How To Keep High Motivation and Write Inspiring Articles Every Day

Controlling motivational drops is the first step to improving your writing skills.

Writing is one of the most demanding jobs I have ever done. Not only because it is hard to find inspiring ideas or discussion topics, but writing an article is one of the most procrastinating tasks that could exist. And procrastination, if repeated over time, can result in low motivation levels.

In the past, sitting down to write was my pass to surfing the Internet out of curiosity. While researching the topics I wanted to discuss, I got distracted by everything. And the more I wasted my time not writing, my motivation kept falling until I abandoned writing for a while.

Since last year, however, I have been producing consistent content. Sometimes I create more, and sometimes less, but I never abandoned my passion. And the key hasn’t been so drastic as giving up the Internet or not researching topics.

It wasn’t a prohibition that made me disciplined and consistent. On the contrary, I kept procrastinating, but with a more supportive mindset. I built a long-term purpose and a planning system that helped me visualize my goals and thrive for them. So I learned how to keep high motivation and write inspiring articles every day.

How to reach high motivation to write inspiring content.

If you wrote at least a few articles in your life, you recognize the pieces driven by a motivational purpose and those which are not.

If the authors find the topic interesting, their ideas gloom with arguments, passion, and intriguing style. And they surprise you with their voice which seems so original and well-written, even if it doesn’t have anything special. There is a hidden connection between the author and the reader which you can’t see, but you can feel. And that is the power motivation gives to articles.

But motivation is an eager beast. When it has many preys, it becomes greedy. And when it doesn’t, it starves.

So when you’re motivated, you put every piece of power in your articles and feel them with charming concepts. But if motivation runs up, your articles become weak and hungry for creativity.

To prevent my motivation from dropping, I analyzed what worked for me in the past year and how I could write so many articles without ever giving up. Therefore, I will summarize the results that made me keep high motivation so you can do it as well.

Without purpose, writing becomes vague.

Working with purpose is the first step that transformed my passion into a side hustle and then into a job.

The first time I experienced writing, I didn’t know what I wanted to achieve, nor how I would have done it. I loved writing, it was my all-time passion, but a hobby without a goal can never evolve into a living. So until I defined clear goals for my work, my motivation was volatile. Perhaps sometimes higher than it is nowadays, but too inconsistent for building anything with it.

Since working with a purpose, I always have a goal in mind — living from my passion. I don’t want to work for a corporation, and the urgency to get away pushes me to write even when I don’t enjoy writing that much. My regular job is always there to remind me of that.

Purpose also helps me create more realistic articles. I know what I am aiming for. So each time I notice a fuzzy piece, I can align it with my purpose throughout editing.

A life mission can refill your motivation giving you a reference point when you are confused. So if you have a precise goal in mind, you can ignore any uninspiring moment.

Queued tasks reduce distractions.

Some days, I wake up so inspired that I wish to have a piece of paper with me. And even if I try to take advantage of these opportunities, I can’t always succeed. Life gets in the way, and when I finally sit to write, my motivation disappears.

To prevent losing motivation throughout the day, I queue my tasks to take advantage of the periods I was motivated or the activities that I enjoy the most.

If I am highly motivated about one task on my schedule, I use it to distribute motivation to other activities. So I can push myself to reach that task or use the gratification it gave me to keep working.

With writing, you can try different approaches.

• You can start with the most motivational task, so you stop procrastinating right away and keep working. One of my favorite tasks is editing because it makes me reshape my articles in the final form. So with this type of queue, I start with editing an old piece. Then, I take a break making infographics or taking care of my blog. And finally, I outline and write a new article, which is my most demanding task.
• You can put the most motivational task at the end of the queue, so you are eager to reach it. For example, I could write at the beginning of the workday when my mind is fresh and full of energy. Then, I could make infographics and take care of my blog. And at the end, I could edit, so I end the day feeling fulfilled.
• Or you can put the most motivational tasks in the middle of the queue, so you can use both advantages.

Outlining a task reduces the fear of uncertainty.

Most writers outline their articles, but you can use the same technique for every related task. Outlining tasks reduces the fear of uncertainty because it shows you the steps you need to take, so it is easier to finish them.

Also, the fear of uncertainty harms your motivation. If you don’t know what to expect, you will be less motivated to start a task. But if you understand the necessary steps to complete it, it won’t scare you, and you will find it painless.

When editing articles, I follow a standard outline:

• Skim the article with Grammarly to find punctuation errors.
• Find a natural way to introduce efficient keywords without ruining the beauty of sentences.
• Mark and simplify or split long and complex sentences.
• Emphasize the article by changing weak words or passive sentences.
• Read the article one last time and understand if the working heading needs a revision. Then, choose the final one.
• Build links with other articles to guide the audience towards more information.

Each time I edit a new article, I make a to-do list with these steps. But the list can vary.

Sometimes, I add the publication to the editing process since they are related. Other times I add other tasks too, like searching for supporting articles and links, if I don’t have any.

Planning improves strategical decisions.

Planning has a similar effect on motivation as queuing and outlining tasks but on a larger scale.

When you plan your content, aligning it to your purpose, the chances to write about random topics your audience doesn’t care about decreases. Also, a clear schedule allows you to write related articles and connect them with more efficiency.

I may write an article about a generic topic and then deepen its principles in another piece. But if I don’t schedule my tasks, I may forget to build a link between them, so I fail at keeping my audience on my blog.

On the contrary, writing with a plan allows me to build a strategy that comprises many linked articles.

I can’t discuss everything related to content creation in one article. It is impossible. But I can bring many perspectives using different pieces. So I can plan them to come out in the correct order without missing any link.

Final thoughts.

Motivation is the enemy of writers. If we lack motivation, we write poor and uninspired pieces. And those articles don’t work for both the audience and the author.

Over time, low motivation makes us lose confidence in our abilities and often stop writing. So we need to prevent this from happening and find new ways to remain motivated.

But finding motivation for a writer is not an easy task.

For me, everything starts with purpose. If you write with purpose, mood swinging won’t affect your writing. And if it does, you can use daily actions to normalize your motivation, like outlining and queuing tasks.

Any strategy, however, needs planning to exploit the best of your content. Because if you don’t plan, you risk missing opportunities and not guiding your audience towards your goals.

So if you want to keep high motivation and write inspiring articles every day, build a strategy on these 4 pillars. Find a purpose. Outline and queue your tasks. And then plan every publication to align with your goals.

Cover photo by Aziz Acharki on Unsplash.