These days most entrepreneurs are blogging (if not, why not?) and all business owners regularly have to write other significant *stuff*. Just the other day, I helped a client write a job advertisement (using psychological tricks) to attract super-awesome candidates, for example.

Writing is important. It’s one of the most significant and common “acts of business” we have to perform. We all have varying levels of skill as writers, but we can learn better strategies at any point.

Despite the importance of writing and despite the ease of up-skilling, hardly anyone knows how to get in the zone to produce top quality written material. This is about having the state of creativity (or productivity, or whatever is relevant) on tap… ready to go, when ever you need it.

Sound like a skill you’d like to master? Use these 7 Psychological tips to flip the switch and turn on top-notch writing at will:

1. Find your ritual

Everyone has a ritual, like a set of emotional anchors, for accessing the perfect writing state (where things just flow). All good athletes have a ritual for getting in the zone – sometimes as simple as a quick bounce of the tennis ball, for good luck. Everyone who writes has a ritual for writing performance, but most people are not aware of them.

Have a think about last time you wrote in that perfect way… and remember the little things you did (environmentally and behaviorally) right before you got started. Find your ritual.

2. Have a clear outcome

So many people start of writing projects (especially the more creative ones, like blogging) without a clear outcome in mind. Then, they start deleting whole paragraphs saying “what rubbish!”.

The question is, how are you measuring what “good writing” looks like? What is your intention behind writing this piece? What would it look like, when finished? How would the reader respond?

These are all questions that clarify your outcome. It’s much easier to write successfully, when you know where you’re headed.

3. Find a creative environment

This one is simple and probably eye-rolling obvious. Thing is, few people understand the significance of the psychological implications of a bad writing environment.

If you tried to get good writing done at, say, a nightclub… imagine your mental state! Your unconscious mind anchors certain states and behaviors to specific environments. Therefor, having a special, reserved “creative space” is useful… and, attempting writing in regular, everyday environments will tend to focus you on everyday, distracts thoughts.

4. Get inspired by awesomeness

Want a shortcut to getting in that hyper-effective state? Go read something written by a genius.

Chances are they were in that “zone” when they wrote it and that’ll come through, between the lines. Your brain will pay attention and vicariously feed off the creativity of others.

5. Clear your head

Don’t try and transition from filing your taxes (or hanging out on twitter) direct to working on some creative project. Take a 4 minute break to just sit and be. Clear your head and then bring a decent game-face (and mind) to your writing.

6. Write at the right time

Inspiration, creativity and motivation tend to naturally ebb and flow. For me, it probably has more to do with my blood sugar than I’d like to admit.

Seize the day and write when your brain wants you to write. Disclaimer: Don’t write and drive.

7. Create your state

Above all, recognise that great writing isn’t dependent on some mysterious, external force. Your state, above all else, is what will determine the quality of your writing. We’re talking emotional state-of-mind. Your state is yours and yours alone. It is up to you to maintain it. After all, who else would you want to be responsible for your state?

When you own your state, great writing can happen whenever you want it to.

What do you think? How do you get in the zone for writing?

Successful entrepreneurs, the true rockstars of business, all share certain habits that set them apart.

The most significant of those habits is the way great entrepreneurs approach their work. There are two fundamental styles:

1. Flat out, fast paced and crazy
2. Zen-focused, thoughtful and introspective

Do you fit into one of these categories? Let’s find out why and how you’re conditioned to work (and what you can do about it).

Style one is suitable for entrepreneurs running rocket-ship businesses – especially in the crucial “start up” phase. This is where you need to be all over your business like white on rice. Taking action, ticking off (hundreds) of “to-do’s” and keeping the business alive.

Any entrepreneur who has successfully launched a start up is a master of this work style. Solopreneurs even more so (they have to be all over everything, all the time.)

The great thing about this style? Mastering it means that your actions will have an enormously wide impact. You can make crucial sales calls, follow up emails, attend meetings and make sure your business machine runs smoothly.

The entrepreneurs who master this get a kick out of running around like a headless chicken (they call it multitasking) and are incredibly effective at it.

The second entrepreneurial approach to work is totally different. This is a style that will enable you to do work that counts – the significant, game-changing stuff that sets you apart from every competitor. This is where you switch off to distractions and zoom your mental focus in on the one crucial project in front of you.

This style is for working on that book you’ve been excited about starting, or for planning your business strategy for the next 12 months… or maybe that exciting new marketing campaign.

When you master the zen-focus style, you’ll tap into your true potential to turn out fantastic ideas, products, strategy or “art”. It means focusing deeply on highly specific item.

Which style do you rock?

All business owners are (actually, everyone is) conditioned to be better at one style than the other.

I’ve seen startups that run on pure rocket-fuel… where the CEO is pouring in enormous energy and enthusiasm. They move quick (and often make great money) at the cost of burn-out for that individual.

Then, when it comes to doing work that counts and being a game-changer, the entrepreneur is so caught up in day-to-day operations that they find no time to give their creative work the attention it deserves. That work and ultimately the business, suffers as a result of this.

On the other end, there are the people who are natural born artists. These folks just love focusing on making things perfect and spend loads of time developing a genuinely awesome product.

Problem is, the tactical day to day side of their business is neglected, so while they’re off doing “work that counts,” vital tasks are procrastinated, existing customers are ignored or, even worse, no sales are coming in!

The psychological conditioning that makes each individual entrepreneur lean in one direction or another is pretty tough to overcome.

It’s also worth mentioning that the solution isn’t to simply “be somewhere in the middle”, but rather to know when it’s the most effective to be in either state. If you have both styles at your disposal and can consciously switch between the two, then you’re whole miles ahead of 90% of the wannabe business people out there.

So, what style are you preconditioned to?

For me, it has to be the first “all over things like dog-poop on velcro” style. Just like dog-pop, it’s real tough to get me off (every little task).

I’ve found changing my immediate environment and taking short “power breaks” are both effective techniques for when I want to “switch” and get more focused.

What about you? How do you ensure you get the best out of both work styles? Let me know via a comment…

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning.

A man with a violin plays six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approximately two thousand people passed  through the station, most of them on their way to work.

After 3 minutes a middle-aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.  

4 minutes later:
The violinist received his first dollar: A woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk. 

6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.  

10 minutes:
A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave  money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a  total of $32.

1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest  musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever  written, with a violin valued at $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold out a theatre in Boston where the price of seats averaged $100.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and  people’s priorities.

The questions raised: in a commonplace  environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment?

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made… what else are we missing?

The psychological angle

Humans tend to practice an advanced form of mental deletion. We do this to protect our fragile minds from the sensory overload that the rich experience of waking life offers us.

Simply put, there is just way to much to pay attention to. We have to delete a huge portion of the experience available to us, in order to focus on the task at hand.

Completing such tasks are often necessary for our survival. But…

There is a grand irony concerning the folks at the train station, rushing to work to make a the next buck.

Beyond food and shelter, we work for money that is then exchanged for “experience” – tropical holidays, entertaining diversions and the occasional concert.

Sometimes it’s worth pausing in our journey, if only to enjoy the accidental rewards we encounter along the way.

What do you think? (Reply with a comment below)