The key to writing regularly is to write small but often

If you want to write a lot, write a little every day.

For busy academics juggling teaching, research, service, and other responsibilities, finding the time and mental space to write can be an immense challenge. The daunting prospect of carving out large blocks to work on a major writing project like a journal article or book can lead to procrastination and anxiety. However, there is a simple mindset shift that can help make your writing more manageable and productive: write more, but write small.

“Always be writing”

Write more, write small is the idea that it’s easier to write a lot of small pieces that can eventually be cobbled together, than to write a single, monolithic piece that includes all those pieces. Instead, let your words flow in small bursts, capturing ideas, snippets, quotes, and thoughts. Over weeks and months, you’ll amass a content repository to draw from for blog posts, articles, books, courses and more.

The point then is to not start with a blank page, but to always be writing. All that writing will build up into a repository of ideas. Ideas that can be turned into blog posts much more easily than some ephemeral thoughts. Blog posts in turn can be leveraged into courses and books. Write more often and keep each bit of writing small and concise.

Branchaud, J. (2020). Write more, write small.

The central idea behind “write small” is that it is easier to accumulate a lot of writing output by tackling it in frequent, bite-sized chunks rather than trying to complete a massive piece all at once. Don’t view writing as an all-or-nothing endeavour where you must finish an entire draft in one sitting. Instead, get in the habit of writing a little bit each day, whether it’s 200 words or 2 pages. These small incremental additions will build momentum and allow your ideas to develop iteratively.

Read: Writing regularly changes what you pay attention to.

Starting now

The real psychological barrier with writing is simply getting started. Sitting down to begin that daunting blank page or document is often the biggest hurdle. But committing to short, low-stakes sprints of writing can make that initiation much more manageable. Even 30 minutes of focused writing builds momentum and keeps ideas flowing. Small daily progress is better than waiting for big blocks of time that often never materialise.

Being a productive academic isn’t about binge writing when you have the time. It’s about creating the time to write every day.

This simple technique is one way you can write more because the barrier to getting started is so low. Establishing a habit of writing small but often will increase your ability to regularly produce high-quality academic output.