When I challenged myself to publish weekly, I expected to eventually run out of things to say. Though I’m not at that point yet, I’ve had some close calls. In fact, I’m surprised by how many times I’ve come back from the brink of failure. Most weeks begin with me staring at a blank page, asking myself the same question: have I finally exhausted all my ideas? But fast forward to the end of the week and I’ve churned yet another post out. (Yes, sometimes it will be meta like this one.)

This experience taught me a few lessons. Not just about writing, but about all forms of creation. I’ve begun to apply them in my business too.

First, test your limits. You think you know them, but you don’t. The only way is to blow past your limits and see what happens. You’ll surprise yourself, just like I do by squeezing out a post even after I’m out of ideas.

Second, trust the process (and yourself). Have conviction that the right outcome will happen if you take the necessary steps. I never know what I’m going to write about until I put pen to paper. But when I open a blank page, I believe that something will come to me - and it never fails me.

Third, put your work out there. Release it and let the universe react. You never know where it will take you. It also forces a minimum threshold of quality and simultaneously prevents you from analysis paralaysis. Done is better than perfect - you can always improve it later.

Finally, the creation has a life of its own. I often start off writing about one topic, but the finished product is about another. The piece finds itself. Any effort to control it is futile. You can only work with it, not against. Instead, find where it’s trying to go and guide it… all the way up to the end.

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P.S: You can find more of my thoughts on Twitter @_suketk.