A Nifty Little Challenge to help you Change Your Mindset about Perfectionism in Your Writing

The following is a fun little writing challenge written by Derek Doepker:

If you ever find perfectionism cramping your writing…
Give this a shot.
Set a timer for 2 minutes.
And write the worst possible draft you can.
I don’t mean “don’t try to make it good/perfect.” That’s the typical writing advice for working on a draft.
I mean actually try to make it suck. To the point of absurdity.
Encourage yourself to be non-nonsensical. To use spelling and grammar mistakes. To be boring and dry.
Try to make it the most incoherent or ridiculous thing you’ve ever written.
If it sounds remotely good… strive to make it worse.
Whatever your definition of “bad writing” is, embrace it wholeheartedly.
(You won’t be sharing this draft with anyone unless you want to for laughs)
After these two minutes, give yourself permission to write whatever you want. Good or bad – doesn’t matter.
Now, this isn’t a magic bullet to “cure perfectionism.” However, it can be fun. And what if fun and play is a shortcut to bypass perfectionism?
Plus, after you get sick and tired of writing so poorly, your brain may just feel compelled to give you something good to write. 🙂

Derek Doepker is a rock guitarist turned seven-time #1 bestselling author. He discovered a proven process that took him from struggling author to selling over 75,000 books. Now he shares this process with thousands of authors through workshops, courses, and retreats empowering them to turn their passion for writing into a thriving business.
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Now it’s your turn to take on the challenge. Please check out my YouTube video or my latest podcast episode where I share the bad writing challenge and give you my experience with this challenge. After taking Derek’s challenge, please be sure to let me know how it goes in the comments below.
Blessings,
Ann

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1 thought on “A Nifty Little Challenge to help you Change Your Mindset about Perfectionism in Your Writing”

  1. Thanks for the wonderful piece.
    It’s an awesome one, I really gained from it.

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