How I Managed Writing One Article Daily: A Glimpse Into My Routine
Practical Tips and Insights for Writing Beginners Curious About What Daily Writing Really Looks Like
Hello, guys!
For this week’s issue, I thought I’d share how I structured my day back when I was writing one article a day. .
Writing one article daily might not seem like much, but if you're juggling other things, it’s A LOT.
I figured this might help those planning to challenge themselves to stick to writing one article daily or even use this as a growth strategy. For this article, I aim to share a realistic glimpse of what it actually looks like to write every day, especially for those who are just beginning their writing journey and for those who do not have writing as their main thing in life yet.
Since I'll talk about how I found time for writing during my day, this also doubles as a glimpse into my daily routine, if you will.
Let’s get right into it!
The Core Idea
I’ve always believed you never really “don’t have time” for something. It’s either you don’t have the energy or don’t value that “something” enough to make time for it.
So, if you want to maximize your time for the things that truly matter, you have to figure out how to sustain your energy and carve out time for them.
A Typical Weekday
I structure my day to start with a win, which helps motivate me for the rest of the day.
Morning Wins
Make my bed. Simple but effective.
Go for a walk or run.
On some days, I follow my running training plan.
On others, I do whatever movement feels right just to shake off that groggy feeling. Sometimes even a 10-minute walk is enough.
Running/ Walking in the morning do 2 things for me: Give me a boost in energy and a sense of motivation.
By this point, I already have two wins for the day!
Journaling
When I get home, I go straight to journaling. I’ve been doing the morning journal for about four years already where I write one page daily, but after reading The Artist’s Way, I’ve transitioned to doing “Morning Pages” (writing three pages each morning instead of one).The book suggests doing this first thing in the morning, but I’m used to getting some movement in first. I feel more awake that way but I plan to transition along the way.
Meditation & Getting Ready
After journaling, I meditate for 10 minutes, then take a bath.Breakfast
I don’t usually eat breakfast, so after my bath, I check messages and dive straight into work.I usually just drink coffee at around 9 -10 am
Substack Maintenance
Whenever I take breaks from my microbiology work, I spend that time on Substack maintenance—my term for scrolling through Substack and engaging with the community.
I’ve locked my other social media and entertainment apps until 5 PM, so Substack is my go-to when I feel like “taking a break.”
Tasks include commenting, liking, re-stacking, writing notes, and reading other writers' works.
Lunch Break
During lunch, I try to make a rough draft or outline based on the ideas or outlined I brainstormed the night before.
I also check emails and other tasks during this time.
But honestly, I’m usually too lazy during lunch breaks and end up just eating and doing whatever comes to mind (Watching you tube videos on my computer or sometimes even Netflix)
Evening Writing Sessions
Evenings are when I get the bulk of my writing done.
If I don't run in the morning, I do a full 2-hour workout at night (6 pm - 8 pm ). Otherwise, I’ll do a shorter workout, maybe some shadow boxing with my trusty punching bag.
Take a bath then eat dinner (My old gym was literally 5 minutes walk away from my apartment but currently since I moved back to my hometown I usually just work out at home)
After dinner, I sit down to write.
When I write, I write. Distractions don’t exist for me during this time. Starting is the hardest part, but once I begin, I can focus for hours.
My Writing Process
Drafting & Editing
It usually takes me about an hour to finish a draft and another hour for editing, formatting, and adding pictures.
Within those two hours after publishing, I also prepared a rough outline for the next day’s article.
Why This System (Writing another outline after publishing) Works
First it removes the constant worry of “The thing that I will publish later”
Given that I only really can do the bulk of writing and publishing at night, starting with a blank slate every day used to make me anxious throughout the day, which distracted me from other tasks.
I was never the crammer type even when I was in university, I always made sure to finish my assignments ahead of time. I also make sure that the day before the exam I am more or less done studying. So I never really got used to the pressure of making things last minute. They always bother me.
Second, Having an outline ready makes it easier to start writing.
It not only removes most of the pressure in getting started but it also makes the overall writing process faster because all I need to do is fill in the blanks of the outline. Remove or add some details and tie it all up together,
Over time, this habit made my writing faster and more efficient. After two months, I was drafting full 1,000-word articles in just 30 minutes and publishing them in under an hour.
That is why, in my previous issue, I mentioned that although I do think writing every day is not the most efficient way for growth, it is not something to be entirely avoided because it is still a game-changer with tons of benefits.
You can check it all here:
Ending the day
After publishing, if I still have time, I usually just do what I want—finish up other tasks on my to-do list, chill, read, catch up, or whatever.
Key Takeaways
We waste more time than we realize.
I’ve realized I have tons of wasted time daily. It’s strange because, what do you mean I’m able to accomplish so much now when I still had the same 24 hours in the past?
The time I now spend writing and working on Substack used to go unnoticed, slipping into random activities like scrolling through TikTok—which, honestly, doesn’t mean much to me.
Balance is crucial.
I also learned it’s important to keep finding valuable things to add to our days. Having too few things to do can make you unproductive and more random with your time, while having too much can lead to be unproductive because of burn out or overwhelm
This has happened to me quite a few times—getting carried away by adding as many things as possible to my schedule. And guess what? Obviously, I burned out, felt overwhelmed, and became paralyzed.
This is a very personal thing and varies between individuals, so it’s good to experiment and find your own sweet spot.
To avoid this, I decided to switch up my to-do list method.
Do things that energizes you throughout the day.
One thing is to work out, or incorporate some movement. This is the reason why I start my ay with a physical activity to give me energy in the first half of the day and also work out at night
Because if you look at my calendar, IDK about you but by 5 or 6 pm, I’m pretty drained.
During this time, I don’t wanna do anything anymore 😩. It’s either I work out or do something with my time which I will not be happy about. So of course I would choose working out plus after working out I feel pretty much energized again, my endorphins are boosted to finish the rest of the day
Another thing is I try my best to not make my work feel like work, may it be Substack, Micrbio things or anything.
I do this by not killing the fun in the work, just let myself enjoy it. How you do that is up to you, for my one of the things is what I mentioned earlier that don’t get too strict with my schedule.
My To-Do List Hack
I switched up my to-do list method to avoid being overwhelmed.
I’ve talked about this in some of my Substack notes before. While the automation and ease of use offered by apps and software these days are super helpful, they also make it too easy to keep adding tasks. This makes it hard to track how much we can realistically handle. It becomes counterproductive because the more unfinished tasks pile up, the harder it is to take on new ones.
Hence, every morning, aside from using Todoist, I also take the time to manually write down my tasks for the day. This makes me more mindful and prepared, and it only takes about 15 minutes—no biggie.
Wrapping Up
I didn’t expect this issue to be this long, but I hope it provides value!
Next time, I’ll talk about a new habit I’ve incorporated: the “Log-In, Log-Out” practice for setting daily intentions. Watch out for that in the next issue.
Have a beautiful day, friends! 😊
I'm hoping to start a blog centered around providing digestible health information. Your articles were super useful for figuring out to get started and remain motivated, so just wanted to say thank you!