💌 The Lie I’ve Been Telling Myself

Salaam friends,

I haven’t been writing. Last month I finished yet another draft of the children’s book I’m working on. I was confident it was the one; it was ready for publication. Soon I would be discovered and things will only get better. I took a break from looking at the manuscript and researched places to submit the book to. Before Ramadan, I read the story one last time, and realized it was far from ready. Since then, I lost the motivation to write. I have been hiding my procrastination behind the productivity aimed at building Hazawi.

Earlier this week I tried to sit and write, but I couldn’t get passed the first page. I didn't have the stamina to sit with the words or the white page, to give space for ideas to flow in. This is what I learned: we romanticize the writing process by giving it words like inspiration and muse. While in fact, writing is a habit. The more often you do it, the better you become at it, the finer the quality will be, and the more stamina you will have for editing. But if you stop writing for a while, for whatever reason, you start losing your identity as a writer. You forget how to enter that ‘flow’ state of mind when words write or type themselves on the page.

Here is what I decided to do moving on:

• Write every first thing in the morning for at least 30 minutes
• Don’t pay attention to the quality or quantity of the writing. You owe the time. Pay your dues, move on, and come back the next day.
• Don’t mask procrastination with productivity by doing something else. You’re a writer before anything else.

These could sound like a toxic productivity trap. But I have a monkey mind, and often the only way to contain it is by creating boundaries. The other way to do this is to have an accountability partner. Some of the best writing periods I have had were because of the regular monthly meetings I have with my writing group.

Of course, the above could be applied to any other habit. Ask yourself what daily habit you should be doing, what are the obstacles that prevent you from getting it done, and what rules can you create for yourself to make it easy to do.

Stay creative!

🚧 Productivity tip

The easiest way to start a new habit is to link it to an already existing habit. For example, if you want to weigh yourself every morning to monitor your weight loss, put a scale in the bathroom, and weigh yourself after your brush your teeth in the morning.

For writing, I sit to write after I uncle my desktop computer. Unlocking the desktop is my trigger to start writing.

🏗️ Project I’m working

I’m still on top of my Ramadan journal, and I’m learning a lot. I can’t wait to share all the insights I’m discovering.

💎 New From Me

A new Hazawi Podcast episode is up. I had the pleasure to speak with my friend Navid, who is a personal trainer, motivational speaker, and positive human being. In our conversation we covered his body-building journey, the car accident that changed his perspective on coaching methods, how to prepare and enjoy Ramadan, and more.

Watch or listen to the full episode using the links below:

YouTube| Apple Podcast | Spotify

🔖 Quote I’m pondering

“When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow, it will split in two, and I know it was not that last blow that did it, but all that had gone before.“

— Jacob A. Riss

📸 Through My Lens