Whether you're writing a blog post or a book, you've likely had at least one grumble about how hard it is to "find" time to write. Why is "find" in scare quotes? Because time isn't something we can find - it's not hiding under your bed or lost in your junk drawer waiting for you to find it. It's always there - each day has 24 hours of the stuff, so why do we struggle to find it?

There are reasons - as business owners and humans with lives, we all have a lot of things we need and want to do in each 24-hour day. When your writing doesn't have an external deadline, it's easy to let writing time slip off your to do list!

Change how you think about writing time

To help alleviate the stress of "finding" time to write, I've decided to change how I talk and think about time - just as I'm doing with writer's block (it's not something to break through, nor is it something to be diagnosed/cured - attaching metaphors of violence and/or illness to writing doesn't help writers; you're not broken/ill, so you don't need to be fixed/cured). We don't find writing time (or time for anything else) - it's not hidden. Nor do we make time - unless you've got a time machine you haven't told anyone about, you can't squeeze more than 24 hours into a day.

Given that we're all busy, how can we write most days or every week? By deciding that writing is as important as all the other things we do that we never have to "find" time for - brushing your teeth, feeding your cat, making coffee, meeting with clients, running workshops. As you can see, the list of things we always have time for ranges from the mundane daily things that have to happen for us to live our lives to the things that have to happen for our businesses to function.

I find it curious that for so many of us writing is different. Why? Because for the last two things on that list to happen, you usually need to have done some writing (and posting) about what it is that you do. Otherwise, how would you have any clients to meet with or anyone to run the workshop for?

Find time to write with habit stacking

If you find yourself struggling to write, try habit stacking. For example, after you make your first cup of tea in the morning, sit down and write for 10 minutes before you do anything else. 10 minutes is likely long enough to draft a social media post, start a newsletter, or add a paragraph to a first draft of a blog post or book chapter (or to edit a paragraph). By doing that 10 minutes, you've started writing for the day and will find it easier to squeeze in other short writing bursts.

You'll also get to go about your day feeling a little smug (but not annoyingly so) that you've already managed to do some writing. Or as readers of Bryan Tracy's book Eat That Frog would put it, you've eaten the frog and it wasn't even that hard to swallow.

Will you finish your blog post or book in 10 minutes? No, but writing for 10 minutes most days makes writing easier. Suddenly, you'll find it's easy to find writing time because the writing feels easy. Writing begets more writing.

If you want to learn more about writing in short bursts, have a look at "Snack Writing Prevents Writer's Block".

Challenge: Make finding writing time a priority

My challenge to you this week is to see the writing you do for your business as being equally important to the other things you do every day/week just because they need to be done. Well, except for feeding the cat - as every cat will tell you, that is the single most important thing you do each day and even writing could never be equal to the task.