The Continue versus Start Approach to Successful Writing.

Write, think, and plan, as you write!

What kind of approach do you use when you get ready to write? Do you come to a task with a mindset to continue or to start?

Is there a difference?

Well, one is a flow, the other a friction. One gets on with it, the other needs a big production. One is a David. The other, a Goliath.

Both want to do the same thing. Yet each begins from entirely different places and offers vastly different outcomes.

But only one I know makes me a bolder writer and helps me finish faster.

Thank you for reading up to this point. Allow me to introduce the Continue approach to writing. A way that’d get you writing content right off the bat.

Be warned, though. You will feel like a trapeze artist working without a net. But if you take it on, it might be worth your while.

And even get to finish your task, faster!

We love the buzzwords. Launch it! Ship it! Crush it!

But they’re more than words, aren’t they? Behind each one of those buzzwords are faces and names you recognise, follow, and learn from.

Collectively, these words spin multi-billion dollar industries. Out of them is a generation of creators and writers hooked on starting something.

The mantra of this decade of ours is, ‘Start something.’

If Launch it, Ship it, and Crush it are such buzzwords, then ‘Start it’ must be the byword for everything creators do today.

‘Start’ has become a curriculum.

It is a collective body of lessons, techniques, and systems. We now have ‘Start’ experts and gurus to get you starting something. Start is even a funnel!

The humble start once a simple action. Now an axiom.

Just look at the trail of ‘start’ strategies littered all over the Internet. Everywhere you look there are white papers, articles, blogs, podcasts, webinars, videos, pop-ups, ads, all coming at you to teach you how to start something.

But can you hear it? You can almost hear a pin drop.

There’s hardly a word about the art of ‘Continue.’

Compared to the byword Start, ‘Continue’ is a shy word. Almost too quiet by nature.

That’s why you’d be hard-pressed to find much about the power of the ‘Continue’ mindset.

Start. Have we oversold that word?

I suspect we have made the act of starting a kind of ‘muscle’ to have. As if a skill for the chosen few, while mere mortals only admire from a distance.

As if a nirvana to reach — where only a few enter.

In themselves, those buzz words have created movements and they have their place. I am not arguing that.

But for every side, there is another side. The ‘Start’ approach is one way to begin anything worthwhile. But it’s only one side of the coin. The other side of Start is ‘Continue.’

Is there really a difference? Well… yes, there is.

There is no Pause in ‘Continue’

Let me introduce to you a new mantra. ‘Continue something!’

Why continue? Why not start? Everyone comes to a project with the mindset to start! So what’s the big deal?

For writers, especially new writers, the big deal is big.

When you come to a task with the mindset to continue, there is no pause.

You go from decision to writing in one smooth transition. You poise your fingers at your keyboard and from your thought, you type.

There is no hesitation. There’s no pre-planning and figuring out what to do next. You go from your thought, and trusting that thought, you type from there.

It is in that flow the creative randomness comes alive in your writing. And the content shapes into form. Writing with the Continue mindset is like a live event unfolding with you in the event as you write.

The traditional start approach is the opposite of that.

The Start mindset makes you pause long enough to go back to the beginning position. That’s the default position of ‘Start.’

Coming from a Start mindset adds drag to your writing. It demands mental preparation on what to do next. While it is more measured and planned, it is clinical.

You lose that creative randomness that could come out in your writing. You lose that natural flow.

That’s why starting is always so difficult.

But the mindset to ‘Continue’ is different!

When you write intending to ‘Continue,’ you bypass the need for thinking and planning. The movement itself IS the thinking and planning.

The movement itself IS the thinking and planning.

They are not separate activities but one. The thinking and even the planning occur simultaneously as you write.

You are thinking your way as you write. There is no gap. You’re in a natural flow.

In fact, like that live event, you are INSIDE the flow itself. You move and steer — create and shape your content — as you write.

There’s no separation. Therefore, you find no friction in what you want to do.

That’s because your content dynamically forms as you write. You and your words. Two dancers, in one fluid cooperative movement towards the finish. You steer your course as you write and keep on from there. There is no pause.

It’s all inside that movement of flow. And even though initially it is scary, the writing is actually easier to do. And a lot easier than trying to go from a cold start.

And because you are continuing motion, you get to your results faster that way.

Yes, it is daunting, and all kinds of creative randomness can happen. But you discover new things you otherwise wouldn’t expect to find!

Sure, the Start approach is a lot more familiar and predictable. It provides room for you to stop and think of a way forward. What the next step is. That’s why the Start mindset needs a strategy before it can move forward.

That’s why there’s a sense of apprehension every time you start. And when you are apprehensive, your mind resists.

That’s why start is an overwhelming place to go from. It demands so much of you BEFORE you even begin.

Thus, right off the bat, Start has tension.

It is a laboured approach that adds unwarranted stress on you as a writer.

If you think I am overdramatising it, you’re right. I want you to see those unseen moments within your psyche when you operate with a Start mindset.

My point is this.

Your mind does not operate in a void. Even if you start at ground zero, and you don’t have all the answers. You always have an inkling or several ideas and thoughts of what you want to do.

These thoughts give you those springboards to jump from and continue. So why stop when there’s no need to?

Traditional thinking says you have to stop and think. Plan. I’m saying you don’t have to do any of that if you come with a mindset to continue. You simply go from your thought, trust yourself, and continue writing.

Let me ask you. How many thoughts do you have in a day?

Make a guess. The speculations swing wildly between 6000 and 70,000, so I really don’t know. But I can safely say, our minds think a heck of a lot of thoughts at any given moment.

So, in reality, you rarely start from a blank slate. Chances are you come to the task from a thought. Or from many thoughts.

You’re moving from decision straight down to doing. From an idea down to typing them out as they come. Don’t spoil that creative outflow by taking your mindset back to Start.

History has taught us excellent lessons about why we should Continue.

First, we know History is a timeline of continuation.

Second, the past acts the like lens through which we have 20–20 hindsight vision. The past tells us how we can do better. We continue forward from there. Not start from a blank nothing.

Third, History always acknowledges the past and learns and builds from it. An informed continuation. When we do that, we built better futures.

A continuum.

So, for me as a writer, when I approach my blank screen, and before I hit the keys, I don’t hesitate. I go from thought to type.

Sure, it can feel like I am going out blindfolded — like I am walking a tightrope without a net. But guess what? It keeps me away from being stuck at the starting post, fidgeting about what to do next.

In that space of free-falling, I hit the keys and write. In that motion, I shape the content forward.

That’s why I find the Continue approach less stressful and way more enjoyable. A natural flow from the decision to the writing.

Try it.

Even if you haven’t written for days or weeks, even months or years. It doesn’t matter. There are no rules and no reason to stop you from continuing.

The length of the pause requires no pause from you. It demands no planning and no thinking. It simply asks of you one thing.

Continue.

Thinking is not a motion. There’s no movement. Therefore, thinking is not writing. Let the action of writing be the thinking. Let those fingers walk the keyboard from your thought to your screen.

And keep going.

And another thing. Forget editing. When you are in creative mode you don’t tidy up, you continue. Tidying up comes much later.

Embrace your mistakes as you go. Even the gibberish that comes out sometimes.

For now, it’s just you, the artist of letters, and the keyboard. A dance of thoughts and words. Your thoughts and your fingers in a simultaneous ‘writing flow.’

Mine might start like this: lfhqjfjhoowrouk’plzh’’’’AX.

Klingon text.

Whatever comes out I continue. My fingers and my mind working together. Eventually, some real words form as my mind cooperates with my action. Then some sentences would appear. And before I know it, paragraphs!

As said, the advantage of the Continue mindset is that you can get to your results faster. And new ideas might present themselves. Because you continued.

That’s exactly how I got to finish this post. I wrote this from a mindset of continuation, not a start. And I finished because I continued. Thank you for reading.

Continue.

Little Pebbles in your Pocket

Sometimes we find curious little pebbles on our walks that we pick up and take home. Little pebbles are the gems from this post to take home with you. Here are your little pebbles:

• When you come to a task with the mindset to continue, there is no pause. You go from decision to type in one smooth action.
• Thinking and writing are not separate activities but one. The thinking and even the planning shape themselves while you write in one single flow.
• There is no hesitation. A natural flow.
• You watch what forms on the screen as you write. You and your words. Like two dancers, committed to cooperate in a fluid motion to the finish.
• In this environment, creative randomness happens. New directions present themselves to surprise you!
• So keep going until you finish or when you need a break.
• Keep this in mind: Your thoughts are always waiting to continue. So why stop? From decision straight down to writing. From an idea down to typing them out as they come. Don’t spoil that creative outflow by stopping.
• Don’t take your mindset back to Start.
• Sure, it feels like free-falling. But it’s better than being stuck at the starting post, fidgeting about what to do next.
• Remember, there are no rules and no reason to stop you from continuing.
• Your mind might want to default you back to a start through old habits and past programming.
• If you go back to that, chances are you won’t start. Starting requires humongous emotional energy and determination to move forward.
• Let the action of your writing be the thinking. Let your fingers walk the keyboard from your thought to your screen.
• And keep going.
• Don’t stop to edit, continue writing. Editing is a luxury you can afford only when you exhaust your writing and when you need to pause.
• Remember, it’s you, the artist of letters, and the keyboard. A dance of thoughts and words. Your thoughts and your fingers in simultaneous ‘writing flow.’
• You create when you continue.
• So continue!