I really want to take my writing time more seriously. I am aware that I periodically re-commit to taking my writing time seriously, and I’m okay with that. It’s hard to stay focused with zero accountability, and so I have to knuckle down once in a while when I realize it’s gotten out of hand. In an effort to do that, I’ve made some changes to my routine (also a repeating occurrence). I’ve decided to write in the guest room instead of the living room. I almost never go in the guest room, because it’s used mostly for storage and I try to keep it nice for unexpected guests, so it just kind of sits there. I like the idea of doing my work somewhere different than where I do housework or where I take my days off. Thus reinforcing the notion that this is a work day, not a vacation.
I make it a habit of doing little tasks right when I think of them, assuring that they actually get done. This becomes a time suck on a writing day when my mind wanders and I just happen to think of a million little tasks that I then do right away. So a second change I’ve made is to keep a list of little tasks that I think of while I’m writing, and then do them during my breaks. I take 2-3 20 minute breaks during the day to eat, and that’s when I do the little things. If I have any time left over, I work on my very ambitious reading goals.
This being the first day I’ve tried these changes, it seems to be going pretty well. I’ve done about three times as much writing as I have in a typical day in months past, I’ve still sent several important e-mails, and I even took my dog to the vet. I worked out this morning, I’ve done morning and midday prayers from the Celtic Daily Prayer book, I’ve read my allotted bible reading for the day, I’ve read about 25 pages of a novel, and I’ve eaten five small meals. Later I hope to do evening prayers, do three hours of housework, and eat three more small meals before I go to bed.
This is all great. And yet, even at 4:30 on the very first day, I’m a little concerned about how sustainable this level activity will be. Sometimes I think this is why I have whole weeks that go by without a lot being done, because I’ve overloaded on efficiency and my brain needs a break. Or maybe not, I don’t know. Is it always a struggle to see how much more you can accomplish in a day? Or is there some optimal range for production that we should be shooting for? What’s your practice?
I have a specific number of work hours per day to accomplish as a target. However, I also have a set amount of time for other activities which include being still, reading and exercise. However, if I have a clear picture of my life mission, my vision for the year, my specific objectives, and the tasking required to accomplish them, I can stay on target. The thing is that sometimes (not all the time) the required target moves – so its important not to cling to a target just because you made it. While it is a great feeling of accomplishment, there is no dishonor in having things left on your list at the end of the day. The list is a tool, not the ultimate target. Honor Him – work, play and rest.
In the simplest way to put it – my life has a plethora of ebbs and flows; or seasons of growing and resting. I believe this happens at a macro level, but I have yet to feel as though my current season of life is one of rest, but I know this happens on a medium level (seasons of the year) and micro level (seasons for my days and weeks). I enjoy days of monumental productivity and days where I feel like not much happened but I feel like that is just part of my ebb and flow. I am highly productive and have a high level of energy but I cannot go 100% every minute, every day. I also doubt that the earth yields up it’s greatest harvest by growing for 12 months straight – it rests, plants, grows, harvests, and has periods of rest and work within that. I do have a group of tasks each day that I would like to get done and a subset of things I need to get done. I nearly always get the NEED group done and I find the WANT group all get done on a day of high productivity – sometimes it feels super-human. I’ve learned to somewhat enjoy the lulls and in those times try and be a good steward of my time and tasks.
As to the systems you have put in place to help you raise the nominal level of productivity: I think they are great! Working environment is very important and I’ve read several work-from-home books that confirm your change of “workplace.” Your task management also aligns very closely with the Getting Things Done (GTD) philosophy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done) that I really enjoy practicing. Here’s the quote that really resonates with your post:
The human brain’s “reminder system” is inefficient and seldom reminds us of what we need to do at the time and place when we can do it. Consequently, the “next actions” [those irritating reminders] stored by context in the “trusted system” [your task manager] act as an external support which ensures that we are presented with the right reminders at the right time.
Best of luck getting things done this new year and I hope you are able to enjoy at least a part of every day! 🙂
Very nice post. I have had similar experiences with being overefficient to the point of exhaustion and then needing several days or sometimes weeks to come back.
I also have a task management system similar to yours. In addition to writing down the task I try to think of a time when I will do the task (if the task isn’t such a high priority that it needs to be done immediately). So in addition to my task list I also keep a spreadsheet with my schedule on it. I make it once a week with the first thing going on it being my appointments for work. I then carve out large chunks for big tasks and little chunks for all those little todos. Afterwards, I will copy and past it to the side, so that I can make changes during the week while keeping the original. This helps me figure out how good I am at predicting how long tasks will take me.
My next step will be to do the same thing with my personal time but I haven’t gotten that far yet.
Best of luck!