Category: Productivity

K is for Knowledge: How Are You Spending Your Time?

4/13/2016

My theme for the April A to Z blogging challenge is productivity for creative people.

How do you spend the bulk of the time that you control? (Time may not be 100% in our control -- some people have day jobs, and almost everyone has certain commitments that they can’t eliminate.) Understanding the facts versus the perception of where time goes can help solve the problem. Author Laura Vanderkam recommends tracking your time for a week (168 consecutive hours). She said, “If you want to spend your time better, you need to know how you’re spending it now.” I’ve done this a few times in the past for the entire week and it always proves enlightening. (By the way, there are apps to track your time, but I use the low tech approach of pen and paper and tally it at the end of each day.)

On an ongoing basis, I continue to track my “writing work time.” This is the time I spend on my writing-related stuff, but it could be used to create a new novel, to promote Pandemic, to blog, to participate in a book festival, etc. Ideally, I’d like to spend the bulk of my time creating, but when I looked at the hours for 2014 when Pandemic was published, it didn’t align that way. A large percentage of my time was spent on publicity. Now I check each month: what percentage of my time is spent writing? Am I happy with the amount of time spent?

Do you think you have a good understanding of how you use your time? Are you happy with the way your time, over the course of any given week, is spent?

J is for Journaling

4/12/2016

By Yvonne Ventresca

My theme for the April A to Z blogging challenge is productivity for creative people.

I used to keep an ongoing journal, and I recently started journaling again by writing “morning pages” as described by Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way. Basically, she recommends that you write three pages by hand first thing each morning.

In the beginning, I pretty much hated this. It felt like one more thing I had to do each day. But after about two months, it became a useful part of my routine. Sometimes I vent. Sometimes I daydream on the page about my work-in-progress until I can barely wait to work on it. Sometimes I think of ideas that get transcribed onto my to do list. It’s like a mini-brain-dump on the page. I like using a cheap spiral-bound notebook (rather than a nice journal) so I don’t feel pressure to record anything "important."

(As an aside, some people use Bullet Journals which is more of a way to track tasks and goals than it is a free-form writing journal. I have yet to experiment with this, but you can learn more about it at Bullet Journal--Getting Started. )

These two articles link journaling to productivity: The #1 Productivity Tool You Aren't Using and Start this Simple Habit to Rocket Your Productivity: Journaling.) I do think it helps me have a certain positive mindset to start the day and increases my focus for the creative work ahead.

Have you ever kept a journal? Do you keep one now? If so, how do you find it helpful?

I is for Ivy Lee's 6 Things

4/11/2016

By Yvonne Ventresca

My theme for the April A to Z blogging challenge is productivity for creative people.

To improve personal productivity, Ivy Lee offered simple advice in the early 1900s that still works today. Each night, make a list of the six most important things that need to be done the next day, in order of priority. Tackle and complete the first task before moving on to the second one. Complete the second before the third, and so on. At the end of the day, put any remaining tasks on the next day’s list.

Although this sounds simple, that’s part of its appeal. But there are several underlying principles here. This method requires you to limit your tasks, prioritize (do you know the most important thing you should be doing?), focus on the work at hand, and complete the most critical tasks first. You can read more in James Clear's post, The Ivy Lee Method: The Daily Routine Experts Recommend for Peak Productivity.

To get this method to work for me, I need to break down my most important tasks into manageable pieces. So “write the next novel” becomes “revise chapter one” and “promote Pandemic” becomes “research upcoming book festivals.” Writing A to Z posts can be broken down into smaller tasks, too!

Does this method appeal to you at all? Do you have a limited daily to do list?

H is for How to Curate Social Media

4/9/2016

By Yvonne Ventresca

My theme for the April A to Z blogging challenge is Productivity for Creative People.

If you blog about writerly things, tweet industry news, or provide content on a Facebook author page, social media can be a necessary evil. The key, in these instances, is to “curate”--pull out the interesting tidbits you can use or share from the constant stream of information. Wouldn’t be wonderful if interesting items came to you, instead of having to scour the Internet looking for them? Here are three ways to make it happen:

Three Curation Tools

Use some type of automated alert system. Google Alerts and Talkwalker are both free. If you are interested in emerging infectious diseases, for example (like I was while researching Pandemic), you set an alert for that topic and receive a daily summary of mentions in the news. You can also set alerts for publishing houses you want to submit to or conferences you'd like to attend. This is an easy way to stay up to date.

Manage your twitter stream. Once you follow a number of people, it can be hard to find the useful tidbits among the noise. One way is to create lists, like “fellow creatives,” “family,” “publishing professionals,” “disease specialists.” [Note: you can set lists to “private” so that they are for your use only and people are not notified they were added to a list.] You do not need to follow someone to add them to a list. Once the list is set up, you can click on it to view those tweets in a stream, or use an application like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite to see each list in a separate column.

Try an application like Alltop. This allows you to select blogs and newsfeeds from their site and add them to your own Alltop page. For example, if you are interested in knitting, writing, and uncluttering, you can select blogs on those topics and have the results aggregated on a single page. You can view productivity expert David Allen's Alltop page if you'd like to see an example.

Do you actively monitor social media, blogs, and other online sources for interesting stories? Share your own tools or methods below.

G is for Getting Creatively Unblocked

4/8/2016

By Yvonne Ventresca

My theme for the April A to Z Challenge is Productivity for Creative People.

What’s commonly referred to as “writer’s block” can occur in a number of creative pursuits. The ideas won’t come. Or you’ve written your way into a scene with no way out. Maybe you feel uninspired. Here are five ideas to get rid of the block.

Breaking a Creative Block

Think of the problem as a snarl that can be untangled, instead of a block, suggests Hillary Rettig, author of The 7 Secrets of the Prolific: The Definitive Guide to Overcoming Procrastination, Perfectionism, and Writer's Block. “…Identify the strands so you can start coping (and ultimately eliminating) them,” she says. Sometimes a block is really lack of research, for example.

Work in a different place, advises Sangu Mandanna in Writer’s Block: 5 Ways to Get Rid of It. “Not only does the transit time give you a well-deserved break, but the new environment might stimulate ideas and possibilities you’d never thought of before.”

Try doing something mundane--many people have experienced a great idea in the shower. So wash up, pull weeds, or go for a walk.

Go with the creative flow, according to LifeHack’s 20 Ways to Kill Your Writer’s Block Forever: “If you have a terrific itch to write one particular idea, then write that one right now.” I find this helps when I'm stuck on a scene. Sometimes it’s a scene that isn’t necessary or isn’t exciting enough to be included as is. If I skip ahead to the next section that I really want to write, the work goes much better.

Just do it! Jeff Goins offers this advice in Get Rid of Writer’s Block Once and for All: “WRITE SOMETHING. Anything at all. All bets are off. No rules or limitations. Just go for it.” It’s the act of beginning that is often the hardest part.

Have you ever experienced a creative block? How did you break through it?

F is for First Things First: Creative Work

4/7/2016

By Yvonne Ventresca

My theme for the April A to Z Challenge is Productivity for Creative People.

What's the first work-related thing you do each day? If you're like most people, you check email and maybe your social media. Many experts think this is a big mistake, because it puts you in a reactive mode (you respond to the various messages) instead of proactive mode (starting your most important work.)

In “Laying the Groundwork for an Effective Routine,” Mark McGuinness says, “The single most important change you can make in your working habits is to switch to creative work first, reactive work second. This means blocking off a large chunk of time every day for creative work on your own priorities, with the phone and e-mail off” (Manage Your Day-to-Day).

Despite the wisdom in this, I find it hard to consistently implement. I'm worried that if I don't check my email, I'm missing something important. It's a habit I need to break. What about you? Do you look online first each day? Do you find that it derails your priorities?

E is for Exercise at Your Desk

4/6/2016

By Yvonne Ventresca

My theme for the April A to Z Challenge is Productivity for Creative People.

Treadmill Desk

Sitting for long periods of time is unhealthy. I have desk-envy over author April Henry's solution: a treadmill desk. This allows her to walk while she writes. (See desk photo below.)

Desk Stretches

Author April Henry's treadmill desk

Even without a treadmill desk, you can still battle the strain of sitting. Here are some desk stretches.

If you have other ways to multitask while working out or to fit exercise into your schedule, please share.

D is for Daily Tasks

4/5/2016

By Yvonne Ventresca

My theme for the April A to Z Challenge is Productivity for Creative People.

I'm keeping it simple today with two productivity-themed quotes. Author Gretchen Rubin (The Happiness Project) said, "What you do everyday matters more than what you do once in a while." Victorian-era novelist Anthony Trollope said, "A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules."

Do you agree with these quotes? What do you do daily that aligns with your values and your core goals?

C is for Clear Your Mind

4/4/2016

By Yvonne Ventresca

My theme for the
April A to Z Challenge is Productivity for Creative People.

A key premise in Getting Things Done by David Allen is creating a system to clear your mind. His theory is that increased productivity comes from taking all of your ideas and to dos, from the mundane (pick up dry cleaning) to the macro level (my next book will be a murder mystery!), and keeping them someplace other than in your mind.

The gist of his book is about how to accomplish this. You can use electronic systems or paper notes and files, but the concept is the same. Do a giant brain dump. Then make sure you have a good system for following up on the deadlines, ideas, and tasks that you cleared. Allen says, "Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them." If you trust that your calendar and files, for example, will keep you from forgetting anything, your mind is less distracted and free to focus on the important creative stuff.

One thing I struggled with is keeping my to dos in too many places because I was afraid something would get lost or forgotten. Before I streamlined, I used a weekly planner, an “important things” folder, a birthday calendar, a bulletin board, a plastic folder for “really* important things” (printed out), and a to do list. I’m still tweaking my system but I’ve eliminated a lot of the duplication.

How do you keep track of everything that needs to get done?

B is for Backing Up Your Work

4/2/2016

By Yvonne Ventresca

My theme for the
April A to Z Challenge is Productivity for Creative People.

A to Z Challenge: B is for Backing Up Your Work

Backing up your work is mundane but critical. I know friends who have lost countless hours of productive time due to computer malfunctions. You can create your own backups by using a thumb drive or emailing yourself copies of your files. Dropbox offers free backups for up to 2 GB. Backup services like Carbonite are about $60 a year.

If you use Word, the default setting for Autosave is ten minutes (in the latest version). You can change the settings to save more frequently by selecting File, Options, Save, and decreasing the time for “Save Autorecover information every X minutes.” I have mine set to save every four minutes.

Do you have a preferred method for backing up your files? Do you have an "I lost my work" story to share?

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K is for Knowledge: How Are You Spending Your Time?

J is for Journaling

I is for Ivy Lee's 6 Things

H is for How to Curate Social Media

Three Curation Tools

G is for Getting Creatively Unblocked

Breaking a Creative Block

F is for First Things First: Creative Work

E is for Exercise at Your Desk

Treadmill Desk

Desk Stretches

D is for Daily Tasks

C is for Clear Your Mind

B is for Backing Up Your Work

A to Z Challenge: B is for Backing Up Your Work

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