The 7 Secrets of the Prolific: The Definitive Guide to Overcoming Procrastination, Perfectionism, and Writer's Block by Rettig Hillary

Author:Rettig, Hillary [Rettig, Hillary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Non-fiction, Perfectionism, Time Management, Procrastination, Writer’s Block, Guide
Publisher: Infinite Art
Published: 2011-11-16T14:00:00+00:00

Section 4.10 The Rest of the Time-Management Process

After you’ve finished your budgeting, you can move onto the rest of the time-management process, which is pretty straightforward:

Step #2: Create a Weekly Schedule. Take the time allocations you committed to in your time budget and fit them into a weekly schedule. Fill in the non-negotiables first and then the negotiables; also try, whenever possible, to schedule the same activities at the same times on the same days each week. In other words, set up routines that help eliminate guesswork around your schedule, and that also help you gear up, physically and mentally, for the scheduled activity. Stephen King, in On Writing, says, “Your schedule ... exists in order to habituate yourself, to make yourself ready to dream just as you make yourself ready to sleep by going to bed at roughly the same time each night and following the same ritual as you go.” And Somerset Maugham wrote: “I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.”

Starting at the same time each day saves you from uncertainty and hesitation, which are invitations to procrastination. As discussed in Section 2.13, you want to calmly glide over to your desk and just start writing without hesitation, trepidation, expectation, or drama.

As mentioned earlier, don’t bother trying to adjust your schedule to include the infrequent or irregular activities—just fit them in as they occur.

Step #3: Follow the Schedule and Track Your Time-Use. Try following your new schedule for a week. (I say “try” because you probably won’t follow it exactly, or even closely. That’s fine!) While you’re doing that, track your time-use so that you can tell, at the end of the week, how close you came to sticking to the budget.

I suggest using a spreadsheet, which should be handy for most writers. Your time budget will be down the leftmost column, and the successive columns are Saturday, Sunday, Monday ... all the way through to Friday. After that a Total column, so you can tally how much time you invested or spent in each activity over the week. Every time you work on a goal or task for fifteen minutes, add a checkmark in the box for it (e.g., in the “writing” box in the Tuesday column, or the “exercise” box in the Saturday column). It’s important to track every fifteen minutes because if you use longer intervals you risk forgetting exactly how you used the time. (If you’re away from your computer, print out the tracking form or simply keep notes in a pad.) Also, tallying every fifteen minutes helps keep you conscious and focused. If you get into the habit of asking yourself, “Am I doing what I’m supposed to be doing?” every fifteen minutes, there’s a good chance you’ll procrastinate less and start sticking to your schedule more.

Two more tips:

1) Track your “wake up” and “go to bed” times each day, because for maximum productivity you want to wake up and go to bed at about the same time every day.

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