For the past thirty days, I wrote a thousand words each day to finish a writing project of mine. Basically, I trained myself to be more disciplined and churn out those thousand words even if I didn’t feel like it.

How did I do this?

Well, it was really a practice in time management. It’s true that if you give yourself only one hour instead of two to write something, you will finish it in one hour, not two. Maybe it’s the novel you want to write, a blog post, or a speech that you’re going to give in front of an audience. Sometimes you struggle to put words down on paper. You stall. The words aren’t flowing. You’ve got writer’s block.

Like everyone else, I have bouts of struggle with motivation. I had the desire to write, but not the necessary motivation to actually sit down and do the actual writing.

But I learned through this process that writing doesn’t have to be hard. That’s because I thought of a system that I implemented into my daily writing routine. With these following five tips, you can create a new writing routine, or tweak your existing writing regimen.

Writing tip #1. Use a public computer instead of your personal laptop.

I will tell you the story of how I arrived at this new writing system that I’ve implemented in my own writing routine.

By accident, I left my laptop at home when I was going to a cafe to write. (Who forgets a laptop at home?!) After a few minutes of being annoyed with myself, I thought of a solution. Instead of going all the way back to my home to fetch it, I settled for going to the public library nearby to write using one of their computers. And so, what followed is my “accidental discovery” of how to write everyday, a thousand words, for thirty days.

When you use a public computer, you’re not tempted to be distracted by personal files, scrolling through social media, or tasks other than writing.

Once you’ve written for one or two hours, leave the library as soon as you can. The library is your dedicated workspace. Once you finish writing a thousand words, do not linger. The library is only for working, not for wasting time. Whenever you’re at the library, you automatically treat the location as a dedicated work space for writing, not for doing other things.

Writing tip #2. Make your work environment uncomfortable.

If you find that you can’t work at home, try working at the library, like I did (see tip #1). Don’t work at home where you’re likely to get distracted by fixing yourself a snack in the kitchen or turning on the television. Try to work at the library where there are no distractions and the plastic chair that you’re sitting on is uncomfortable.

I found that I was less distracted and likely to get up for a glass of water, etc., when I was at the library.

Writing tip #3. Set a timer.

What I like about using the computer at the library is that you’re limited to two hours before it logs you off. There’s a timer on the computer that I will keep my eye on constantly. It’ll notify me that I’ve reached the two hours.

Give yourself only one to two hours to write. If you’re rusty and just starting out or trying to get back into the habit, do it for half an hour to one hour instead. It will motivate you to write the thousand words since you’re under a time crunch.

Writing tip #4. Don’t be too critical.

Being too critical of your work stops you from moving forward. Maybe you feel like you have nothing new to say. But take heart. Most of the written material out there is a recycling of former material. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel and come up with something so original that no one has ever heard of.

The genius sometimes lies in creating something from something else, not from nothing. So to get writing, learn to quiet the voice that is too critical and says that you have nothing new to say.

Not everything you write is going to be a masterpiece work of art. Accept it and move on.

Writing tip #5. Be disciplined and write every single day.

When you feel like you have nothing to say, try to free-write. Write down all of your thoughts. Keep rambling in your writing. Don’t self-edit while writing, or this will break your flow of thoughts. Don’t read what you’ve already written, otherwise, you’d be tempted to pick out all the flaws in your writing and be too critical (see tip #4).

By using these five writing tips, I was able to write a thousand words everyday for thirty days. I’ve finished my current writing project and I am now starting on the next one. It doesn’t take too much effort for me to do this everyday now because I’ve exercised the writing muscle and now it’s just a case of putting it into practice everyday.

If you’re trying to finish an 80,000 word manuscript, writing a thousand words might seem so small. But it’s moving the needle a tiny bit everyday. We all have to start somewhere, and even a tiny step is a step in the right direction.