How to Focus Like a Zen Monk

Being a writer is often hard because self discipline is a problem.

It's easy to say you'll sit down and write every day, but it's quite another thing to do it.

And I'm no different than anybody else because I struggle with staying focused all the time too.

Thankfully, though I found a way around it and it works for me every time.

I used to sit down at my writing desk and begin my day with wasting a couple of hours checking email and clicking on links and reading articles.

But now I've found a way to actually sit down and get straight to work.

The thing I started doing every day to get more work done was to use a timer.

I use the timer on my iPhone, but any timer will do.

When I sit down to write I set it for 35 minutes and then I open my diary, see what I have planned for the day and get straight to work.

And because I'm working against the clock I have to keep going and do as much as I can in the short time that I've got.

The reason for using such a small amount of time to work is because it's a psychological trick on the mind because I try to do as much as I can because I know I don't have much time to do it so I stay focused. If I had too much time, I'd just start wasting it.

When the timer sounds, I tap to stop it and then I have a 5 minute break away from the computer. Sometimes I get a drink or go to the toilet or hang out a load of washing or I give the dog a 5 minute pat.

Then I sit down again, set the timer, for another 35 minutes, and get back to work.

I repeat this about 6 to 8 times and then I'm finished working for the day.

Even while I'm writing this blog post, the timer is counting down.

I learned this trick from one of the great, late copywriters, Eugene Schwartz. He liked to work this way and said using a timer was an old Zen trick.

You just set the timer and then tell yourself you have no other obligations during that 35 minutes and you cannot do anything except the work you're supposed to be doing. No checking emails or FaceBook or getting up to get a drink.

Nothing. Nada. Zip.

You either have to begin working or sit and do nothing.

And if you repeat the 35 minute cycle at least 6 times a day, you'll get thousands of words written without trying too hard and without feeling like you should be doing other things.

Once the timer starts you forget about the car payment that's due, or the shopping that needs doing or that you haven't checked your FaceBook page in a while. Once that timer starts, your only obligation is to start writing and keep going, no matter what.

Working this way sounds so easy to do and so it sounds like it won't work or that it won't make any difference to how much writing you do every day.

But it does make a huge difference, and on the odd few days that I don't use a timer, I get far less work done AND I work for much longer every day too.

If you haven't tried this old Zen trick of working with a timer, give it a try and see how you go.

And if you want to write more but don't know what to do or where to start, use The 7 Day Ebook System.

You can download it and start working through it today, and by this time next week, not only will you have written and published an ebook, but you'll already have made sales too, because this system is guaranteed to work.