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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# 129
I need some new ideas, or I forget the old ideas we once came up with
Walk The Factory Floor
Creating the ritual of an established parcel of structured curiosity, whereby you casually and thoughtfully peruse every idea you’ve recently accumulated.
# 128
I am overwhelmed by big creative tasks or change
Micro Execution
The practice of creating incremental, meaningful work in a limited time frame.
# 123
I organize my ideas inside my head, but can’t find them
Offloading
Humbly accepting the limits of your own mind and trusting ideas to an external system instead
# 133
I wish I had more good ideas, I don’t know how to find them
Negative Ideation
Stretch your imagination through the positive power of bad ideas
# 121
I don’t know if I can wait a year or more to do this project
Macro Oxygenation
Giving large projects a chance to grow on your team by nurturing them with encouragement, freedom and affirmation.
# 134
I have kind of an idea, but it’s not complete and I’m afraid it will get shit on
Griteration
Pushing forward incrementally to spiral up to an idea that has a real impact
# 132
I’m going through a hard time but I can’t explain what it is
Lifesaving
A uniquely appealing activity or practice that enables you to give voice to that which has no words
# 125
I can’t get anyone on my team to take the time to help me on this thing
Extreme Ownership
Create leverage through the attraction of working, not the arrogance of interruption
# 140
I have great ideas inside my head, but people look at me like I’m nuts
Biofeedback
Filtering the quality of your ideas through physical reactions, not subjective opinions
# 111
I’m so focused on customers, I don’t have time to work on my own stuff
Cobbling
The practice of shipping ideas for your own business that are up to the same scale as you would deliver for your customers
# 116
I spent all that time practicing that activity for nothing
Joydraging
The ability to tolerate boring, repetitive, isolating tasks that don’t have an immediate payoff
# 103
I talk myself out of healthy habits towards creative projects
Habit Redistribution
Finding a new value structure to support positive behavioral change
# 118
I am not someone who is good at taking action on ideas
Futurizing
Debating negative thinking by attaching the desired creative outcome to your identity
# 110
I want my idea to go viral and spread
Idea Seeding
Grow the reach and legitimacy for your idea through constant, incremental exposure
# 113
I am blocked creatively, but I don’t know what my problem is
Languaging
Wrapping your emotions into words so you have a handle for overcoming creative blocks effectively
# 105
I have this new idea, but people shoot it down and makes me less likely to take action
Team Oxygenation
Giving small ideas a fighting chance to breathe and grow in the organization by nurturing them with encouragement, freedom and affirmation
# 106
I have this new project, but people shoot it down and makes me unmotivated
Process Oxygenation
Giving new ideas a fighting chance to breathe and grow by nurturing them with encouragement, freedom and affirmation
# 119
I quit ideas too quickly to neglect them for too long
Inner Oxygenation
Giving small ideas a fighting chance to breathe and grow inside your mind by nurturing them with encouragement, freedom and affirmation
# 083
I don’t want to keep writing the same thing over and over again
Surprising
A system to call on yourself a little more with each project
# 087
I have nothing to say and maybe won’t ever write another thing again
Smoking
Consuming your own work to give you solid faith in your creative capabilities
# 085
I can only motivate myself if I have had my coffee
Sparking
The practice of accomplishing things that get you psyched to work even harder
# 092
I can’t commit to creative work and get things moving
Micro Streaking
Using the force multiplier of task continuity to increase your motivational incentives
# 095
I get lazy and beat myself up about not doing the work
Loveme
Responding to a personal weakness or professional failure with compassion
# 093
I don’t want to wait for my idiot coworkers who will only slow shit down
Iron Striking
Doing as much as you can for as long as you can, until somebody else takes notice
# 094
I tried to get this person’s help on my project but it just never happened
Inconvenience Filter
Make it easy for people to help you by not requiring them to change their usual pattern of behavior
# 098
I am almost done with this project, but people keep slowing me down from completing it
Finish Lining
Observing and avoiding whatever opposes or weakens forward motion in the final hour
# 069
I don’t have a fanbase and I’m writing to nobody
Audience Of None
Actively doing great work for no reason other than to feel the positive internal experience it provides
# 070
I want to use my creativity to make a difference in my and other people’s lives
Inner Labor
Increasing your leverage by investing in yourself more consistently.
# 076
I’m losing energy on a project I’ve been doing for a while
Try Softer
Realizing the full potential of your project by walking away from it
# 073
I complain about things too much and it’s unproductive
Railroad Switch
Catching yourself in the act of making superfluous complaints and redirect that energy more usefully
# 065
I don’t know where I end and the work begins
Reverse Curfew
A time based boundary to build discipline as a remote worker
# 054
I can’t find my true voice as a creator
Watermarking
Trusting your willingness to be true to yourself
# 041
I get too distracted and can’t get my work done
Slipstreaming
Achieve creative productivity through social proximity
# 042
I wish more people on the team would believe in themselves and contribute their ideas
Illumination
Giving people and their ideas clarification, validation and permission.
# 060
I’m struggling to find ideas and can’t look at the blank screen anymore
Solvitas Perambulator
Using rhythmic, repetitive exercise or action to clear your mind, stabilize your emotions and increase endophins
# 057
I love making things, but don’t know what to do the rest of the time
Faithful Forces
The custom universe can you count on to help inform your artistic spirit
# 050
I’m not inspired, I want my work to be honest and stand out
Shadowing
Channeling the dark, unconscious aspects of your personality in the service of your creative works
# 056
I can’t make anything original and stand out
Signateur
To become so identified with your work that nobody could steal it
# 032
I get competitive and end up exhausting myself for nothing
Unfinish Line
Treating creativity as an imperfect and noncompetitive practice that never ends
# 037
I want to have a creative career that’s sustainable and growing
Mezzo Streaking
Using the force multiplier of habit continuity to increase your motivational incentives
# 027
I’m never going to meditate but I need to escape the world
Flownership
Purposely escape from the burdens of the world with a manageable, self contained activity.
# 024
I can’t build off this spark of an idea and make it bigger
Moment Of Conception
The single spark of life that signals an idea’s movement value, almost screaming to you, something wants to be built here.
# 029
I don’t think bragging about my work is appropriate
Victory Dance
The act of loving ourselves by acknowledging moments when we’re proud of our completed work
# 003
I am impatient and want an immediate payoff from my actions
Showing Up
Playing the long term statistical averages of the creative process
# 007
I’m not feeling like myself and growing anxious about creating
Recalibration
The practice of inspiring and reinspiring yourself based on each of your unique preferences and passions and predispositions.
# 001
I get discouraged and unmotivated and can’t create
Selfless Service
A ritual of taking small, productive actions on our own behalf that create value in the world for at least one person besides ourselves.
# 011
I’m can’t figure out what I should write next
Gasketing
A daily ritual of emotional release where you metabolize your experiences, make serious mental headway into your ideas and get the creative faucet flowing.
# 017
I have ideas that aren’t fully formed or finished
Micro Expression
Creating ideas in a piecemeal, nonlinear fashion, without the constraints of chronology, sequence, rational order and narrative.
# 012
I wish it didn’t take so long for me to settle in and start my work
On Ramp
A creative subroutine that brings up your energy and snaps you into the appropriate state of mind to do your work.
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