Imagine this scenario…

You are in front of your computer waiting for the words and ideas to come for that blog post you know has to get published by the end of the day.

You stare blankly at the screen in front of you…Somehow the words just won’t come, the minutes start feeling like hours, and if it continues, the hours can feel like days.

But that deadline is looming, ever closer, as the minutes tick and tick…You sit there, still stuck and staring. As the time passes, your mind morphs from a lack of thoughts into many thoughts…
Thoughts of that deadline…

Dread builds, and your stomach begins to churn…It travels to your now dry throat, and it moves further up to your head, which begins to ache…

OK, you know the feeling, right?

Why does writer’s block strike us at times? I have often wondered about this malady and after years of research and personal experience can say, in a few words, that most of the time, it comes down to our fears…

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Fear of failure, fear of not being good enough, or fear to succeed in some cases…Where am I going with this subject? Will it matter? Can I affect change with my words?

These are all questions that run through your head…But no answers…No words…

Let’s face it…Walls and blocks are tough whether real or imagined. They can seem huge, intimidating, and insurmountable…But walls are made to traverse, go around, or dig under…

As an entrepreneur, finding workarounds and solutions to problems daily are the norm…Writer’s block is a problem for sure, but one that you can fix using a few tools from your entrepreneurial ‘arsenal’…

That wall can be beaten…

Here are five tools I use from my personal ‘arsenal’ to break through writer’s block that I want to share with you today:

1. Shift Your Perspective.

I will do something that I take pleasure in and helps relax my mind. It can be any activity, but something you like to do that frees up your mind for thinking…

I and people I have worked with have taken a walk, gone for a swim, changed rooms and listened to music, drew pictures, danced, ridden a bicycle, etc.

It can be anything that will take your mind off that writer’s block and wall…It should be something that will not shift your focus too much to the activity where you cannot think freely…

A high degree of concentration is not necessary with such activities, and this is the goal…

2. Mind Mapping Exercise.

This is something I have been doing since a young lad as a newly married military soldier, It helped me dream and put the dreams on paper in front of me…

As I started with a central subject (i.e. where do I want to be in 20 years), and then started building actions and factors the map would naturally branch out and soon I would have a complete plan of action…

This works for so many things you need to solve…You could even do it on writer’s block! Why are you experiencing a blockage of thoughts, what is keeping you from getting the job done, how will you do it better in the future, etc.

These days they have software programs that allow you do go through this exercise and never touch a pen or pencil…I am old school though and think it is more effective if you actually make points, circle them, draw arrows, add sub-points, and build it manually…

Messy is OK, as long as you can follow your train of thought when you look at the result. Many times it will click something in your mind and that wall will be gone…I have used this tool hundreds of times over the years…Clarity and purpose are some outcomes, as are a direction and words to point the reader in that direction…

3. Write Short Takes.

If I cannot get the whole thing written often I will start with the basics…What are the main points I want to get across?

Rather than tackling the entire blog post, I will work on one point at a time…Take a break, then start on the next one…

At this point I am not so concerned with flow, fitting things together, keywords, or much else, just adding in the main sub-points for each point…

During the mini-breaks between writing these short takes, I do a short relaxing activity, such as a quick walk or making myself a cup of coffee.

The carrot for me is these mini-breaks, so even if not perfect, I get something down on paper or on the screen, and take one…

As I do this for each section, at the end it is then easy to edit and stitch the pieces together into a decent blog post…

4. Read something related to the subject of your blog post.

A lot of times, I will give in to the writer’s block and look at other interesting material I find on the internet about the subject.

I may use Tumblr, StumbleUpon, a Google search, or I may pull up an interesting article I have saved to read later…

Whatever the source, I read about the subject and forget that I have to write about it too…

I can easily get lost in what others are thinking, and in turn my mind is opened to my own thoughts on the subject…

There are times when I have taken notes about what I am reading, and these can help break the ice and get my thoughts flowing…

Sounds simple, but it works for me…

5. Allow Yourself To Write Badly.

Many times when we are under pressure to publish we want to get it right the first time…When things do not flow as we wish, we get stressed…It builds and we just can’t get anything done, let alone a perfect article.

To solve this, I will tell myself the following: “It is OK to write anything, even if it is bad.” This means there is no pressure at all…I have taken it away…Just let your mind stream and whatever words come write them down…

Often what comes is not good. I am surprised if it IS good actually. But as is the case when we look at published content we may have done months earlier, often we immediately see improvements that could be made…

So it is with this tool…When you look back at the bad writing, you will see how to make it better, more readable, more entertaining, etc.

Related Reading: Easy Way To Find Blog Post Ideas

Conclusion

Writer’s block is a real problem for many online marketers, especially ones that may not have written much in their life…

As you can see from my own experiences and tools I have developed to directly address this problem, it can be addressed head on and solved…

You may have others, I am sure there are a hundred such tools out there.

My advice:

Find tools that work for you, use them to treat writer’s block, get it done, and get it right after you get it done!

I would be interested to hear what others are doing to combat this real problem we all experience at one time or another…

Let us know below and let’s discuss!

Cheers!
Dave : )

About The Author – Dave Sweney – Visit His Blog

I am a fellow Wealthy Affiliate member with 2 years of experience with online marketing, 25 years of offline marketing, and have written many forms of content over the last 40 years in different settings. This means I do know about writer’s block! : )

This is Dave’s first contribution to IpoopCash.com