You know what you need to do. You’ve planned your time to sit down and write and then nothing happens. You end up sitting in front of the computer for several hours, and feel like you haven’t achieved anything at the end of the day.

Don’t worry, every creative infopreneur experiences days like this. However, one of the main reasons writers fail is they fail to simply take action. You know once you actually start writing, the ideas will come and the words start to flow.

It happens all the time. Yet just starting to write is the often the hardest part.  This is where discipline comes in and helps you to start to take action and put fingers to keyboard or pen to paper.

Here are some of the most common reasons writers will fail to take action. If you recognize any of the behaviors or excuses below, you need to change your habits so you take action sooner.

Start in the middle of an article and come back to the introduction at the end, if you need to. Just get started!

Reason 1 – Procrastination

I talked about this in my last post but it’s worth mentioning again. Procrastination is a complex term for putting a task aside and doing ANYTHING else.  Playing word games on the computer instead of actually writing is a form of procrastination. You need to limit the time you spend procrastinating and sit down in a disciplined way to write!

Reason 2 – Perfectionism

Entrepreneurs, infopreneurs, writers (whatever we want to call ourselves) are by nature perfectionists. However, searching for two hours for exactly the right word, and re-writing the starting paragraph six times, are terrific ways to avoid writing. It’s better to write the whole story, and then edit, rather than trying to refine each sentence as you first write it.

Remember a first draft is not meant to be perfect. Editing is helpful, but doesn’t get the actual writing done. Don’t get caught up in perfectionism that prevents you from writing.

Reason 3 – Inner Critic and Mind Chatter

We can get distracted by many things, but one of the hardest to combat is the inner voice, which criticizes what you are doing, and mind chatter. Mind chatter is thoughts which do not add anything to your writing, except to effectively distract your mind.

To get over this and take action, deliberately clear your mind and then focus. Start writing, anything, to get your mind focused on the process of writing. Make a pact with yourself that you will write first and edit later, as a way of silencing the distracting inner critic.

Reason 4 – Indecisiveness

This is, I must confess, something I’m very good at. Dithering around, wondering what to write will not help you to achieve your goals. Indecisiveness can be a great way of avoiding action. Make your decisions quickly. You may not make the right decision every single time, but then you can learn from your mistakes and move forward. Indecisiveness kills action and wastes time.

Reason 5 – Fear Of Failure

If fear of failure is the reason you do not want to commit to writing, you are probably in the wrong business. Realistically, every writer faces rejection and editing processes from publishers at some point in their careers. You won’t know what you can achieve until you try, and you won’t try if you just sit there worrying about failing. The only writers who really fail are those who do not write anything!

Reason 6 – Waiting For The Right Moment

This is one of the worst excuses for not writing. If you wait until the right mood or the right moment to write something, you’ll never achieve anything. As creative infopreneurs and writers we need discipline to be successful. Take action by starting to write and you’ll find that you get into the right mood within a few minutes, as your mind focuses on the task.

Don’t let these reasons and excuses keep you from a successful career as a infopreneur and writer.  Take action today!

This post is part of A=Action habit and is the first ‘A’ in the CREATIVE HABITS series.