Day 768: Thoughts on my daily schedule
I had a difficult morning with some bad IBS flare-ups, but I took some medication for the pain and then distracted myself while I waited for it to kick in.
Before, whenever my IBS pain was bad, I was always tempted to throw in the towel and just do the bare minimum of work for the rest of the day, but I noticed that I’ve had a major shift in mindset recently. I don’t want to think about never feeling better again, but for the moment, I need to work around my IBS and be happy with whatever work I can get done in the time I have each day. I noticed that I tend to have the most pain between 6 am and 2 pm, so I found that, even if the medication doesn’t make me feel better in the morning, I often have at least an hour or two in the afternoon where I feel well enough to work.
I did rearrange my daily schedule so that I don’t do as many tasks each day. I do my Japanese study every day since it’s necessary for me to do a little daily in order to learn the language. I also do a little marketing each day because if I’m faced with a large amount of marketing work, I tend to procrastinate, whereas doing a little each day is the path of least resistance for me. I also do my email everyday for the same reason, although another motivator for me is because I took the time to completely clear out my email Inbox, and so to prevent it from piling up again, I have to make sure to clear it everyday.
However, right now I’m only doing the writing for book 4 in my Regency series, rather than splitting time each day between writing on one book and blocking/outlining a different book. After I finish writing books 4 and 5, I’ll block book 6 completely, then move to writing it, and continue like that for the rest of the books of the series. I’m also not working a little bit on my Hawaii serial novel every day, but instead I work on it one day a week where I make sure to write at least 700 words.
This way, I’m only working on one book every day, whether writing or blocking. It reduces the number of tasks I do each day, which seems to help me to be able to focus better. Also, because of my IBS flare-ups, I never know exactly how many hours a day I’ll be able to work, and if I only have one book to work on each day, then I can spend all the time I have on that one book. Sometimes, it’s only one hour, sometimes it’s more.
I definitely feel less distracted when I have fewer tasks to do each day. Since I’m still in the middle of learning Japanese, I still take about an hour every morning to do my Japanese study. I tried leaving it for later in the day, but I ended up not getting it done a lot of the time, so now I do it first, before I start my writing. I know that once I finish learning all the grammar points, my Japanese study time will not take so long, although I might end up spending more time reading Japanese light novels instead. :P
If I could, I’d shunt all my marketing tasks to only one day a week, but I know myself, and if there are a ton of marketing things to do on one day, I will procrastinate and waste time, not getting started on it right away. The way things are now, I easily get myself to start my one marketing task each day because I know it’s a small enough chunk that I can get it done in 15-30 minutes.
I try to get Regency research reading done every day, too, although sometimes it’s only 15 minutes. Reading nonfiction especially is very boring for me. Lately I’ve been putting it off and trying to do it during lunch, but too often I get lazy and don’t do it. I really need to start doing it first, before my writing, like I was doing before.
So, bottom line: I needed to reduce the number of tasks I do each day. Right now I only do the things I absolutely have to do every day, whether because it’s intrinsically necessary (like with the Japanese learning) or because I won’t get it done if I don’t do a little every day (like with the marketing, email, and Regency research reading).
For my writing, I try to assign one book to work on each day, whether it’s writing or blocking. Since I write under two pen names, I have to switch to a different book one day a week, which isn’t ideal, but I just have to suck it up. But only doing one book a day reduces the number of tasks to do each day.
Also, another thing I’ve learned is that I need to do certain tasks first, before I start my writing, just to make sure that they’ll get done. I used to shunt them to later in the day because they’re not quite as important as the writing work, but on a whole, they’re all still important tasks, and the truth is that if they don’t get done, I’m in trouble. So even though it might seem like I’m doing less important work first, it’s better than not getting that work done at all.
For some writers, it’s the writing work that they have to do first or else it won’t get done. For me, the writing isn’t as difficult to do. Instead, I have to make sure I do my Japanese, email, marketing, and Regency research reading done first.
I think that for every person, you need to figure out what important things you need to make sure you get done for your work. Then you have to decide if you need to do a little each day, or if you can schedule to do it one day a week or something like that. I have to do certain things every day, mostly because for my personality, it’s the path of least resistance to get those things done at all if I do a little every day.
Then, once you decide what you have to do every day, it’s usually best to do them first each day. I find that if I don’t do these things first they simply end up not getting done at all at the end of the day. I can go a few days without checking email, but after that, it piles up so much that it seems daunting to me, and then I’ll procrastinate tackling it. Same thing with marketing tasks.
I found that I didn’t have to be an organizational wizard to create a doable schedule of tasks for each day and remain productive. I did some thinking about my priorities in order to make my list of daily tasks very short, only 5 things: Japanese, email, marketing, Regency research reading, writing or blocking on one book. I do everything before the writing, and I end up getting everything done.
So far, this has worked for me despite the past several weeks of bad IBS flare-ups. I haven’t been writing 4-6 hours a day like I wanted, but I changed my mindset to be okay with whatever work I get done, no matter how small. I’m closing in on the 75% mark of the book I’m currently working on, and I’ve been much more productive on it for the past 2 weeks since I adopted this new daily schedule.
Writing streak: 247 days
Regency series:
Editing: Time spent: 28 minutes
Writing: Time spent: 2 hours, 14 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 1034 words
Writing-related business:
Regency research reading: time spent: 15 minutes
Email: time spent: 14 minutes
Marketing: time spent: 39 minutes
My takeaway for today: Do your Regency research reading before work, don’t put it off to lunch because then it probably won’t get done.
Before, whenever my IBS pain was bad, I was always tempted to throw in the towel and just do the bare minimum of work for the rest of the day, but I noticed that I’ve had a major shift in mindset recently. I don’t want to think about never feeling better again, but for the moment, I need to work around my IBS and be happy with whatever work I can get done in the time I have each day. I noticed that I tend to have the most pain between 6 am and 2 pm, so I found that, even if the medication doesn’t make me feel better in the morning, I often have at least an hour or two in the afternoon where I feel well enough to work.
I did rearrange my daily schedule so that I don’t do as many tasks each day. I do my Japanese study every day since it’s necessary for me to do a little daily in order to learn the language. I also do a little marketing each day because if I’m faced with a large amount of marketing work, I tend to procrastinate, whereas doing a little each day is the path of least resistance for me. I also do my email everyday for the same reason, although another motivator for me is because I took the time to completely clear out my email Inbox, and so to prevent it from piling up again, I have to make sure to clear it everyday.
However, right now I’m only doing the writing for book 4 in my Regency series, rather than splitting time each day between writing on one book and blocking/outlining a different book. After I finish writing books 4 and 5, I’ll block book 6 completely, then move to writing it, and continue like that for the rest of the books of the series. I’m also not working a little bit on my Hawaii serial novel every day, but instead I work on it one day a week where I make sure to write at least 700 words.
This way, I’m only working on one book every day, whether writing or blocking. It reduces the number of tasks I do each day, which seems to help me to be able to focus better. Also, because of my IBS flare-ups, I never know exactly how many hours a day I’ll be able to work, and if I only have one book to work on each day, then I can spend all the time I have on that one book. Sometimes, it’s only one hour, sometimes it’s more.
I definitely feel less distracted when I have fewer tasks to do each day. Since I’m still in the middle of learning Japanese, I still take about an hour every morning to do my Japanese study. I tried leaving it for later in the day, but I ended up not getting it done a lot of the time, so now I do it first, before I start my writing. I know that once I finish learning all the grammar points, my Japanese study time will not take so long, although I might end up spending more time reading Japanese light novels instead. :P
If I could, I’d shunt all my marketing tasks to only one day a week, but I know myself, and if there are a ton of marketing things to do on one day, I will procrastinate and waste time, not getting started on it right away. The way things are now, I easily get myself to start my one marketing task each day because I know it’s a small enough chunk that I can get it done in 15-30 minutes.
I try to get Regency research reading done every day, too, although sometimes it’s only 15 minutes. Reading nonfiction especially is very boring for me. Lately I’ve been putting it off and trying to do it during lunch, but too often I get lazy and don’t do it. I really need to start doing it first, before my writing, like I was doing before.
So, bottom line: I needed to reduce the number of tasks I do each day. Right now I only do the things I absolutely have to do every day, whether because it’s intrinsically necessary (like with the Japanese learning) or because I won’t get it done if I don’t do a little every day (like with the marketing, email, and Regency research reading).
For my writing, I try to assign one book to work on each day, whether it’s writing or blocking. Since I write under two pen names, I have to switch to a different book one day a week, which isn’t ideal, but I just have to suck it up. But only doing one book a day reduces the number of tasks to do each day.
Also, another thing I’ve learned is that I need to do certain tasks first, before I start my writing, just to make sure that they’ll get done. I used to shunt them to later in the day because they’re not quite as important as the writing work, but on a whole, they’re all still important tasks, and the truth is that if they don’t get done, I’m in trouble. So even though it might seem like I’m doing less important work first, it’s better than not getting that work done at all.
For some writers, it’s the writing work that they have to do first or else it won’t get done. For me, the writing isn’t as difficult to do. Instead, I have to make sure I do my Japanese, email, marketing, and Regency research reading done first.
I think that for every person, you need to figure out what important things you need to make sure you get done for your work. Then you have to decide if you need to do a little each day, or if you can schedule to do it one day a week or something like that. I have to do certain things every day, mostly because for my personality, it’s the path of least resistance to get those things done at all if I do a little every day.
Then, once you decide what you have to do every day, it’s usually best to do them first each day. I find that if I don’t do these things first they simply end up not getting done at all at the end of the day. I can go a few days without checking email, but after that, it piles up so much that it seems daunting to me, and then I’ll procrastinate tackling it. Same thing with marketing tasks.
I found that I didn’t have to be an organizational wizard to create a doable schedule of tasks for each day and remain productive. I did some thinking about my priorities in order to make my list of daily tasks very short, only 5 things: Japanese, email, marketing, Regency research reading, writing or blocking on one book. I do everything before the writing, and I end up getting everything done.
So far, this has worked for me despite the past several weeks of bad IBS flare-ups. I haven’t been writing 4-6 hours a day like I wanted, but I changed my mindset to be okay with whatever work I get done, no matter how small. I’m closing in on the 75% mark of the book I’m currently working on, and I’ve been much more productive on it for the past 2 weeks since I adopted this new daily schedule.
Writing streak: 247 days
Regency series:
Editing: Time spent: 28 minutes
Writing: Time spent: 2 hours, 14 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 1034 words
Writing-related business:
Regency research reading: time spent: 15 minutes
Email: time spent: 14 minutes
Marketing: time spent: 39 minutes
My takeaway for today: Do your Regency research reading before work, don’t put it off to lunch because then it probably won’t get done.
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