I’ve always had a bit of a problem with the word habit. Something about it always feels off to me.

Maybe because of all the times I’ve failed at building habits 😬

A practice on the other hand. Sounds more fun, more playful, more experimental. Like something I could fail but still be proud of my progress because I’m ‘practicing.’

Kurt Vonnegut puts it WAY more elegantly than I do:

Practice any art*, no matter how well or how badly. Not to get money or fame, but to experience becoming,* to find out what’s inside you*, to make your soul grow.*

It’s why I treat my daily writing as a practice rather than a habit.

Every morning I sit down, choose an idea then start writing & exploring.

Not to produce any particular content. But to find out what’s inside me (& unlock it from the depths of my brain)

If the only time you’re sitting down to write is when you need to publish something - you’ll always be scrambing for content ideas.

But if you commit to a writing practice that isn’t about content. You’ll find you build a deep well of ideas that you can pull content from at any time.

How To Build Your Own Spark Writing Practice

First, Pick An Idea That ✨Sparks You

This is critical if you want to build a consistent practice. We can talk all we want about discipline and overcoming resistance and sitting in the chair and just writing.

But the fact is - if it’s hard you won’t continue doing it.

So pick the low hanging fruit. Pick the stuff you get SO excited about - and explore that.

That will keep you coming back for more tomorrow and the day after, and the day after that.

Then, Start Exploring (Writing is Thinking 🤔)

What does exploring even mean? I think people imagine my writing practice to be me hammering on my keyboard for an hour. But in reality it’s me staring out the window for 20 minutes and then writing a little. Then thinking some more.

One of the things I discovered about writing is that it is essentially thinking.

Richard Feynman famously wrote…

Notes aren’t a record of my thinking process. They are my thinking process.

So think. write. think some more.

Some things I like to do when first picking up an idea are:

• Write down a list of questions I want to explore
• Think about what is obvious to me about the idea
• Use AI to help me brainstorm different angles to explore (hint: AI is a great thinking partner)
• Ask myself ‘What are people missing when it comes to this idea?
• What confuses people when it comes to this idea?

‍

If it feels like you’re still coming up blank when you are exploring ideas then why not consider my Spark Toolkit. It’s filled with 130+ prompts & frameworks to help you explore & share your ideas.

‍

Finally, Suspend Judgement

And finally suspend any judgements like ‘is this idea even good?’ or ‘will anyone be interested in this’ or ‘what will I do with this idea.’

Judgement will shut your creativity down.

The fact is none of us really know which ideas will hit or not. Our job is to explore the ideas & see where they take us.

So if you’re feeling tired by the constant pressure of creating content. Or you’ve tried to build a writing habit in the past and failed - why not commit this week to start a ✨ Spark Practice & see what what happens.

I think you’ll be amazed at how much knowledge spills out all over the place.

‍

Whenever you’re ready to turn your unique personal knowledge into powerful ideas - here are threways I can help:

1. Want to get Sparked like this each week? Sign up to my weekly newsletter - The Spark Newsletterwhere I deliver one actionable tip every Sunday to help you bring your ideas to life & share them with the world.
2. If you want to build a complete system to help you build ideas you can share with the world then check out my ​Atomic Ideas Masterclass​.
3. If you’re coming up blank when it comes to exploring ideas you might want to grab my ​Spark Toolbox​. It’s filled with over 130+ prompts & frameworks that are guaranteed to get you sparked!

‍