More on Increasing Your Productivity

By Terry Whalin (@terrywhalin)

I’m always experimenting and eager to learn any new habit which will increase my productivity. Last month I gave some ideas about your email and in this article, I want to suggest some ideas for other areas which will help you.

First, let’s look at your telephone. When concentrating on a writing task, you don’t have to reach for the phone when it rings. Let it go to voicemail. Alex Mandossian, the Internet marketing entrepreneur, sets specific hours from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as his open call times for a new prospect or existing clients to phone him. There is no rule you have to be available 24 hours a day. Take control of your time on the telephone.

Another time waster is following the news continually throughout the day. Make a decision to limit this information and instead spend the time on your writing. It may take some concerted effort on your part to wean yourself from constantly monitoring an event but focus on the benefits and additional writing time you will gain from it.

How about the one-eyed monster or television as another time waster? As with the news situation, you may have to wean yourself from it but focus on the valuable writing time you will gain from such an effort.

Then there are family interruptions. Again, take control of this situation in your life. Hang a sign on the door or create a signal that you are occupied and unavailable unless something unusual occurs such as the building is burning. Make sure, however, you’re available to family members at other times but not during the time you have set aside for your writing life.

Also, what about volunteer obligations and free writing opportunities? Do these obligations fit into your long- or short-term writing plans, or are they completely separate from your goals in this area? If the latter, then look for ways to disengage from these activities so you can focus on your writing goals. 

In addition, it is a challenge for anyone to spend long periods of time at their computer writing. Perhaps it’s easier for you to write in short bursts of energy and consistently spend 50 minutes of concentrated effort on your writing. After the completion of this stint, you stand up, stretch, and take a break, and then return to your chair to work another 50 minute session. It’s been said that what your butt can’t endure, your mind can’t absorb. You will increase your productivity if you focus on shorter periods of time and write intensely during those shorter time periods. To focus on 50 minutes, use a countdown timer as a tool to put psychic pressure on you to get done faster and better. You can get a free countdown timer at: https://timeleft.info/and use it to increase your productivity.

Finally, valuable practice is to write down your plans for the next day before you leave your writing. Then throughout the night and before you return to your writing, you will have a definite plan about what you will write next. Some writers intentionally leave an incomplete sentence in their manuscript. This sentence allows them to return to the computer, open the file, and instantly begin typing on their document. Other writers will retype the last paragraph of their manuscript just to get their fingers moving. 

A critical part of our lives as writers is to continually be learning, experimenting then taking action and building habits which will increase our productivity. Which ideas are you going to try and incorporate into your writing? 

Tweetable:

New habits and experimentation can increase the productivity of your writing life. This prolific author and editor gives some more ideas in this article. (ClickToTweet)

W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in California. Get Terry’s newsletter and a 87-page FREE ebook packed with writing insights. Just follow this link to subscribe. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including  Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. Get Terry’s recent book, 10 Publishing Myths for only $10, free shipping and bonuses worth over $200. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com. Connect with Terry on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

You Can Reach Your Writing Goals

 

By Terry Whalin (@terrywhalin)

The word “instant” characterizes our world. Addicted to their email, many people have switched to a communication device which is much more than a cell phone but includes email, so they are in constant touch with their work. These writers are committed to answering every single email that comes into their mailbox. 

I belong to several online groups and in one group, one writer answers every single question (whether she knows anything about it or not) and sends her response out to more than 700 writers. To me, it has become an annoyance and when I see her name in my box, I reach for the delete key and don’t even bother to open it. Other writers worry if I don’t respond to their emails within 24 hours. 

How much time do you have during a single day to move toward accomplishing your publishing dreams? Are you planning and using your time wisely so you can move step-by-step toward the fulfillment of those dreams? There is an old saying in business: “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Or another version says, “If you fail to plan, you will be sure to hit it.”

Consider These Time Wasters

Whether you have several hours a day or a full day to accomplish your writing goals, it is easy to fill those hours with “good things” that do not help you move toward the fulfillment of those goals. Let’s examine some of the time wasters that can consume our time to write:

1. Email. It is easy to join various online groups and fill your email box with the communication from these groups. Without careful monitoring of your time, you can easily spend your day opening, reading, and answering these emails.

2. Regular mail. Do you receive a high volume of mail from various institutions? What about magazines, newsletters, and other publications?

3. Telephone calls. How much time do you spend on the phone chatting with friends and consuming the day with idle conversation.

4. Following the news. Until a few years ago, the release of world or national news came in cycles. Now we get a steady stream over our phone or computer or other media device. In the middle of such noise, where do you find time to dream about publishing and succeed in those efforts?

5. Television. According to USA Today, the average person watches more than four hours of television each day. If you fall into this category, it is little wonder you are not accomplishing your publishing dreams. What are you willing to give up in order to reach your goals?

6. Family interruptions. If you have small children at home or a pet or an elderly parent, this could be a potential obstacle to your writing. 

7. Volunteer obligations.

8. Writing opportunities. You may be surprised that I would include this aspect in the time waster category. When you begin to have your writing published, however, there are many “opportunities” for you, especially people who want you to write something without payment. Do these opportunities fall into helping you meet your long-term goals?

Have a Consistent Short-Term Goal

I’ve interviewed more than 150 best-selling authors about the elements of their success. They consistently state their commitment to a single goal and repeatedly focusing on this goal.

Several years ago, I had breakfast with Bill Myers, whose books and videos have sold more than eight million copies. I knew Bill was prolific, so I asked for the secret of how he has accomplished the volume of writing year after year. 

Bill held up his hand with his fingers spread apart and said, “Five.”

I didn’t understand so I asked, “Five what?”

“Five pages every day,” he said. Even if Bill is attending a convention or a conference, he is committed to this goal of writing five pages a day—25 pages a week. “If I have time, I like to rewrite each page four times because I’m still learning my craft.” This constant commitment to a short-term goal and meeting this goal day after day is one of the keys to accomplishing your writing goals.

Another person with a similar goal is novelist Bodie Thoene who has more than 45 million novels in print and has won eight Gold Medallion Awards for her writing. Many people don’t realize Bodie is severely dyslexic and does no pleasure reading, yet she writes 650 page-turning novels. Like Bill Myers, Bodie also maintains a consistent goal of five pages a day. She sits at her computer hitting the keys with two fingers and may work until 10 p.m. to reach her goal—at least five finished pages. “No little elves come out of my closet to write 650 manuscript pages,” Bodie said. “Some mornings I don’t feel like writing, but I do it out of obedience to God. The opening scenes are always the hardest and can take as long as 10 or 20 pages,” Bodie explains. With the opening pages behind her, the writing accelerates until she often completes 20 or more pages a day. Then her husband Brock reads the pages aloud to Bodie and they discuss any rough spots. “If I have to rewrite, I do it on the spot and never look at the pages again,” she said.

Each of these writers accomplishes their short-term writing goal and then uses this benchmark to build and reach a larger long-term goal. It is a strategy you can also use to reach your publishing goals.

Tweetable:

Writers need a strategy and plan to accomplish their writing goals. In this article,  this prolific author and editor gives some examples and ideas for every writer. (ClickToTweet)

W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in California. Get Terry’s newsletter and a 87-page FREE ebook packed with writing insights. Just follow this link to subscribe. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including  Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. Get Terry’s recent book, 10 Publishing Myths for only $10, free shipping and bonuses worth over $200. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com. Connect with Terry on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.