Silence your inner editor

We all have an inner editor. They’re a voice in our head that wants to instantly refine anything we do or say.

They can be helpful when we’re upset and don’t want to destroy a relationship with an unkind word. They’re less helpful when we want to get our ideas out of our head and into the real world.

Even now, it’s hard for me not to go back and instantly correct whatever I just wrote.

I have bad ideas sometimes. That’s OK.

The editor has a place in our lives. We don’t want to waste our time on things that don’t add value. But get your ideas out there. They could grow legs, maybe even wings and do more than you expect. Keep them in your head and they are just going to take up space.

Several months ago, I started doing morning pages. The idea is to get your stream of consciousness out on paper. Just get the writing muscle going.

I realized I pause and think about what I wanted to write next, judging it. That’s missing the whole point.

The inner editor wants to correct immediately. This wastes so much time.

Write down your ideas. The editor can see what is worth keeping later.

Do the research. Take the steps. Put it out in the world.

If it’s good give it what it needs to grow. That might be some editing. You have to let something grow before prune it.

The practice of letting your mind come up with ideas and pursuing those as much as possible is a habit and a skill that you can build and build until it becomes second nature.