by Rohi Shetty
“Change is inevitable; progress is not.
Pain is inevitable; suffering is not.”
~The Buddha
The main reason why you don’t write regularly is because you don’t have enough time, right? Right! Work, family, social obligations, TV, random web surfing…
(uh-huh, maybe best not to mention TV and random web surfing).
You do have enough time to write. Time is NOT the problem.
Try this powerful six-step writing productivity system:
1. Track how you spend your time for a week
Download the Weekly Tracking Chart:
Weekly Tracking Chart (printable PDF format)
Weekly Tracking Chart (editable doc format)
Weekly Tracking Chart (editable RTF format)
Track what you are doing every 30 minutes for the next seven days.
(30 minutes is just right—60 minutes is too long and 15 minutes may be too anal.
Though if you want to track yourself every 15 minutes, go for it.)
You can choose to print out the Weekly Tracking Chart and do the 30-minute tracking on paper. Or you can do the tracking on your computer or smartphone.
At the end of seven days, analyze the results, crunch the numbers, create tables, graphs, pie-charts—you get the idea. Group your activities into categories such as writing, sleep, work, family, reading the newspapers, email, TV, surfing the web, etc.
I guarantee you will be shocked by the results.
(Share your results in the comments below.)
2. Identify your top time-wasting activities
Make a list of the activities that are unimportant activities, mindless tasks or empty distractions. Tasks that are neither important nor urgent and are keeping you from writing.
Check out this Lifehack article: Top 20 Time Wasters and the Top 5 Worthwhile Activities
3. List your priorities
Consider what’s really important for you and set one to three writing-centric goals for the next week. Give yourself reasonable goals and make sure you define a specific outcome for each goal.
4. Schedule your writing goals for the next week
Take another blank Weekly Tracking Chart sheet and fill up the next week in advance.
First add all healthy non-writing activities such as meals, sufficient sleep, exercise, quality time with your family, enjoyable leisure activities, etc. Next, fill in the gaps with your writing goals.
5. Reward yourself
Use the Weekly Tracking Chart as a checklist. Take action towards achieving your weekly writing goals. An effective way to motivate yourself is to reward yourself after achieving your writing goals. You could celebrate by treating yourself to dinner at your favorite restaurant or watch your favorite TV show.
6. Rinse and Repeat
Fill in the Weekly Tracking Chart for the next week, track your activities, achieve your writing goals and reward yourself.
Bonus gift:
Get a free copy of my illustrated Kindle book for children (from 10 to 13 Sept. 2014):
How Merry Jones Married Princess Mercy (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KTM5QWG)
If you like this classic tale, please could you write a short review.
(10 September 2014)
Rohi Shetty has published five illustrated e-books for children on Amazon. Subscribe to his blog Write. Publish. Repeat. to receive free copies of his e-books and connect with him on Google+.
Click here to return to the index of stories for Stillness and Flow