a mini-writing course, and other digital products inside it.

Also, I'm looking for a partner "Creator" who already has a newsletter to work together. If you're free and interested, DM me, please.

Let me know in the comments if you're interested in the free community I'm working on.

Happy writing!