One simple, foolproof tactic that improves your writing dramatically

There are many ways we can approach our writing. And if you are reading this, you are probably a writer who knows how writing is important: it’s how you communicate, how you record your ideas, memories, feelings, – you share who you are, and your knowledge.

But even more important it is how you build your world, your reality and the most deepest connection with your true self. It helps you sort out through the piles of information you absorb each day and you learn what you want and don’t want. It can be a remarkable foundation for our business and work as it gives us confidence and power to make an impact in a bigger, better, and more meaningful way.

Often in my posts you will recognize that I emphasize all these traits of writing and encourage you to just write – no matter what, how, where… These are free writing forms with only one goal in mind: tap into your own inspiration and creativity.

But today I will offer you a bit different approach that helped me immensely. Next time when you sit to write, bring intentionality to your writing. By that I mean to have more clear focus and understanding of what you want to write and why you want to write it.

When I’m writing, I always have three questions in the back of my mind:

• Is what I want to say clear and understandable enough? My writing, for me to be satisfied with it, has to reflects who I truly am and transcend my message to the world in the right way. Some other questions regarding to this that can help you is to ask yourself: does it have the impact I want to create? Is this conveying the right drama, or humor? Is it thought provoking and what kind of value does it bring to my readers?
• This second question turned out to be huge for me: Did I structure this for the best possible impact? When I was working on my PhD proposal, I remember I had an informal meeting with my mentor  and I came with a lot of papers, notes, ideas I collected somewhere during initial research..But the best advice she gave me then, is to make an outline, a backbone of my thesis which will guide me along the way of my writing. Why that became so important? Because it helps you set the boundaries in your research and writing – if you ‘spill yourself’ all over the place, without focus what information is important and what’s not – you will just get lost. It helps you to stay focused and on track. This is especially applicable to longer forms of writing –  no matter fiction or non-fiction.  Of course, you can edit and improve your initial outline as your work progresses and new ideas come into play, but it enables for your writing to get aligned with your values and contribution you want to achieve.
• How can I improve this? With all my current knowledge and view on the subject I try to improve what I wrote, usually by simplifying it. I reread what I wrote for several times – not looking so much for punctuation errors or typos, but to make sure I’m satisfied with everything I’ve written.  I need to distance myself for a couple of hours or I leave it ‘marinate’ over night and that gives me the best perspective on my writing.

You become a better writer by focusing on the task at hand and recognizing what’s not working for you.  You are not satisfied with your descriptions or narrations? Well, dive into those and only by practice and persistence you will improve your weak points in writing.

These three questions enable me to strategize my writing, stay true to my self, my core values and share my knowledge in such way  that it has a valuable impact. So next time, in your writing try to answer those questions and observe how that influences your writing. You might be surprised with the results 🙂

If you liked this post and you are interested in getting more inspiration for your creativity, sign up for our free bimonthly newsletter.