On the Benefits of Writing First Thing in the Morning

In a recent post I wrote about the importance of writing every day. I think that's it's important to make a habit out of your writing and to do your best to write at a consistent time each day. For me the best time to write is first thing in the morning, for several reasons.One of the best advantages of writing first thing is that you know you'll get it done. If you're able to put in a few solid hours of writing and come up with something amazing, then who cares if you take the afternoon off and go to the beach? You can get your work done and relax and recharge if you do it right. But if you putter around in the morning and then deal with administrative tasks all afternoon, come evening you're going to feel guilty that you never got around to writing. That makes relaxing very difficult, so don't do that to yourself.In a helpful book by Brian Tracy called Eat That Frog, he talks about the importance of doing your most important task first. The title comes from the idea that if the first thing you did in the morning was eat a frog, you'd know that everything else you had to do that day was going to be easier! It sounds very strange to a non-writer that writing could be a "frog", but those of you who write know exactly what I mean. As much as I love writing (and I really do!), getting the ball rolling can be tough. By "eating the frog" and writing first thing in the morning, I am making it impossible to come up with excuses and let the day get away from me with no musical output.This last point will depend on your household situation, but for me the house is very quiet in the morning. This is ideal for writing because the less distractions, the better.Writing first thing in the morning may not be for everyone, and that's ok. But it's very important that you figure out when your best time is and to not take that knowledge for granted.