Write into the dark. Start writing without really plotting or knowing where the story is going to go, and let your characters tell the story for you. Once you finish, don’t rewrite. Sure, show it to your alpha reader, and fix any typos or errors, but don’t get stuck in rewrites. Put it out there on the market and leave it there.

Check out his books, but specially Heinlein’s Rules: Five Simple Business Rules for Writing 

Just write.

The post Dean Wesley Smith’s approach appeared first on Relvin Gonzalez.

How to properly meditate is up to you. From sitting, to lying down, repeating a mantra like Transcendental meditation teaches, to simply focusing on your breath, your practice can be as unique as you. 

How do I stop the chatter? All I do is think.

Some people argue you need to meditate for at least half an hour since we waste the first ten minutes with mind chatter and the stresses of the daily life, and it is not until you get those things out of the way that you can truly focus.

What I like to do, and what I find works, is to write all your thoughts on a  journal  before you meditate. A simple notebook will suffice, but you can use ajournal with prompts if you find it hard to write, or if writing is not your favorite thing. 

Once all the little open loops in your head are on paper, it is a lot easier to move past them when you close your eyes in silence.

Sit or lie down?

I usually meditate sitting down, because if I lay down, chances are I will fall asleep. Sleeping is a very important part of healing, but meditation has benefits of its own, which is why I try to separate the two, unless I am doing Yoga Nidra (Sleep Yoga, or NSDR) during the day, but in that case what I am trying to do is training my brain to fall asleep on command.

For how long should I meditate?

I used to set up a timer when I meditated. I experimented with 20 minutes, 12 minutes, 5 minutes, you name it. In all instances, I broke the meditation to gaze over my phone and look at how much time I had left. Every time I do this, it was like having to start over again from zero. So now I have done away with any and all distractions, I just sit there in silence and focus on my breath.

I become hyper focused on my breath, and it becomes harder to breathe.

How to breathe properly during meditation

It used to happen to me, too. I started breathing deeply, and then I never let go. It is an important part of the practice to settle your breath into a regular pattern. You never notice you are breathing during the day, consider that when meditating. What works is trying to not force it. When you exhale, do not immediately force yourself to inhale. But let your body do what it’s supposed to do. Periodically check on yourself. Loosen your stomach and chest. Let it go. Not all breaths need to be deep, that’s when your chest and back hurt, because you are forcing it. When you’re doing it right, it does not feel uncomfortable at all, and I get lost in a sort of trance.

What is the use to learn how to properly meditate?

Once you get the hang of it, it is a tool you can summon anywhere and at any time. It will help you react better to things you will encounter in your daily life. You will remember the practice when you find a new ding in your car door, or your dog poops on the carpet, or no one buys your Etsy products. Like stoicism, meditation offers an aid to a good, collected life. One where you live well by doing less, better.

Once you get the hang of it, it is a tool you can summon anywhere and it will help you react better to things you will encounter in your daily life. You will remember the practice when you find a new ding in your car door, or your dog poops on the carpet, or no one buys your Etsy products. Like stoicism, meditation offers an aid to a good, collected life. One where you live well by doing less, better.

If you enjoyed this article, perhaps you will also enjoy my fiction writing. How about you check it out with a free book? Head over to www.relvingonzalez.com/subscribe to find out more!

The post How to Meditate properly appeared first on Relvin Gonzalez.

You are sitting in front of your computer, typing away trying to curb the fierceness of your thoughts, when an urge to look up an online sale comes along. And you step on the breaks of a 100 mile per hour train to full stop to skip to the next open tab and look for a few seconds. When you cannot find the item you want quick enough, you jump back to the previous tab, but the train is not there anymore. It exploded, and it took the tracks with it. And you try to go back to the online store tab but you realize you don’t even really need the item, so you go to where all days go to die: Social Media.

No matter how scrambled your brain is, or how scattered your ideas, you can always head back to the purgatory that is social media and scroll your day away and feel, if not slightly accomplished, at least normal.

May I suggest an alternative?

With everything you do, ask yourself “what is the purpose of being here?” In this moment, why did I set out to do? When you opened the lid of your laptop, what was the plan? What compelled you to do it? Were you aiming for a productive morning of writing before you ended up on an online store and then on social media? Make it your life’s mission to protect that purpose at all costs. No one is going to tell you what to do. Every truly difficult endeavor is yours only to traverse. There are no parents, teachers or bosses pointing you in the right direction. You have to point yourself, to force yourself to walk the way.

Find some tips on productivity elsewhere on my blog. But always try to only keep at hand the tools necessary to complete the task you set out to do, and nothing else. One thing at a time is way better for productivity than all at once. There is no such thing as multiple priorities running in parallel. The word priority is derived from the Latin prioritas, meaning “first in rank, order, or dignity.” The word itself contradicts having multiple priorities. There can only be one priority.

Do less, better.

The post What is the purpose? appeared first on Relvin Gonzalez.

Writer’s block is a widespread outbreak, but it has a cure. I bet you often wonder the same questions I do. “If I have a hyperactive brain that always gives me insomnia, how come there is a blank page before me when I try to put my thoughts down to paper?”

Usually, the problem is that I am acting as the editor and writer, instead of only concentrating on writing. Trying to be both at once bricks my head like a lousy jailbreak job.

When two drunk people at a bar are having a discussion, one talking louder on top of the other, nothing gets solved, and they both end up asleep, and, quite possibly, full of piss.

I have stumbled upon recently on the technique of simply writing. Shocking, I know. But this deceivingly simple strategy is often overlooked. We are so hard on ourselves, either to impress ourselves or others, that you try to go from thought, straight to published novel, without going through the gruesome and often illuminating process of drafting.

How I get out of my writer’s block

Just write. You read me. Just start writing. Get yourself off of your mind’s path and let it do what it does best, create. Don’t edit anything before writing it down, and don’t go back to fix errors or check if the sentences make any sense. Trust me, something interesting will come out of it.

Whenever you feel as if you’re trying to make sense of it and overthinking it, go back to only writing. The parallels to meditation are apparent. If you are doing it right, it will feel similar to meditating, as in your mind is empty, but instead of concentrating on the breath, your attention is in the word you are writing at that moment, nothing else.

In fact, I am using this technique as I’m writing this. I have not stopped writing since the beginning of this post, and I had no idea what to write about, to begin with.

First draft

Once you feel like you’ve run a small mental marathon, stop and go back through it, correcting any grammar mistakes or typos from all that blazing-fast writing.

The Invisible Audience

Now read it aloud as if you were giving a TED talk. You’ll immediately notice the parts that don’t sound right or are out of place. Fix those and reread it. Remain in this loop to satisfaction.

The Two Faced Critique

I call this one The Two-Faced Critique. First, reread your piece as if you were a fan of your work and point out three reasons why your writing rocks. It could be why you love it or why you think it works, given the medium used, context, and audience.

Then, do the opposite. Be like a merciless stuck up film critic who is secretly a frustrated director. Point out three things you hate about your writing and why it doesn’t work. Listening to both arguments, make the proper adjustments.

The Forced Audience

Now grab your spouse, friend, brother, mom, that guy shitting in the streets of New York behind a chapel(true story) and read your piece aloud once more, this time with an audience. Ask for honesty and put on the seatbelt. Take their comments into consideration and make changes as needed.

Conclusion

Whewww we made it! I wrote this whole post in one sitting. It is all about momentum. Once you give your analytical brain a break, your creative one can come alive!

Extra tools

Stephen King’s On Writing seems to be highly recommended on Reddit.

The post A simple exercise to get out of a writer’s block appeared first on Relvin Gonzalez.

Some use this as an excuse not even to bother trying; others see it as the end to their goals. They become either their crutch or the finish line ribbon they must break to feel satisfied with their existence.

The truth is, there is no magic sauce. No one is better than you at every single thing. The thing that they appear to be better than you at, they just cultivated through hours upon hours of obsessive behavior and impeccable work ethic. Most people who seem to have this “magic sauce” become great at one thing, or at least one thing at a time. The phrase “you can do anything, but not everything” holds, but you should rephrase it as: “You can do everything, just not all at the same time.”

For example, if becoming a great reader of many books was a new year’s resolution, then you have two options: do you want to finish as many books as you possibly can, or do you want to have the complete comprehension of all the books that you read? One involves moving quickly, the other moving intelligently. Reading as many books as possible becomes a simple task then when all you want is to make a list of the books you have read and know that no one will question you about them. But instead, your goal should probably be to grow your intelligence and comprehension about the topics you are reading.

One or two books a month, and writing down a summary of what you read that day in a piece of paper( to reinforce comprehension) is probably a much better use of your time than turning pages with no goal other than getting to “The End.” Focus is the secret ingredient that makes people the best at one thing. They take their time, obsess over this single goal and maintain a laser-like focus on it.

Take online courses. I have been a proponent of online classes from the moment I found out that they existed. Other people close to me prefer the environment of a traditional classroom where people can ask questions, and live discussions are allowed to brew. This classroom environment had the opposite effect on me, though, an introverted person who merely survived this environment by sitting in the back, hiding behind someone, and praying that the teacher never put me in the spot.

Taking online courses, though, I could not only absorb the material at my own pace, but I could do so without the constant stress of being the center of attention. That can be a double-edged sword, of course, because some people will play the course videos on the background and skip the optional quizzes and projects. To get the most out of it, you have to treat online courses as traditional courses. You have to turn everything off but the video of the lesson you are watching. You have to put in the hours and do the work.

Doing the work

Doing the work is where most of us fall short of the task. Most of us aim, get distracted by something else, then lower our bow and never take the shot. We don’t want to do the work. We satisfy our brain pathways by merely talking about how “how great life would be if…” and then we abandon a project before even starting it.

Take at least a month and do the work. Reassess your project when the end of the month comes to decide if: You need another month, you will take a break from it, or you will abandon it forever. Not everything we think we want to do is as it seems from the outside. Maybe you have always wanted to be a commercial airline pilot. Still, when you enroll in small airplane courses, and you get to fly one for the first time, you realize how stressful and fearful you feel and get to experience first hand what it is, versus what you perceived it to be. That’s ok. You tried it, and now you can move on to the next thing.

The greats in any field make things look a lot simpler than they are. That is what seduces us. Take a rockstar, for example. Most of us wanted to be a rockstar at some point in our lives. I know I did. They make it look so simple and execute it with so much confidence. What they never talk about is the grueling schedule they need to have to make it to all the gigs to which they have committed. Traveling from one place to another and playing full sets with almost no real rest. That, without also considering the emotional pain of playing or singing the same songs that you wrote probably on your darkest hours of your life. To relive those emotions has to have a toll on you.

They are having to play full shows while sick or having to interact with interviewers, fans, and any human being that crosses their path in a kind and mild manner, even when you don’t feel like it. Who is perfectly calm, collected, and kind, with an ethical, moral compass 100% of the time? Why do we expect this, then, of artists? Public and press criticism adds another level of complexity.

Take also inventors, founders, CEOs, and the “evil” wealthy businessmen of any country. People criticize them for earning too much money for the little work they do. They compare their salary to their employees. Nobody talks about their 2 hour sleep days, never-ending meetings to keep the company afloat so that hundreds, maybe thousands of employees do not lose their jobs. No one discusses coming up with new ideas so that the company stays relevant, and the fact that their workday usually doesn’t begin at 9 am or end at 6 pm. It is typically never-ending, especially at the beginning. While their friends are binge-watching or binge-drinking, they are binge-packaging their product and mailing it themselves.

These people are approaching business owners randomly to talk about their services, and they are trying to get investors to lift them off the ground when they have already poured and risked all their cash and time investment they possibly can. They are learning website design while trying to keep up with the arbitrary IRS rules because they have no money to pay anyone else to do it for them. They could be homeless at any moment, and you call them up to invite them to a local bar, and then hang up on them mad that they keep saying: “No.”

Next time you criticize an entertainer, businessman, artist, or anyone who you deem is earning “way too much,” please consider all this.

Make a choice

Eventually, you have to make a choice. When you are 50-60-100 years old, will you be happy “As Is,” or would you wish you could return the product and get a refund? Will you complain, or will you try to understand? Will you talk about your plans and then fire up the grill or the gaming system, or will you write down simple, actionable steps to go through with your project?

You don’t have to do anything. That is the best thing about being an adult. It is all on you. But once you make a choice, you have to own it. You have to live with it forever. If you leave the Success Hotel, do not linger around in the Lobby, criticizing everyone that comes out of the room to walk around the city. Remember, you chose your life. Or at least, how you reacted to what you were given. A lot of successful people had impossible upbringings and illnesses or afflictions that would stop many on their tracks. You could have what they have if you put in the work.

The post You can do everything, just not all at the same time appeared first on Relvin Gonzalez.

From my experience in life, and reading books and interviews from people who are smarter or wealthier than me, I have learned a few things that I can do consistently to achieve a state of homeostasis. No ups and downs of sugar. No cravings. No procrastination loop. Here they are:

Sleep

In fact, this is more of a step 0. You probably have read or heard it all before:

• Never eat or look at blue light two hours before bed
• meditate
• do not do rigorous exercise before bed
• light reading
• if you can’t fall asleep in half an hour, do not stay to toss, and turn and go into another room and do a relaxing activity.

I will go beyond that:

Find your relaxing sound

Mine are two things: videos of people painting(paintbrush sounds hypnotize me into dreamland) and more recently an alarm I got for Christmas that uses sound and light therapy to help fall asleep and stay asleep while also waking you up in a calming way.

For some people, this can be ASMR, white noise, the sound of rain, the ocean, the sound of people typing on computers, handling papers, or anything else. Find your sound.

Extract the thoughts right out of your head

Really. Either keep a journal where you can empty your mind or use apps like Nirvana. I would advise that you first read the book “Getting things Done” by David Allen to learn how to take actionable steps to solve the problems or complete the projects in your head. The most important thing is not to have them sticking around in the lobby of your mind hotel, kick them out!

For the love of god, speak!

I used to think that by keeping things to myself, I was doing two things: appear stronger than I was, and not burden others with my dilemmas. Meanwhile, It did not occur to me that everyone else was doing the opposite to me. They would dump their issues and then go quietly and joyfully into the night, leaving me with not only my problems to bear but also with all of theirs.

Follow their example. Talk! If you are married or have a significant other, they love it when you share. Trust me. Try it and then notice how you feel afterward. It is very possible that two things will happen:

• The problem will look a million times smaller than it seemed
• He/she will help you find a solution

Either way, it is a win-win-win situation.

Extra tools that may help relax you

• Weighted blanket
• Bed of nails
• Lavender hand cream or essential oils

Meditate

The first thing I do after waking up, as other successful people have done, is meditating. Together with journaling, meditating can become an essential part of your morning routine. It helps you to being the day with the right mindset.

Journal

The second thing I do after rising is journaling. It does not have to be a long entry. You can use a blank journal, or one with prompts to help you start.

When following stoic journaling, you should focus on what worries you and work out what is out of your control, things that you are grateful for, and how can you improve on your faults.

Or you can write 3 pages of stream of consciousness writing, as explained in “The Artist’s Way”. Approx. time: 30 minutes.

Make your bed

It might sound silly. But momentum is everything. You have to put your mind in a state of “can-do attitude”. Your brain will see your bed well made, and it will add translate it as an accomplishment. Many people speak of this, like Tony Robbins.

Light exercise

To add to the momentum, this would be a great place to add a small exercise routine here — a few jumping jacks, pushups, planks, or squats. I sometimes add kettlebell swings to my morning exercise routine.

UPDATE: I have replaced light exercise with a full-on exercise routine from fitnessblender.com every morning. Check out their programs!

Breakfast

After the other obvious activities(brushing teeth, shaving, etc) eat some food (unless you are doing intermittent fasting).

I try to keep my carb count as low as possible in my breakfast. Protein and healthy fats like eggs, avocados, and even yummy bacon are great choices. Just don’t include any cereals, oat, or bread. If you do, you will feel sluggish and it will motivate procrastination and more bad dietary choices.

Make it fun. Try Gordon Ramsay’s scrambled eggs recipe or another of many great low carb breakfasts out there.

Drink only water or black coffee.

Walk

A great morning routine is taking a walk around your neighborhood after breakfast. Not only will you aid your body in digestion and get a healthy dose of vitamin D, but you will also contribute to your circadian rhythm.

While walking, it is usually best to not listen to anything, and just be a human in society, walking among nature and hearing to its sounds. But if you must, you may listen to the Joe Rogan Podcast, the Tim Ferris Show, or music masterpieces(like We’re Here Because We’re Here from Anathema).

Email

At this point, it’s safe to check your emails. Again, following the philosophy behind the book, “Getting things done,” the goal is to empty your inbox, assigning things a next sectional step, or committing block of time where you will work on that until completion or until the black of time is over. Also, read Tim Ferriss‘s book ” The Four Hour Workweek,” you might benefit from his email batch technique in which he explains that you should only check your email a couple of times a day. Both of these techniques invite you to not fall into the black hole of checking emails and responding or putting out fires as they happen.

More often than not, emergencies are not emergencies. People, if left alone long enough, can usually find solutions to their problems without needing your input.

Say Yes

I often take some time to say yes to activities I have a deep desire to partake in. As “Getting to Yes with Yourself” explains, often, we are involved in conflicts or general stress in life because we have stopped listening to our inner voice. We say yes to everyone but to ourselves. Take some time and do exactly what you want to be doing and take care of your deepest inner desires.

Conclusion

Morning Routines can be beneficial if you can harness their potential power. But these methods can only work if you actively pursue to accomplish them every single day. No cheating. Try these tips for at least a month and comment below what changes you have noticed.

If you enjoyed this article, perhaps you will also enjoy my fiction writing. How about you check it out with a free book? Head over to www.relvingonzalez.com/subscribe to find out more!

The post Morning Routines: How to Rise Like a Phoenix appeared first on Relvin Gonzalez.