Everyone gets upset. A quarrel with your spouse, a friend or even your teenage kid could be the cause. Sometimes it could be a mistake you made, that causes you to be angry with yourself. Maybe it cost you money you had plans for. The loss of a valuable client can also get you upset – for obvious reasons.

Except you belong to the tiny minority with exceptional self-management abilities, your state of mind can affect your performance of tasks – regardless of how competent you already are.

How You Handle Yourself AFTER You’ve Been Upset Is Important

Getting upset is inevitable.But if you do a bad job of managing yourself, more things could go wrong, and you’d get even more upset. And then even more bad things would happen. You get the message I’m sure.

The truth is that we all know this. It’s simple common sense. But it can be difficult to remember in real life.

You may have scheduled writings tasks you need to get done – for yourself, or possibly your boss or a client. If you’re someone who lets things that happen in one area of your life spill over into other areas, your writing will be prone to suffer – a lot.

And if you’re unlucky to be around rivals, or mischievous others who know that you’re vulnerable in that manner; they could deliberately upset you to give themselves an unfair advantage over you.

That’s why it can be useful to know useful steps you can follow to RECOVER if/when you get upset.

I Suggest 3 Steps You Can Adopt When The Need Arises

We all write at different rates, but to ensure we deliver quality writing output as and when required, it’s often best to leave enough time to proof-read and tweak our original draft, until it’s just right.

When you’re upset, you’re likely to need more time to do the above properly. The following steps can help you:

Step 1: Get Away (and/or Lock Yourself In) Till You Calm Down

It does not matter who or what upset you…or how. Once you identify you’re upset, and do not feel sticking around will make it easy to calm down, find a place to be alone.

You can plan to speak with that person later, if it’s something you need to resolve.

But right then when you’re both still upset, it’s best to go away and calm down.

If however you have a level of self-mastery that enables you consciously calm yourself down without going away, do so, and move to step 2 below.

Step 2: Blank Your Mind and Focus ONLY On Your Writing Goal

Forget everything that’s happened. Stop thinking about anyone who was directly or indirectly responsible.

Focus your mind exclusively on your goal of getting started with your writing.

Concentrate hard.

If you do this right, you should – within 1 to 2 minutes – find that you’ve freed your mind.

If it takes you longer those 3 minutes, I would say you’re not doing it right. I mean that: 3 minutes is actually a LONG period of time when you spend it doing focused thinking.

Try it and you’ll see I’m right. No matter what it is that’s upset you, it is important that you are willing to let go of it (if only temporarily) to get this step right.

Once you do that, you’ll be able to free your mind in 2 to 3 minutes tops.

Step 3: Start Writing No Matter How Unprepared You Feel

Once you’ve succeeded with step 2 above, this final step will be easy.

Anytime you don’t feel like writing; when nothing feels like it’s up there for you to write down – just get yourself seated behind your computer.

Crack your knuckles if you think that will help

But just get behind the keyboard, and start typing.

Again, I mean that seriously.

You may not realize it, but your mind can rapidly regurgitate useful records it keeps of subconscious knowledge you pick up from your daily activities. All you have to do it ask (or search) it.

When you follow this procedure, and keep at it for up to 60 seconds, I assure you that ideas will start popping into your head.

Soon, everything else will recede into the background and you’ll start writing.

NB: I say the above on the assumption that you will be writing on a subject that you are already familiar with, and/or have done adequate research on previously. If that is not the case, simply apply the same principle to doing the needed research. You’ll be surprised how well you’ll fare.

The Un-initiated May Not Believe How Well This Works Until They’ve Tried It

I know this works because I’ve used it successfully countless times, to get my writing done – during periods when I’ve been seriously upset (to my pleasant surprise as you can imagine).

The best part is that you actually end up with a finished piece that’s unique and original.

Try this method and you’ll see how well it works. Your writing will never be the same again!

“Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder. Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer. – Barbara Kingsolver