A blank page is a glimpse into eternity.
It simultaneously contains every possibility imaginable and an endless expanse of nothing.
Sometimes you’re inspired by the limitless possibilities contained within it.
Other times, you’re crippled with existential angst by the endless void staring back at you.
Writer’s block is a bitch to deal with, but understanding the psychology behind it can help you conquer it once and for all—so the blank page can be inspiring, instead of intimidating.
Most advice revolves around telling you to “just push through it,” but this doesn’t work for most people.
Because writer’s block is a symptom—not the root cause—of what you’re actually struggling with. So before you can conquer writer’s block, you have to understand what’s causing it.
So here are 7 psychological reasons why you get writer’s block, and how to overcome them…
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Reason #1: Fear
What do you imagine is on the other side of the blank page?
- Is it a crowd of critics waiting to rip your piece to shreds?
- Is it an empty room, because no one cares about anything you have to say?
- Is it a full stadium of people eagerly awaiting your next piece you’re terrified of disappointing?
All of these are rooted in at least one of the Four Horsemen of Fear—the most common limiting beliefs that hold us back from putting ourselves and our ideas out into the world.
Fear is one of the biggest sources of writer’s block.
- Think of the new writer terrified of what their friends and family will think if they publish their piece.
- Think of the bestselling author or musician, crippled by “sophomore syndrome” because they’re terrified their next book or album won’t live up to their audience’s expectations.
- Think of the introverted expert venturing into content creation or entrepreneurship who has something incredibly valuable to share with the world, but is drowning in self-doubt because they’re terrified they’re not good enough to succeed.
“Writer’s block” is simply the surface-level manifestation of the underlying thing they’re actually struggling with—fear.
One way to overcome this is by using a technique called Fear Inoculation.
Fear Inoculation is a simple process:
- Step 1: Clarify what your worst-case scenario is that you’re terrified of happening.
- Step 2: Assume your worst-case scenario comes true—paint a vivid picture.
- Step 3: With that assumption in place, think about how you would respond or recover from your worst-case scenario coming true.
- Step 4: Realize even if your worst-case scenario came true, you’d be able to recover from it.
- Step 5: Now that you feel prepared to deal with your worst-case scenario, you’re inoculated against the fear of it happening, so you’re no longer held back by fear.
Check out this video for a deeper walkthrough of the Fear Inoculation technique.
So do you really have writer’s block, or are you afraid?
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Reason #2: Waiting to Feel Ready
Most people think they have to wait until they feel “ready” or they need to learn “more” before they can start.
But there will always be more you could learn—so you’ll never feel ready.
Success isn’t about learning “more.” It’s about learning enough to start.
It’s about embracing an MVP Mindset to overcome perfectionism.
Because once you start, you realize what you need to learn next to move forward a little more. And the more you do, the more you learn through the act of doing.
For most people, “learning” is code for performative procrastination—they collect information to avoid taking action.
“Ready” is an illusion.
You’ll never feel ready, but you already know enough to start.
And once you start, the rest will unfold in front of you.
So do you really have writer’s block, or are you waiting until you feel perfect or “ready” before you start?
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Reason #3: Scope Creep
You can write about anything you want.
But you can’t write about everything you want in a single piece.
Scope creep is one of the biggest reasons you get writer’s block because you start off with a simple, clear idea—then you slowly connect that idea to too many other things that apply to too many situations.
What was once a clearly defined path has become a maze of tangents and non sequiturs.
Because you’re expecting too much out of a single piece.
Instead of a simple, specific idea, you’re trying to create a magnum opus or Ultimate Guide to [insert topic] and end up in the trap of theorycrafting.
Even an actual magnum opus isn’t an all-encompassing piece, because there’s always something that could be elaborated on.
And by trying to cram everything into a single piece, the size and scope of it becomes daunting and paralyses you—because it’s just too much to take on.
A simple way to avoid content creep is to apply constraints.
Remember: You goal isn’t to create something “perfect,” because perfection doesn’t exist, it’s to hit publish.
Here are a few ways you can apply constraints to overcome scope creep causing your writer’s block:
- Limit the scope of the piece itself—keep it focused to exploring a single idea, answering a single question, or sharing a single observation.
- Limit the length—you can cap it at 800 words or 5,000 words, the number doesn’t matter as long as it helps you confine your piece to whatever you can fit within that number.
- Limit the quality—you can’t edit a blank page, so give yourself permission to crank out a shitty first draft. Maybe you cap yourself at one or two revisions, so however you good you can make it within those constraints is what you publish—so you can move on to the next piece that will be a little better.
When you try to do everything, you end up doing nothing because you can’t do everything all at once.
But you can write one piece that focuses on one thing, right now.
So do you really have writer’s block, or are you trying to write about everything all at once?
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Reason #4: Drawing From A Dry Well
I grew up in the mountains of rural Appalachia. My grandparents didn’t get “city water” until I was in middle school. Before that, we got water from a well in the backyard.
And a common phrase you’ll hear country folk say is, “You can’t draw water from a dry well.”
This applies to creative work, too.
Because if you don’t have any water in your well, aka, inspiration in your mind, you have nothing to draw from.
Sometimes writer’s block is the term we use to describe being unprepared, uninspired, or uninformed which is causing us to “come up dry” when we try to draw from our well of creativity.
You need stimulation to spark ideas:
- Reading books or articles
- Talking to interesting people
- Listening to podcasts or music
- Watching documentaries, movies, shows
- Experiencing life through your Lenses of Inspiration
Take Rick Rubin—music producer extraordinaire—for example. People like to look at him and say, “Well Rick succeeded even though he doesn’t know how to use studio equipment like a DAW or mixer, so surely anyone can do it!”
What they overlook is the reason people hire him (and how he produces such incredible work) is because of his taste as a music producer.
And the way he continually maintains and refines his taste is by surrounding himself with inspiration—watching documentaries, listening to music from all genres, listening to podcasts on a wide range of topics, hanging paintings on his walls, traveling the world, and having deep conversations with incredible people from all walks of life.
Rubin keeps his well of creativity overflowing, which is why it seems like he’s constantly overflowing with ideas.
Check out How to Make Something Truly Remarkable—Lessons from Rick Rubin on Creativity, for more insights into his process.
So do you really have writer’s block, or are you drawing from an empty well of creativity?
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Reason #5: Cognitive Interference
Deep insights require deep contemplation, and deep contemplation requires disconnecting from all the white noise of the world.
Because the more interference you allow into your environment, the harder it is for you to get into a deep, contemplative mindset to have great ideas.
Here are three of the most causes of cognitive interference that lead to writer’s block:
Behavioral Nudges
A behavioral nudge is something in your environment that tugs at your attention or “nudges” you to take a specific action.
- A water bottle next to you nudges you to take a drink and stay hydrated.
- An unpaid bill next to you tugs at your attention and nudges you to pay it.
- An email notification tugs at your attention and nudges you to go into your inbox.
A big aspect of environmental design is leveraging behavioral nudges (by adding good ones and removing distracting ones) to facilitate your desired behavior.
Some behavioral nudges can help you (in Atomic Habits, James Clear talks about making habits obvious, like keeping a guitar in the middle of your living room if you want to practice guitar more).
But many behavioral nudges distract you (like notifications) from what you’re trying to do (think and write).
The Zeigarnik Effect
I go more in-depth with this concept in The Zeigarnik Effect: The Reason You Feel Constantly Overwhelmed, but basically, our minds are wired to remember unfinished tasks.
This means that, if we have too many unfinished tasks (loose ends, a never-ending to-do list, or constant reminders and notifications) our minds get bogged down trying to keep track of all of them.
And the more brainpower our minds dedicate to keeping track of unfinished tasks, the less brainpower we can allocate to coming up with incredible ideas.
Attention Residue
Our minds struggle to quickly (and fully) switch from one thing to another.
So every time you stop writing to check social media or your inbox “real quick” before switching back to writing, part of your attention lingers on the last thing you were doing. So when you come back to writing, part of your mind is still elsewhere and takes time to fully switch back and focus on writing.
So even if you only check social media or your email for like 30 seconds, it might take you 30 minutes to get back into a writing flow.
Your mind can’t be split into different places and come up with great ideas.
A Simple Exercise to Reduce Cognitive Interference
If you’re struggling to stay focused, try this…
Without moving your head, take a mental picture of everything in your peripheral view right now.
What do you see?
- A steady stream of desktop notifications?
- Your phone full of fun apps to check “real quick?”
- A dozen open tabs of things you’ll get to “eventually?”
Each is tugging at your attention or bogging down your brainpower.
Remove these distractions from your peripheral view to create an environment that facilitates your goal—to get into a deep, contemplative flow state.
Bonus Tip: You can take this strategy to the next level by pairing it with a technique from psychology called classical conditioning. Check out How To Hack Your Brain For Peak Performance (Using Classical Conditioning) to find out how.
So do you really have writer’s block, or are you letting in too much cognitive interference to get into a flow state?
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Reason #6: Aiming Without A Target
Are you good at answering questions someone asks you, but suck at plucking ideas for what to talk about from the ether?
There’s a simple reason why:
If someone asks you a question, you know exactly who you’re talking to—the person who asked the question.
But when you try to pluck an idea out of the ether without anyone in mind, you have no idea who you’re trying to talk to, what they need to know, or why they need to know it.
You can’t aim if you don’t have a target.
The 4-Hour Workweek is probably Tim Ferriss’s most popular book (and a mega-bestseller). But it almost didn’t get written because he struggled to figure out who he was writing it to. Early drafts spanned the gamut—one version was too formal to be enjoyable, while the next was too casual to be taken seriously.
Then he decided to write a draft as if it were an email to two close friends who were intelligent and interested in entrepreneurship.
By dialing in exactly who he was talking to, he was able to strike the right balance between being conversational enough to be enjoyable and formal enough to be taken seriously.
This was the winning balance that has continued to place The 4-Hour Workweek in the uppermost echelon of business books.
You need an audience—or better yet, a specific person in your audience—in mind if you want clarity on what to talk about, how to talk about it, and why it’s worth talking about.
In business, it’s a common practice to create customer avatars—an imaginary person who represents your ideal customer or audience member. It includes things like what they do for work, hobbies and interests, questions or struggles, where they live, what shows they watch or books they read, etc. And the entire point of creating a customer avatar is so the business can have a specific person in mind so they know exactly who they’re talking to (aka, targeting) in all their content marketing.
I don’t mess with creating formal avatars like this, but I do have specific people in mind when I write—sometimes it’s a friend, a family member, a prominent figure, or a reader who submitted a question—but there’s always a specific person.
Because when you write with a specific person in mind, you end up reaching countless people just like them.
Here are some simple questions by my friend Dakota Robertson you can ask to get clearer on who you’re talking to:
Because the clearer your target, the easier it is to hit.
So do you really have writer’s block, or are you trying to aim without a target?
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Reason #7: Unrefined Ideas
Ideas are like marble.
They don’t just pop into existence fully formed. They start off raw, rough, and unrecognizable from the final product they have the potential to become.
It’s your job to mold them into something great.
A lot of time when you’re struggling with what to write about, it’s because you just haven’t sat with an idea long enough to make interesting connections, collected enough interesting examples, or developed deep insights into it.
Just like a master sculptor spends countless hours working with raw marble—assessing it from different angles, seeing beyond the surface, planning out how to actualize its potential, and slowly removing bit by bit that doesn’t belong until that potential becomes reality—great ideas take time and effort if you want to create something truly magnificent.
Check out my article on the Baader-Meinhoff Phenomenon to learn how to leverage this psychological strategy most people have never heard of to help you collect ideas, make unique connections, and access limitless (and near effortless) creativity.
So do you really have writer’s block, or have you simply not spent enough time refining your ideas?
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Final Thoughts
Do yourself a favor and delete “writer’s block” from your vocabulary.
Because the longer you conceptualize whatever you’re struggling with as writer’s block, the longer it’ll take you to figure out what’s actually holding you back.
- If it’s fear—face it to move forward.
- If it’s waiting to feel ready—take imperfect action today so you can improve tomorrow.
- If it’s scope creep—simplify to succeed.
- If it’s drawing from a dry well—fill it by surrounding yourself with inspiration.
- If it’s cognitive interference—design your environment to facilitate your goals and remove distractions.
- If it’s aiming without a target—clarify who you’re talking to, what they need, and why they need it.
- If it’s an unrefined idea—sit with it longer, collect more insights, or approach it from a different perspective.
“Writer’s block” is always something deeper—and that’s what’s worth figuring out.
Because you have too much value to give to the world to let it stop you.
I want to leave you with one of my favorite pieces of writing advice—an insight from author Neil Gaiman about his writing process he shared on the Tim Ferriss Podcast:
“I would go down to my lovely little gazebo at the bottom of the garden, sit down, and I’m absolutely allowed not to do anything.
I’m allowed to sit at my desk. I’m allowed to stare out at the world. I’m allowed to do anything I like—as long as it isn’t anything. Not not allowed to do a crossword. Not allowed to read a book. Not allowed to phone a friend…
All I’m allowed to do is absolutely nothing or write.
And what I love about that is I’m giving myself permission to write or not write, but writing is actually more interesting than doing nothing after a while…
I think it’s a solid rule for writers. You don’t have to write. You have permission to not write. But you don’t have permission to do anything else.”
Read Next: If you want to dive deeper into the habit of writing, check out The 3 Things (Actually) Holding You Back From Writing Consistently for powerful strategies and insights to help you succeed.
