(NOTE: Based on today’s The Daily Post writing prompt)

Even though I greatly enjoy writing, it is sometimes kind of a slog. There are plenty of times where I know I need to write X but dammit, I just don’t feel like it. And when I finally open the computer and pull up Google Docs or Evernote or WordPress or whatever I’m just stuck. Nothing comes out.

Usually I’ll just start mindlessly typing. Not nonsense, of course, but the usual garbage like “I don’t know what to say about this but if I did” and eventually things get rolling. It’s all about inertia, the slog slows me down but once I get some momentum I find the words and it all works out.

Other times it’s general creativity that I’m stuck on. I’ve written about this before, how I’ll try to break out of it by splashing some cold water on my face like Jackie Gleason in The Hustler.

We’re sold this idea that there are perfect systems that will help free up our creativity and make productivity easier than ever. The reality is, though, that sometimes we get caught in the slog and need to do actively do something to break out of it. That’s not a fault of our systems, just that our heads sometimes aren’t in the right place or need a new perspective on whatever nut it is we’re trying to crack.