1. Not setting any goals. (We’ve all made that mistake. It’s fine.)
2. Setting too many writing goals. (Come on. It’s not just me.)
3. Your hunger for instant gratification. You don’t need it! These things take time.
4. Waiting until the last week — the last day?! — of the month to start working toward your goal.
5. Consistently abandoning story ideas before they get the chance to become stories.
6. Letting your fear of failure convince you not to even bother trying.
7. Trying to write perfectly.
8. Writing outside of your peak creative/productivity hours.
9. Thinking you have to write daily – and getting down on yourself when you don’t.
10. Not believing you can. (It’s amazing what a simple “I can do this” can do for your confidence.)
Meg is the creator of Novelty Revisions, dedicated to helping writers put their ideas into words. She is an editor and writer, and a 12-time NaNoWriMo winner. Follow Meg on Twitter for tweets about writing, food, and Star Wars.
Meg Dowell Writes 
Wonderful and timely reminders. I seem to be perpetually toggling between one and two……
Baby goals. And when you keep achieving them, you’ll get addicted and won’t be tempted to skip a day! Worked for me. I am very lazy and give up easily, but with little goals I am so much more productive and I get antsy to get to work now!
I find these helpful, it can be so easy to go a few days without writing anything and without setting any goals, and then suddenly feeling guilty for it.