How a Writing Habit Will Transform Your Life

We’ve all heard inspiring Ted Talks. How many really stick with you?

This one did.

When Dr. Nicoletta Demetriou was trying to write up her research while studying for her PhD, she found it difficult. Why? She didn’t know what her own voice sounded like.

We humans have about 70,000 thoughts per day. That means that your mind is a very noisy place.

She asks “can writing make us reach feelings, thoughts and desires we didn’t know we had? Can it connect us to what it is that we really want but are scared to admit?

The answer at the end of the talk is a resounding YES!

This is the writing process she teaches to put to rest the “Monkey Mind”.

1. Find somewhere quite with a low chance of interruptions.
2. Start writing without thinking. Keep your hand moving.
3. Do not stop to correct or check. Don’t care about spelling, grammar or lines on the paper.
4. Keep your hand moving for 15 mins.
5. When you’re done, don’t check what you’ve written. Just close the notebook or computer.

Our mind, Dr. Nicoletta says, is “usually cluttered by thoughts and voices which we don’t actually hear and we don’t actually need. If you have tried yoga or meditation before and tried to keep your mind still for 2 minutes, then you know how difficult it is.”

Just try it for 1–2 weeks and let me know how it goes.

It won’t be easy, but it will transform your life.

My recommended writing tool: https://writeeveryday.app/