Writing Tools: Behaviors
Use these acts of conducting yourself in specific ways yielding proficiency.
Click below on "taxonomies" to learn types of mindsets, or scroll and search all 100 tools!
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- Model
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- Strategy
- Structure
- System
- Technique
- Tension
- Trick
- Trigger
# 305
I want to learn quickly so I can write groundbreaking ideas
Creative Promiscuity
Providing more entry points for insight to occur through a compressed, high level of diverse input
# 307
I want to get better at dealing with rejection so it doesn’t derail me
Buffering
An alternative regulatory strategy to negative feedback about your work
# 310
I just got bad news and now I’m struggling with a crisis
Canvassing
Using dedicated chunks of creative expression to explore, exhaust and exceed difficult feelings
# 313
I have a bad feeling that things are about to take a turn for the worst
Crossbreeding
Giving yourself permission to fantasize in both positive and negative directions
# 312
I am overwhelmed with tasks and get flustered going from meeting to meeting
Centering
Punctuating routine activities with a line of demarcation or microstructure that sets a boundary between peripheral and principle creative work
# 301
I want to branch out and expand my writing repertoire
Mediuming
Consciously and proactively mixing up your creative vehicles
# 304
I am blocked because of difficult emotions and intense experiences that haven’t been processed
Forgetting
Using the creative process as tool for cleansing, lightening and liberating your heart and mind
# 314
I have too many potential writing ideas and it’s getting overwhelmed
Ungunking
Using a simple, binary evaluation to unclog the creative pipes and shepherd ideas through the system
# 286
I have lost my mojo for this writing project and can’t get it back
Gravitational Order
Using motion to create equilibrium so your creative work finds its place in the universe
# 293
I want to provide a valuable brand experience quickly so we have loyal customers
Price Of Admission
Tracking and pinpointing when customers experience the aha moment of seeing your value
# 288
I have to be creative for all these other people, but what about writing for me?
Productive Selfishness
Saving some creativity for yourself to optimize the very process for which you are renowned
# 284
I have all the ideas to improve my company, but don’t want to annoy or overwhelm people
Germination
Starting small with your big ideas, letting the seed of organizational change sprout over time
# 266
I’m in over my head, I have to write things that don’t come naturally to me
Enlisting
Transferring the architecture behind your core talent to a mundane or overwhelming task
# 269
I only have a small role in this project, but I want them to remember me
Scrapping
Creating an intentional point of overdelivery
# 276
I want my readers or audience to know how good I am and respect my talent
Stiletto
Compressing your portfolio of talents into a tight little package that demonstrates the full firepower of your creative arsenal.
# 263
I want to trust my inner voice more and figure how to do great work
Intuitive Leading
Deconstructing instincts into hard concepts that can be understood more technically
# 272
I get blocked creatively and turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms
Interception
Lovingly stepping into your worry stream with a sense wonder to buffer against impulsive behavior
# 273
I wish the writing process was faster and easier, making art is hard and takes forever
Erasing
Raising our frustration tolerance by remove extreme language from our vocabulary
# 262
I read and learn and have experiences, but don’t write anything with my learning
Encoding
The practice of processing experiences into insights and insights into habits
# 251
I just got kicked in the nuts by life, and it sucks
Good Low
When life hands you a pile of shit, you strategically convert that experience into creative resources of energy, fertility and happiness
# 256
I always suck when I first start writing, and it makes me want to quit
Excavating
Clearing the surface level content out of your system to allow quality ideas to emerge
# 245
I work at home and it’s hard to see where my work ends and my self begins
Punching Out
A ritual of leave taking at the end of your creative workday
# 253
I don’t do open mics or showcases, but I need to get more exposure for my work
Permissionless Platform
Hiring yourself to create a local artist’s residency
# 247
I have a hard time getting started with my writing, it takes forever to get into the zone
Centering Sequence
A daily ritual that brings your brain up to operating temperature in order to run properly
# 235
I don’t journal like I should, but I just don’t see the point
Metabolizing
Treating journaling as a psychological and physical accounting of your emotions
# 225
I have a huge and scary writing project to do that is out of my depth, and it’s intimidating me into paralysis
Impossibility Subroutine
A ritual to help ramp up your energy and snap myself into appropriate state of mind to approach an overwhelming task
# 222
I need to work out some feelings and figure out what’s going on
Aggressive Pondering
Deliberately creating a situation or framed experience in order to have an arena in which to work out an unresolved issue
# 226
I hired this person to help with my writing project, but their results suck, and it’s costly and exhausting
Upfronting
Giving more frontend raw material our creative collaborators so they can do more for us
# 223
I have unhealthy habits that make it hard to get my writing done consistently
Relocation
Reducing our exposure to the kinds of situations and surroundings that enable us in the wrong direction
# 215
I have this big meeting coming up about my work, and I’m freaking out
Priming
Reminding yourself of your accumulated track record to build faith in your creative capabilities
# 209
I’m new and young, and want to improve my skills and become a master at my writing craft
Apprenticing
Finding opportunities to build your emotional and physical calluses
# 214
I am not confident in my writing yet, and I need people who can encourage me
Borrowed Hope
Trusted voices to compensate for your low confidence in the beginning of a creative journey
# 212
I need to do things I dislike to support my creative practice
Stacking
Layering value on top of existing creative habits to make them more enjoyable, rewarding and sustainable
# 219
I work in volatile, disorganized environment where people are overlooking valuable opportunities
Campgrounding
Leaving things at your company more organized than when you found them
# 210
I want to do this writing project, but I keep getting overwhelmed
Depressurizing
Consciously respond to panic a way that serves your creative efforts
# 186
I think too much and my brain is overloaded, so there’s no room for creative ideas
Sanity Tax
Paying a minor cost for something that is disproportionate to the massive value you get in return for having it
# 190
I want to produce more writing, but need some kind of external force to move things along for our team
Sunlighting
Using the forcing function of public accountability to bring a creative work into existence
# 188
I want a land a new writing gig that has the highest probability of fulfillment for me and success for the company
Fresh Powder
Professional opportunities where you can write your own ticket and set the standard, not just comply with it
# 183
I never have enough time in the day to write, I waste too much time
Operating Temperature
Making devices of your body and mind suitable for creative application
# 195
I am in a new creative role at my job, and I want do make a good first impression
Bittersweet Spotting
Focusing on doing the things that nobody can do but you, and focusing on doing the things that anybody can do, but won’t
# 181
I want to make a difference on my team and ensure job security
Sniffing
The practice of converting your curiosity into everyone else's utility
# 174
I have lots of good expertise, but it exists in my head
Gold Mining
Immortalizing key learnings that would otherwise just live inside one team member’s brain
# 178
I want to move the ball down the field this project, but everyone has an opinion
Input Embargo
Setting limits on the level and frequency of team feedback during the creative process
# 162
I just want to write the same thing over and over again
Motifing
Engaging in guilt free creative projects that are uniquely appealing to you
# 168
I write all this stuff but it’s not connecting with people
Content Branding
Building, protecting and nurturing the symbolic, social and emotion capital around your work
# 165
I don’t know when a new writing project is the right one to take on
Actionstorming
Finding creative opportunities by getting out of your goddamn head and actually trying things
# 161
I’m a high achiever and it’s hard to relax and enjoy myself
Joy Triggers
Embrace a diverse set of activities that form a complete identity.
# 151
I just finished writing something, and critical feedback is coming from the team
Mental Oxygenation
Giving creative confidence room breathe and grow by nurturing it with encouragement, freedom and affirmation
# 148
I have lots of ideas on my team, but I don’t know which to focus on
Shit Filter
Gauging the quality of your ideas through physical reactions, not subjective opinions
# 137
I need inspiration, and none of these tricks or hacks I’m using work
Inventive Mechanism
The natural constellation of creative entities we already possess and can access