Written

The Zeigarnik effect is a state which means that people remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed ones, because our attention is drawn to them. Cialdini thinks it’s all to do with our innate craving for what he calls ‘cognitive closure’.

Psychologists researching learning in the 1970s found that setting incremental subgoals has positive psychological effects. 1.Close-by goals provide immediate incentives in performance compared with far-away ones where people tend to slacken their efforts. 2.They help people better understand what needs doing, allowing them to choose what activitie

Start by noting down your writing goal. Put into words what you want to achieve. At this stage, don’t worry about making it specific – that will come. Instead look for the feeling of anticipation when you have an exciting challenge ahead of you.

Schulte coined the phrase ‘time confetti’ to describe the ‘bits and scraps of garbagey time. Five minutes here. Ten minutes there. Listening to the radio, exhausted, trying to get out of bed. Getting some exercise. Waiting by the side of the road for a tow truck.’

‘Make an intention and follow through with it. So, if all you can do is write one day a month, say “I’m going to take one day a month that’s all I’m doing” – that’s twelve good days a year, there’s a lot of writing you can get done.’

the most successful creatives aren’t necessarily more gifted than their less successful peers. Rather, they produce more, which improves their overall chances of having a hit.

1. SELF-ASSESSMENT: PICK AN APPROACH Think about your current life, your work and family commitments and your other priorities over the past few months. Consider which of the descriptions best describes how you typically fit writing into your life: Daily writer: ‘I need a daily writing habit and like the security of a routine.’ Time boxer: ‘I schedule

There are two approaches for this.12 1.Starter step. This will be something very small that gets you going, such as opening your notebook or naming a document. It’s not necessarily about doing any writing – yet. It will develop into a writing habit, but by keeping the first step small you’ll be able to begin. 2.Scaling back. This approach gets you

Langer defines mindfulness as ‘the process of actively noticing new things’. Her 40-plus years of experimentation and research proves that being more mindful and noticing how you do things, the assumptions you have about yourself, the myths you tell yourself, what you might take for granted, and so on, is one of the most powerful things you can do