Don’t let writers block or a packed schedule prevent you from getting on with writing your masterpiece, here is a tip for how you can get over both!

Complete this short quiz.

• Do you work in an office or shop with colleagues, or do you work alone?
• Do you have a never – ending list of tasks to do?

It doesn’t matter what you put for the first question but I bet you answered “Yes” for the second!  The point is that whether we have actual colleagues or ‘virtual’ ones, we can still work with them to complete our objectives.  Read on to see how.

Other people can help us fill the gaps where we lack information or ideas, and help us get to the bottom of our ‘To Do’ list.  This is our personal ‘fountain of knowledge’ and to use it properly, adopt these pointers.

If your workplace has other people within it, consider calling a meeting to brainstorm solutions to your work problems and everyone else’s.  You may have tasks on your ‘To Do’ list simply because you are not sure how to go about starting it, so the job keeps getting put back.  Use other people’s ideas and input to find a way to move forward.

If you work alone, you cannot call a meeting but you can chat to suppliers, customers, the parents on the school run, family and friends.  Someone may know a good way of doing something that you had not considered.

Have a ‘skills swop’.  If you are great at organising events for example, and someone needs help with this, offer it.  Then, when you are stuck with a job, ask for assistance.  If you have given your time freely in the past, others will reciprocate.  By doing this you get access to lots of skill sets, and may find that the job was more enjoyable to complete and the end result was better too!

We each have a fountain of knowledge within our immediate circle.  The trick is to know how to tap into it.  Another related saying is “Dig your well before you are thirsty”, which links to the point about giving your time to help others, because when you are then struggling to complete your work, they will be more willing to help you.

Your writing can often benefit from another perspective which injects some fresh thinking into your ideas.  So when you are stuck, get talking to others.  You never know what ideas they will spark.

2009 © Nadine Hill