Actually, I lied. This hack is simple in concept. But it’s not simple to execute.
But, man, is it worth the effort!
This hack will energize your writing and let you float through the day, no slogging, no groaning, no fighting to keep yourself at the desk.
My story
Three years ago, my DH was in a bad traffic accident. As a result, he was forced to take time off work.
It drained all our reserves, including my emergency salary stash (I had six months’ worth tucked away). We immediately started cutting the most obvious expenses, then had to crunch down even further.
Over the years we had been cleaning up our diet, getting rid of most aspects of the S.A.D., and venturing into organic produce and grass-fed, hormone-free meat and dairy, and so forth.
Subsistence Survival
All that was thrown overboard and for weeks we subsisted on pasta, hamburgers and anything we could make out of minced beef (which is very cheap in our province).
We knew it was impacting our energy, but I didn’t realize how much it was gouging from us until we swapped back to a ruthlessly clean week of chicken and salad, organic vegies with every meal, and zero sugar or carbs (except the veggies).
Oh wow, did I have amazing week after that!
I had not realized how mentally bogged-down I had become. If you flip through my work logs for that time period (as I was publishing them, back then), you’ll see the pattern. Lack of inspiration, motivation and get-up-and-go gradually but definitely ground me down until I was forced to off-load an entire book, and fill in the schedule with a boxed set.
Ugh.
Back to Normal
Once my partner got back to work, we returned to normal eating with a sigh of relief. On the Monday of that return to clean eating, I turned up at the keyboard, not feeling all that much different.
Yet I floated through my five hours writing, only to discover I had written well over 8K words!
In the preceding few weeks it had been a struggle to reach 5K a day and I had been forcing myself through sheer bloody mindedness to get to 6K, my minimum per week-day.
The rest of that week was similarly struggle free. The words flowed. So did the ideas. I did not get as easily distracted, either. I slipped into flow quickly, and had no trouble working in the evenings (when, before, I struggled to stay awake after supper).
What Does “Clean” Mean to You?
I don’t intend to get into an argument about what a “clean” diet consists of, for there are totally opposing arguments about the meaning. My DH’s accident was three years ago, and since then, we have switch our diet around completely to an oil-free plant-based diet, which provides the same clarity of thinking and energy boost as our previous “clean eating” diet.
A good diet for you is the one that gives you the most amount of energy.
Consider your current diet. Is it clean? Is it healthy? Is it serving your writing?
A supportive diet will make a huge difference. I knew this before the accident and the bout of crappy eating that followed. I knew it intellectually, but the difference in my energy and mood and the ease of writing underscored and hammered the point home.
It’s not just physical energy you gain. Mental balance, creativity, motivation and discipline all soar.
Wouldn’t it be worth a trial month or week just to find out for yourself how much your writing improves?
What have you got to lose?
