If you’re not in the right mindset to write content, trying to put together sentences is like pulling teeth. Forcing yourself to write when your mind is elsewhere usually results in mediocre content that offers little value to your readers.

Consistently publishing quality content is necessary to raise awareness for your business, drive traffic to your website, and position yourself as an industry leader. If you’re struggling with writer’s block, here are five proven tactics to get your creative juices flowing for content creation:

1. Know your optimal time of day.
Everyone has a time of day when they are most productive, whether it’s first thing in the morning or late at night when the rest of the world has gone to bed. Being aware of the time of day that you’re laser-focused will help you plan out when you should sit down to write content.

2. Exercise.
Do you need to crank out a blog post, but just aren’t feeling it? Put on your running shoes and hit the trails. Research shows that 30 minutes of exercise will actually boost your creativity. Getting your blood pumping with cardio exercise is known to improve just about every dimension of cognition, including creativity.

3. Brainstorm.
When you experience a moment of creative thinking, take advantage of it and brainstorm content ideas for the future. Dedicate 30 minutes to jotting down every idea that comes into your head. Often the most difficult and time consuming task of content creation is coming up with engaging topics to write about. Use a tool like Basecamp to maintain a running list of content ideas that can be easily accessed on-the-go.

4. Minimize distractions.
It’s hard to focus on content creation when your phone is constantly ringing and you’re tempted to pull up Facebook every two minutes. Put your phone on Do Not Disturb and temporarily block distracting websites using a tool like StayFocusd. You’ll be absolutely amazed to see how much writing you’ll be able to complete without the distractions.

5. Establish a writing ritual.
Establishing a writing ritual could be as simple as sitting in front of your computer screen with a warm cup of coffee. Having a ritual or routine that you consistently follow for content creation will signal to your brain that it’s time to write and help to get your creative juices flowing.

When you’re in the right mindset to create content, the blog posts and whitepapers that you produce will be of higher-quality, therefore adding more value to your readers. Use these proven tips to get your creative juices flowing so that content creation will actually become something that you look forward to.