I am always in a hurry. It’s like I can’t make my “rush job” function turn off. When I go for runs, I want to run faster and finish faster, even when the whole point is to run for a specific period of time. Sometimes I literally don’t chew my food enough when I eat because I’m trying to be quicker (or I’m greedy, which is also a possibility). And while there’s nothing wrong with being quick, there are inarguable moments when rushing isn’t beneficial.

When I ride my horse, every warm-up is the same: ten minutes of relaxed walking. This has lots of physical benefits for him that I won’t go into here, but it also does wonders for my rush brain. For ten whole minutes, I cannot hurry. I always feel my blinding mental speed slow down. My shoulders relax, I breathe deeper, and I calmly contemplate what skills we’ll work on that day and how I’m going to ride.

Taking ten minutes to slow down is wonderful for his body, great for my brain, and it makes our work go smoother once we start. As a wise person once said, slow is smooth and smooth is fast. So, let’s take this principle and apply it to writing to see what benefits we can reap.

Maybe you’re like me. Long before I sit down to write, I’m thinking about writing – at top speed, of course. Ideas and plot points whiz around in my head. I’m walking through possible scenes while I ride horses and clean tack and run on the treadmill. By the time I actually sit down, I have ten million thoughts brewing and can’t wait to type them out.

So, take a few minutes. Probably not ten. More like five. Take deep, steady breaths to nourish your brain with oxygen while you calmly organize your thoughts. Decide which scenes you’re going to write and know why they matter. Set a few goals for the day. When you have a pretty good idea of the day’s plan, start writing. You know you’re going to do A, B, and, if time allows, C. Sure, plans can change mid-execution. But this will eliminate or help eliminate any wasted moments of indecision or uncertainty in the midst of the real work. It can also help you skip through ten minutes of glazed staring at your writing medium while you feel daunted because you overtasked yourself.

But maybe you’re not like me. Maybe rushing isn’t your problem, but overplanning is, and you end up spending all your time preparing and not working. Sound like your struggle? My advice is, you guessed it, take a few minutes. Just a few. If you normally spend thirty minutes creating a color-coded daily schedule, challenge yourself to do what you can in five to ten minutes instead.

It’s really important to use these moments not only to calm yourself mentally but physically as well. Breathe. Relax. Make a point to unclench your jaw, if you’re one of the many of us who clench when focused. Roll your neck out. You want to train your body to be productive in a calm, relaxed manner, instead of a tense, frenzied, and overthinking one.

If you have barely scratched the surface of all that your brain wants to prepare in those few minutes, take another deep breath and start writing anyway. You might find that you do just fine regardless. Or, with continued practice, you’ll discover which elements of preparation are actually helpful and which ones you can do without, making you more efficient, which means you have more time for the real work.

So much of writing is mind over matter, and while that often presents frustrating challenges, it also creates really cool opportunities to use your mind to train your body and vice versa. So, settle into the relaxation and settle into the belief that you can do this without having to feel rushed or having to overanalyze and overprepare every day.