Everyone wants the secret. The shortcut. The perfect routine that leads to instantaneous success.
But at the risk of this blog post being labeled clickbait, there is no immediate button you can press to be successful. No magic pill you can take or star you can wish on.
But I do know what has to be aligned and fully functioning to be successful. And it all comes down to one thing.
Energy.
No, not what Nikola Tesla wanted to give to the world for free.
Personal energy — the stuff that keeps you going.
Energy fuels creativity, focus, your curiosity, your patience with a messy first draft, your willingness to sit down again tomorrow.
And if you let everything else drain you first, there’s nothing left to write from.
Energy Is Your Writing Taskmaster
Most people talk about making time to write, but that’s only half the equation.
You can carve out an hour on the calendar and still have nothing to give if you feel depleted. You’ll sit down, stare at the screen, and it feels like trying to push a car uphill. That “free” time does nothing for you if your energy is non-existent.
Protecting your writing life means protecting the part of you that wants to write at all.
So, how do you do that? Cut out your biggest drains.
For most people, that looks like:
Avoiding People Who Drain You
This is hard because you may not be aware of how draining they are. It’s not always dramatic toxicity on par with a “Housewives of” show from your town.
Energy drains can be subtle:
The friend who turns every conversation into a complaint session, and you come away feeling worse about the world than when you sat down with them.
The family member who “checks in” but leaves you tense from all the questions.
The social circle that expects you to be constantly available, constantly agreeable, constantly on.
This isn’t villainizing anyone. People are like chemical elements. Some people help us make something very useful (say sodium and chlorine making table salt). Those pairings add value. But that same element, chlorine, mixed with ammonia creates a toxic vapor. Neither element is to blame. But the latter is a hazardous situation.
After you spend time with someone, do you feel clearer… or smaller?
Do you feel more like yourself (or the person you want to be)… or like you need a map and a shovel?
Guarding your energy means getting honest about who is your sodium and who is your ammonia.
Avoid a Job That Takes Everything From You (if you can)
I know this one isn’t simple. People have bills and responsibilities. Not everyone can quit a draining job tomorrow.
But you can stop pretending it doesn’t cost you.
If your work leaves you emotionally fried, mentally numb, or physically exhausted, writing is going to feel impossible because you’re running on fumes. Creativity runs on a full tank.
If you can’t quit a draining job, maybe you can:
- Create boundaries around availability.
- Take your lunch break away from your desk.
- Refuse extra tasks that aren’t yours.
- Plan your writing for your best window, not your leftover one.
- Even small changes can give you your mind back.
Say No to More Things So You Can Say Yes to Writing
Most people trying their hand at writing have other things going on. And most of those things take precedence, like earning a living, spending quality time with loved ones, etc. That’s fine. Everyone needs to know what their priorities are.
But your priorities don’t have to include volunteering for every group that asks.
Most of us say yes to everything else first before saying yes to ourselves.
That means yes to obligations. Yes to favors. Yes to “quick calls.” And events you don’t want to attend. Yes to responsibilities that aren’t actually yours. This is especially true the better you are at those things. People know you’re an easy yes who will get what they need done.
This is problematic when you try to write with whatever scraps remain after your thousand yeses.
If you want to be successful, you have to treat your energy like a budget. You don’t get an unlimited supply.
If writing matters, it has to get the first cut — not the leftovers.
Don’t Vegetate in Front of the Television
I’m going to say something that will rile people up: TV is an energy drain disguised as rest. It’s passive. It lulls you. It puts you into a state where your mind is consuming instead of creating. And it takes longer portions of your day than you think it does.
An episode becomes three. “Just for a minute” becomes the whole evening. One Game of Thrones episode takes more of your day or night than a movie does because you can’t watch just one.
That doesn’t mean never watch TV. I’m not anti-TV. Just don’t let passive entertainment become the default way you recover from life.
Choose things that invigorate you instead of sedating you:
- A walk.
- Music.
- A conversation with someone who energizes you.
- Reading something that wakes your mind up.
- Journaling.
- Sitting outside with a cup of coffee and letting your brain wander on purpose.
- The goal is not productivity. The goal is vitality.
My Rule With TV (and Why It Works)
I watch TV in my dormant stage. That’s the in-between season — when I’m finishing one book mentally and circling the next one. When I’m thinking. Gathering. Letting ideas percolate.
But once I decide what the next book is and I start writing?
I move away from TV watching and limit it to certain hours. I cut it down on purpose because I know what it does to my creative energy. It makes writing feel farther away. It keeps my brain in consumption mode. And consumption is where we get fat and happy, not where we have the hunger to create something amazing.
Guard Your Energy Like Your Work Depends on It
Because it does.
Before you worry about marketing or the perfect outline, before you worry about how long it’s taking, ask this:
What’s draining me that doesn’t deserve access to my creative life?
Protect your energy.
Success isn’t built on willpower alone.
It’s built on having enough life left in you to put words on the page — and enough clarity to come back and do it again.
Finally, if you realize you don’t have the emotional energy to write your story, you don’t have to do it alone. Bring in a partner who can help keep you on target and walk you through the emotional minefield of your story. I can help.