Time Management: Don’t Let Time Make You Her Bitch

We all need more time.

We can’t fit every activity we want into our day.

But how do we get more time?

We need more hours in a day to write. But Anne, you say, Albert Einstein had the same 24 hours in his day and look what he accomplished. To that I say BS! He was using wormhole tech. Well, that’s my theory anyway. Seriously, he set his priorities. He had a goal. Let’s say it was writing because I’m not getting into physics here. He decided he wanted to get published in one years time. He did the research of everything he needed to accomplish in one year to reach his goal. He broke that down into 12 month blocks/goals. Then weekly blocks. Then further still into daily goals. By breaking a large goal down into smaller more manageable blocks, the goal does not seem impossible. Now, I picked one years time as an example. Your timeline may be different, put you must set a date. To say that “one day” I will be published, is not enough. Because, “one day” never gets here. It is always in the future and you can never get any closer to it.

So, what is the first step to reaching a goal?

Priorities

Figuring out priorities is key to fitting in time to write. But you must schedule time for other activities or run the risk of writer burnout. Here is the schedule I came up with for me. Now, this is what works for me. You will come up with activities to fit your own life. But notice I had to schedule the whole day, even mundane activities or they would be forgotten and not get done. Also, I get up at 5am so that is when my day starts. Your’s will, of course, start at a different time.

Writing/Life Schedule

Morning — 5am

Meditation
Exercise
Shower (hygiene stuff and dress)
Breakfast
Internet (30min.- Twitter, 15min – Email, 15min – WordPress) 1 Hour
Writing  9-12pm

 

Noon — 12pm

Lunch
Internet (30min – Twitter, 15min – Email, 30 min – WattPad, 30min – WordPress)  1.5 Hours
Errands/Shopping/Etc.  1.5 Hours
Writing  3-6pm

 

Evening — 6pm

Supper
Cleaning  30 min
Internet (30min.- Twitter, 15min – Email, 15min – WordPress) 1 Hour
Writing 1 Hour (Wrap up loose ends, set writing goals for next day — chapter, scene, word count, etc.)
TV  1 Hour
Meditation
Bed

So that makes 7 hours of Writing Time a Day! 

I could get more if I took extra time out of my internet activities.

 

 

Since your day will look different than mine, you must write down your complete schedule first. NOT the schedule you wish you had, but the schedule you actually have!

Write down each item as it occurs in your day. Record the time and how much time you devoted to that activity.

At the end of the day, tally the numbers. 

 

What activity is taking up most of your day?

Are you happy with the way your schedule looks?

Are you spending enough time writing?

 

No?

 

First decide you many hours you can PRODUCTIVELY work in a day. 6 to 8 Hours a day is a good number to shoot for. No more than 8. You don’t want your mind to associate writing with work or punching in a time clock. Plus, you don’t want to suffer burnout.

 

Try to break up that writing time to small blocks throughout the day or night depending on your schedule. No writing in huge long stretches. Avoid burnout.

 

Schedule in regular activities: eating, hygiene, fun, internet. It may seem silly, but if you don’t schedule it, it might not get done.

 

Now write up this ideal schedule and tally all the numbers.

If you’re like my first attempt: I had too many activities/hours and not enough day! I had to prioritize. I looked at my first/actual schedule to see where all my hours were going:

 

I spent a staggering 6 HOURS ON THE INTERNET!!!

 

How had this happened?

What was I thinking?

Where were my priorities?

 

I wasn’t spending enough time writing and too much time on the internet. 

So, I cut my internet time in half and took those three hours and added them to my writing time.

 

 Avoid Writer’s Burnout

Schedule time for work and play

If you don’t schedule it, it will not get done

No more than 8 ours of writing in a day

Break up your 8 hours into smaller writing blocks
throughout the day

My Ideal Schedule

Okay, the schedule I wrote above, is my IDEAL schedule. I am not there, yet. But every day, I get closer to my goal of the ideal schedule for me.

Write down your ideal schedule and work toward it everyday. Don’t expect to nail it on the first day or week. Keep working everyday and you will reach your goal.

And remember the wisdom of this writer advice:

All work, and no play, makes Jack…

Lose his mind and go after family with an ax!

Thank you to Steven King for that writing wisdom.

So, until next time…

Good luck, stay safe and may the words fly from your fingertips!

Time Keeps on Slipping… How Did I Get Here?

TIME

Do We Ever Have Enough of it?

We all need to manage our time better. How do we measure it?

By the Second…
By the Minute…
By the Hour…

The Day?
The Week?
The Month?

Do we measure it by our child’s milestones?

Next week my daughter will graduate from high school. I remember her birth… First steps… First words…

How did time go by so quickly?

I remember when she first entered Kindergarten. I bought a scrap book for her school memories. While I was buying the scrap book at the craft store, another mother was buying one for her daughter. Her daughter was graduating high school and it was her first scrap book. The mother was frantic. She could not understand how time had just slipped away. I felt bad for her but I went home smug in the knowledge that I wasn’t like that. That I would never be like that.

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Skip ahead 12 years…

I am just like that frantic mother. I only finished the first 5 years of her scrap book! How did this happen? Where did the time go? My son was born 4 years after my daughter and I only have the first few years of his book done…

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What Happened?

While I was busy making plans… life happened. It happens to all of us. We need to cut ourselves some slack. While I was planning the perfect life, I lived a quite different one.

We were not wealthy… but we had enough to eat.
We didn’t live in a mansion… but we had a roof over our heads.
We did not have the latest and the coolest… but we had love.

I made a vow to myself, before my children were born, that they would come first. I kept that vow. I said if ever there was a conflict between getting something done or spending time with my children, I picked my children. So, the dishes or laundry might pile up while I spent time with my children. So what? I have no regrets.

 

Time Well Spent.

When I’m old and I look back on my life, I won’t remember the dishes, laundry or the housework. But I will remember the time spent with my children. And I will have no regrets.

 

Time Management: How Time Has Made Me Her Bitch

What Did I Do This Week?

I’d like to say I wrote 1,000 words a day.
I’d like to say I completed a couple chapters this week.
I’d like to say I started the revisions on my second manuscript this week…

But I can’t.

Seriously, what the freak is wrong with me?
Where is my discipline?
Where is my drive?

 

Since I have a short attention span, OCD and ADHD, I am distracted by the shiny…  Oh, how I try to stick to a schedule. I have calendars and day planners… I make lists… I make plans…

 

What Happens?

I get distracted by the shiny…

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If the road to Hell is paved with good intentions…

I’m driving down the middle of the road, 75mph, in a red convertible,
top down and stereo blasting!

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What I Actually Did This Week.

Set up a Twitter account. Followed and got followed.

Set up my LinkedIn page. Joined groups and posted comment discussions.

Set up a Facebook page and Author page. Damn, I need friends…

Worked on my blog. Hey, I need a place to showcase my work.

 

I hate to admit it but I’m the Slacker of Writers. I bought a large whiteboard to storyboard ideas and plot out scenes. I bought the dry erase markers in all the fun colors. I got colorful magnets and index cards. They love me at Staples.

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What did I accomplish?

NADA!

 

I decided my whiteboard was not big enough! I want one as big as the one used at the 12th Precinct on the show Castle! No, strike that. I want one to cover a 6′ x 6′ wall behind my bed. No, strike that! Apparently I want one big enough to be seen from space!

Will I ever be satisfied?

Probably not… Such is my life.

What am I going to do now?

I think I’ll go over to Twitter and see if anyone’s life sucks as much as mine…

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