Tired of forcing writing when your brain is fried?

Here's a more flexible method that considers your available energy.

Photo by Karollyne Videira Hubert on Unsplash

You know that feeling when you sit down to write, coffee in hand, fully intending to tackle your manuscript… and then your brain just refuses to cooperate?

Maybe you stare at the screen, rereading the same sentence over and over. Maybe you suddenly feel an urgent need to clean your desk. Or maybe you push through, but everything feels slow and clunky, like writing through molasses.

If this sounds familiar, I can assure you that it’s not just you. This week alone, I have had 3-4 conversations about this very challenge with coaching clients! The issue is not a lack of motivation or discipline; rather, a) you have a lot on your plate and racing through your mind, and b) your energy and tasks are most likely mismatched.

We often think about writing in terms of time: “I have two hours to work on this article today.” But time alone doesn’t guarantee progress. What matters just as much is how much mental energy you have available for different kinds of writing tasks.

If you try to tackle heavy revisions at the end of a long, meeting-filled day, of course it’s going to feel impossible. But if you save that task for when you’re fresh and instead use your low-energy moments for easier tasks? Suddenly, everything feels more doable.

That’s where this simple tool comes in.

The Writing Energy & Focus Planner

The following steps can help you:
✅ Break down your manuscript into manageable tasks
✅ Identify which tasks require high, mid, or low energy
✅ Plan your writing sessions around your natural focus levels
✅ Get more done while feeling less drained