Feeling Stuck in Your Writing? Try This One Mindset Shift

Let's be real: writing is hard. Like, really hard.

Right now, academics and writers everywhere are battling a perfect storm of burnout, impostor syndrome, and global uncertainty. You're staring at a blank page, cursor blinking mockingly, feeling like you'd rather do literally anything else. I get it.

Here's the truth: the problem isn't you. It's how you're thinking about the writing process.

Most of us approach writing like it's a performance. We sit down expecting to produce polished, perfect prose that will immediately wow our readers, supervisors, or journal editors. Spoiler alert: that's not how writing actually works.

Writing is a messy, iterative process. It's less about creating a masterpiece and more about getting something - anything - on the page.

Here's the mindset shift that changed everything for me: treat your first draft like a conversation with yourself. Not a final submission. Not a peer-reviewed article. Just a raw, unfiltered exploration of your thoughts.

Imagine you're chatting with a supportive friend over coffee. You're thinking out loud, working through ideas, making connections. Some thoughts will be brilliant. Some will be absolute garbage. And that's 100% okay.

Your first draft is just you thinking on paper. Give yourself permission to be messy, incomplete, even slightly nonsensical. The magic happens in the revision.

Want a practical strategy? Set a timer for 25 minutes. Write without stopping. No editing. No judging. Just pure, unfiltered thought-dumping. If you write complete nonsense, congratulations - you're doing it right.

For my fellow perfectionists: I see you. I know that inner critic is LOUD. But here's the thing - that critical voice is not your friend. It's the enemy of creativity, the roadblock between you and getting words on the page.

Supervisors, other writers, journal editors - they all want to see your thinking process. They're not looking for a pristine, polished first draft. They want to understand how you're wrestling with ideas.

Look, the world is chaotic right now. Your writing doesn't need to be another source of stress. It can be a place of exploration, of working things out, of discovering what you actually think.

Deep breath. You've got this.

Shoulders back. Words are waiting.