Tips on How to Overcome Writer's Block for Analysts

I'm being really open about my struggles with report writing on this blog. They call this writers' block. I never thought it was possible for an analyst like myself to experience writers' block. Little did I know that I struggle daily to write for impact. I was unable to deliver meaningful reporting in a reasonable time. I started procrastinating in fear of failure and... Well till my last blog about overcoming procrastination.

I had often struggled to articulate my analytical findings to my audience. My audience would predominantly be senior management and divisional executive in my company. Their solution was to ask me to explain my findings in person. It meant now that I became a regular in management sessions and offsites. Although, these managers would adversely insist on having a “write-up” of findings. This was so they could present the report during other management or steering committee sessions. People often identified how horrible my write-ups would be. That I was now being invited to more management sessions. These back-to-back meeting days created mental fatigue that also impacted my work

Being invited to several management sessions gave me a sense of achievement. This sense was an illusion that I had climbed the corporate ladder. Lightbulb moment arrived later with my presence in these management sessions. I realized that my presence could also be interpreted as a threat to managers responsible for the area of concern. Writing reports worked well as I was being called less to explain in meetings thus less of a threat. I had often struggled to articulate my analytical findings to my audience through my writings until I recalled half a dozen tricks from high school.

My high school English teachers’ comments were not lost in time. This is thanks to the few basic tricks I want to share with you here. We therefore could finally rid of that writers' block through trickery like; writing simple, short sentences. Sentences that we bundle to create some context for the reader in well-structured short paragraphs. Paragraphs are to be linked together using transition words with less word frequency. I do recognize that we prefer different styles of writing. We don’t have to write identical to our speech. It would be better to write the same way that you enjoy reading. This will be beneficial to the reader and our analysis with thrive.

I'm sharing six tips for overcoming writers' block for analysts. They are as follows;

1. Simple Sentences

2. Short Sentences

3. The Context in your Paragraphs

4. Transition Words/Sentences (paragraph intros and outro)

5. Paragraph Length/Sentences

6. Word Frequency

I Have tried to give context in the video and attached article as well as explain the half a dozen tips.

Additional resources on how to overcome writer's block for analysts

Article 02 - How to Overcome Writers Blo.

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