Staying Motivated by Starting Out the Day With a Win

Lately, looking at my to-do list, I’ve felt pretty snowed. I’ve got Finger Lickin’ Dead releasing June 7th, a book due July 1, and a complete outline for another book due August 1.

And the children are almost out of school for the summer. :)

I’m good at prioritizing the things I need to do, but when everything is a priority, it makes it tough.

What I’ve found keeps me knocking through the items on my to-do list, is a couple of different approaches.

Some days I’ll put several quick and easy tasks on my to-do list—stuff that I need to do, but that only take a second. So my list could have these things on it: 1) Put sunflower seed in the birdfeeder 2) Water potted plants on front porch 3) Put newspapers in recycling bin

Honestly, I feel so smug after crossing three things off on my list, that I start attacking the rest of the to-do list with renewed vigor. Sad, but true.

My other approach is to put the most loathed, procrastinated task on the top of my to-do list. Then, the whole rest of the day, I’m proud of myself for knocking it out. It gives me more motivation to keep crossing things off my list.

I’m a productivity nut, so please share how you stay motivated and don’t get overwhelmed by your to-do lists. Inquiring minds want to know!

*************

Sign up for the free, monthly Writer’s Knowledge Base newsletter for writing tips and resources and to be entered in our first giveaway. Details here.

Finger Lickin’ Dead launches June 7th

More Help for Restless Writers

A little over a month ago, I wrote a post about being a restless writer.

In it, I admitted that I’m a writer that has a hard time sitting still for very long. I sort of wince whenever I hear about writers with incredible discipline who sit for hours and write. I just can’t do it for that long.

Right now I have a lot of writing going on….actually I have several different deadlines. One is for a manuscript, one is for a full outline, one is for edits. So I really need to knock out a lot of work (and my apologies in advance if I’m not quite as active online for the next 1 1/2 months.)

In the last post on this topic, I mentioned some different ways I approach writing as a restless writer:

Do other writing-related tasks if you’re in a time crunch or under deadline. This is especially helpful for me. I can get work done that I’ve got to get done, but I can switch to writing the outline if I’m tired of writing, or switch to editing if I’m restless with the outline, etc.

Open up to the possibilities of writing on the go during the day. Write in dead time while waiting for something, write in my head as I do errands, write at a library.

Move around. Doing housework while writing is an easy multitasking win…because housework requires no thought. Somehow, it helps me brainstorm, too.

And:

Reduce up front the amount of time you’re writing before taking your breaks. Consider writing in 15 minute segments.

More on that last one now. I’ve read an interesting post on the Work Awesome blog about the Pomodoro Technique. This technique is incredibly simple to remember because there are only 5 steps:

1. Pick a task you need to accomplish.
2. Set a timer for 25 minutes and start working
3. When the timer rings, take a 5 minute break
4. Repeat steps 1-3
5. Every four cycles, take a 25 minute break.

Since I’m feeling a little under the gun right now, I followed this technique yesterday with the full 25 minute cycles and it worked really well. Ordinarily, though, I think I’d probably reduce the 25 minutes to 20 or possibly even fewer.

I think it would still be effective if the amount of time in the cycle is reduced, because you’re still in the writing zone. I think the hardest part of working on that cycle is at the beginning, when you’re just getting started for the day.

One additional note on the technique above—as a restless writer, I found that during my 5 minute break (step 3), I needed to do something really active that was not on the computer. I spent that time loading or unloading the dishwasher, folding a few pieces of laundry, packing the children’s lunch for the next day…you get the idea.

During the 25 minute break after 4 cycles were completed (step 5), then I checked social media (email, Twitter, etc.) Because it’s very, very tough to pull away from social media after only 5 minutes, but it can easily be done in 25 with a timer.

How do you eliminate distractions to focus on your writing? Or does it come naturally to you?

Using Google Calendar to Stay Organized

Right now I’m using two tools to keep my calendar organized. I really had to do something new because I suddenly had a ton of stuff going on—book club meetings, a library talk, guests on my blog, my guest posts on others’ blogs…plus the usual dental appointments, the children’s events, family/friend birthdays, etc. I was waking up at night worrying that something was going to fall through the cracks.

What’s really working for me right now is using 2 different methods—the old-fashioned wall calendar method plus Google Calendar.

The reason Google Calendar is working so well for me is because I have a smart phone that syncs to that calendar. So I have the calendar with me at all times. I have to admit that it’s really nice. When someone asks me if I’m free to do something on a particular day, I don’t have to say, “Can I check my calendar and call you back?” It’s just so nice to open the calendar on my phone and check the date and save myself a phone call (I’m no fan of talking on the phone anyway.)

Another really, really nice thing about using Google Calendar (particularly if you can sync it to your phone) is that I can copy/paste from different emails right into the calendar.

For example, say I’ve got an email for an event of some kind (writing-related or personal). The email might list things that to bring with me to the event, might give directions to the venue, might have the time the event starts and stops. I just select all, copy, and paste it to the corresponding date on the Google Calendar. Then I’ve got it right there, easily accessible on both my laptop and my phone.

Or it might be an interview request. Lately I had a couple of different blog interviews. The questions were in the body of the email. I pasted the email into the date on my calendar that I needed to turn it in…and set reminders for earlier. Several times when I was out and I had dead time waiting for something, I took out my phone, read the questions, and jotted down answers to email later on my always-handy notebook.

You can also share your calendar out with someone else. Not that that other person might read the calendar like intended. :) But it is nice to know that, if somehow I went missing (I’m a murder mystery writer, so these thoughts are always in the back of my head), that my calendar could be accessed to see where I was supposed to be.

My wall calendar is really needed, too—it’s best for spotting potential conflicts on the calendar. Sometimes I just have to see it all laid out on paper. My wall calendar is posted on my garage door where I have to see it when I go in and out of the house.

What are you using to stay organized? Do you use Google Calendar or something else?