Ten Rules for Improving Your Writing Productivity… From Scientists

Rule 4: Use triggers to develop a productive writing habit

Photo by Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash

Is it weird to look to academia for writing tips? I don’t know, but I’m doing it. In my continual quest to improve my writing, I researched to see what academia has written about writing. And to my surprise, there was an article about ten rules that scientists could use to improve their writing productivity.

Ten simple rules for scientists: Improving your writing productivity

To save you the trouble of reading through the paper, I summarized the tips and added specific takeaways based on my experience implementing it in my life as a writer.

Rule 1: Define your writing time

Setting aside just 15 to 30 minutes each day may be sufficient because even short amounts of time can enable meaningful increases in your productivity. As you set your initial goal, consider the SMART criteria: specific, measurable, action-oriented, reasonable, time-bound [4]. For example: “I am going to write from 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM on weekdays.