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How to Write When You’re Sick · The Daily Writer

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey my friend, welcome to the Daily Writer, where we help writers become authors of their own lives.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: If today's podcast episode doesn't apply to you right now, I encourage you to hang on to this and save it because you're going to need it the next time that you're not feeling well, which happens to all of us sometimes.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: A couple of weeks ago, I went through a few days where I was really, really not feeling well.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: I was dealing with a variety of symptoms and I felt cranky and tired and out of sorts.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know how it is when you're sick.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Well, when you're sick, it's really important to get the rest you need.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, we all know that, but the reality of being a writer who has clients, as well as a daily email and a daily podcast, among lots of other projects, the reality of being a writer is that the work still has to get done.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe you have faced the challenge of needing to write while dealing with things like a cold, the flu, a sinus infection, or maybe recovering from an injury, or even going through something really serious like cancer treatments or physical therapy, or maybe you're just going through a period when you're exhausted and depleted and you're just really, really tired.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: So the question here is how do you handle those times when you're dealing with unusual physical challenges, but you still have to produce work?
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: In this episode, I want to offer three tips for getting through these hard times.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: And these are very, very quick and simple, but I think they're really going to help you.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, do your writing during your peak energy hours.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now, my best hours are from about 7 a.m.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: till about 12 noon or so.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: I get my main brain work or my main creative work, if you will, done during those hours since that's when I think and operate at my best.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Second, say no to everything that's not absolutely essential.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think that the word no is the most magical word in the whole English language.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: It can really do wonders for your physical, mental, and emotional health.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: And lots of things that you're doing are not as essential as you think that they are.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: And that becomes even more true when you're not feeling well.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Third, work in short chunks.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever I'm not feeling well, I set a timer for 30 or 45 minutes.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: I go to it in short bursts, and that is far more doable than trying to keep going for hours and hours and hours on end.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I just do as many of those rounds as I can get through in a day when I'm not feeling well.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's just one or two.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, the funny thing is that if you have a really, really focused time, even though you're not feeling well and you know you got to really dial it in for just a short time, you can actually get a lot of stuff done in even 30 or 45 minutes.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, these three tips really helped me recently when I was not feeling well, and I trust they're going to be valuable to you also.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: And if you've recently gone through a physical challenge and you have continued to write through that, I would love to hear any tips that you took away from that experience.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, thanks for listening.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Keep writing, keep showing up, and I'll see you tomorrow.