The Five Minute Auto-Writing Plan: Results

As a follow up to the previous post on writing, let me preface by way of saying that my stated goal of "automatic writing" has so far been successfully executed. I'm writing more, and with better quality.

Just not in the way that I imagined it would.

Small goals have a tendency to lead to big change. That's why Dave Ramsey's Money Makeover goes after the smallest debts first, some diets advocate changing one meal a day, how "Five Minute Cleanings" focus on small clutter disasters, and why my own daily "to do list" has focused on 3 or 4 main tasks.  As the individual accomplishes a small goal (in my case, five minutes of automatic writing), they start to gain momentum and sway their own motivation, often in surprising ways.

For me, I pursued my five minute goal by choosing to do this as the very first thing I did in the morning. I would wake up, ramble into my home office as quietly as possible (often unsuccessfully, waking my two young boys), open my beautiful red leather-bound journal which I purchased last week to support an independent Seattle bookstore, pick up my Skilcraft 3-in-1 pen, rotate the bevel to the black ink (sometimes mistaking it for red), and, in a pre-caffeinated daze, write down the first five minutes of thought came to mind.

Unbelievably, the words came. I would write about the first things on my to do list which nagged me throughout the night, some memories of the day before, a thought I'd had about a book I was reading, or a few things I was looking to about the present day. As much as possible, I refrained from reading what I wrote, as I was writing it, a difficult but necessary task in order to keep my momentum going. On several occasions, this resulted in mostly incoherent rubbish from half awakened dreams. Other times, it was marginally comprehensible, but mostly boring.

Then came three surprising things.

The first thing is that what I wrote with consistency. Five minutes each day was just too easy not to do. Sure, the quality left something to be desired, but the quantity was growing. The result: my desire had converted into a goal, which transformed into action, which became a pattern, and finally an addiction. I have written, at least in some degree, every day since that post, with the same habitual calling as that nicotine which pulls the smokers to their designated outside areas throughout each day. It should surprise you, dear reader, to realize that this is unprecedented for me.

My second unexpected discovery was that this prescribed process had a side effect of increasing the authenticity and connectedness to my emotions all on its own. While the quality of my morning writings seemed definitively static, during later writing sessions, I experienced a freedom and increased clarity to craft the words I wanted to write, and sensed a greater kinship towards what I wrote. It was like these "automatic" writing sessions were sifting through my subconscious to glean a richer quality of material underneath. Simply put, I was panning through the silt of the poor writing to reveal the gold. While I still have not uncovered any nuggets, at the very least, I now have some slivers to work with.

The third realization is that not only was I writing more, and writing better, but also I was hungry for more material. Whether it was an episode of The Wire, the narrative from an Audible book, a YouTube lecture, a conversation with my spouse, or a sermon series from the church I attended in South Korea, it didn't seem to matter. My subconscious wanted, and continues to demand, more.

So, there you have it. With one small change - prioritizing the first five minutes of my consciousness to automatic writing, I have set in motion a monstrous habit/addiction necessary to make me a better writer. I am writing more, I am writing better, and I am accessing more material to keep "the boys in the basement" busy (Stephen King's analogy, not mine). My next goal: apply my "five minute" principle to wholly dedicated, quality time with my boys & spouse.