Day 781: Distraction rabbit holes
I’m starting on my new scheduling experiment of starting and stopping my writing at the same time each day, regardless of if my “frogs” got done, in order to try to transition more seamlessly and easily in deep focus for work.
My IBS was bad again this morning, so I got another late start to my day. I had been hoping to get all my “frogs” done before lunch and then getting to my writing work by 1 pm, but because of my late start, I only got my Japanese study done before lunch.
However, while doing my Japanese, I got distracted down a grammar rabbit hole and ended up taking an extra 30 minutes. It was still important work that I would have eventually needed to get done, but doing it today took time away from my writing.
After lunch, I got only a couple frogs done, and at 2 pm, the only frog I hadn’t done was my marketing task for the day. However, I decided to start writing work at 2 pm anyway, in the hopes I’ll do my marketing later.
I realize as I’m typing this that it sounds EXACTLY like my failed experiment with scheduling that I just did a few days ago, but I decided to try this (again) for a couple reasons: 1) I want to see if starting work at the same time every day will help me learn to focus better, and 2) I can’t always expect each day to go perfectly because of my IBS and house chores, and when that happens, I’d rather prioritize the writing over my frogs.
I don’t know if this new, scheduled writing time will work and I’ll still get to my frogs later, or if it’ll only be like before and I won’t get to my frogs at the end of the day because I’m too tired, and so I won’t complete my frogs for weeks at a time (which would be a problem, since they’re still important tasks). However, I’m doing something a little different this time in that I’m stopping work at a certain time each day regardless of how much I got done. Hopefully that will enable me to not be tired at the end of the day and still get to my frogs after the writing is done.
**
I finished work at 5 pm. I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t get as much writing done as I wanted to, but I was glad I seemed to be able to focus intently during the 2.5 hours I was working on my book.
I realized in hindsight that I had gotten distracted (again) down a research rabbit hole. In one sense I did need to do the research, because it made a significant difference in my story plot if the place I was researching (Vauxhall) had two or three entrances. But I ended up going more into detail than I actually needed about Vauxhall, and that wasted time when I could have been writing.
So once again, I was distracted by a rabbit hole. While I was cooking dinner, I tried to brainstorm ways to combat this, and I think I simply need to set alarms/timers when I do my Japanese so that I don’t take longer than an hour.
As for the research rabbit hole, I think I might try going back to my old practice of leaving a note for myself in the manuscript if it’s something that’s not too significant to the storyline. Hopefully I won’t have too many of those notes, because when I have too many of those kinds of things to take care of during my “cycling” self-editing pass, the self-editing ends up being not as thoughtful and detailed—I miss things like words repeated too close to each other, or the wrong word used when I mean something else.
I probably shouldn’t have tried to do some marketing before dinner, because I ended up taking longer than I expected and so I ate dinner late, which I’m trying not to do.
I hope that tomorrow I can eliminate my distraction rabbit holes and get more work done during my writing time. If my IBS acts up again, I could eliminate some of my “frogs” such as marketing, but if the IBS keeps me from doing my marketing for too many days in a row, then my marketing To Do list gets to be too big. If that happens, I might fall back on my old procrastination habits, in which case the marketing will never get done.
So I’m thinking that I should continue to try to do all my “frogs” every day, even if it means I have to work after dinner, just so that that kind of stuff doesn’t pile up too much.
Writing streak: 260 days
Regency series:
Editing: Time spent: 34 minutes
Writing: Time spent: 2 hours, 11 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 1182 words
Writing-related business:
Regency research reading: time spent: 23 minutes
Email: time spent: 14 minutes
Marketing: time spent: 38 minutes
My takeaway for today: Try adhering to strict writing start and end times to see if it helps me to enter deep focus faster and easier.
My second takeaway for today: Try to avoid distraction rabbit holes by setting a timer/alarm for my Japanese, and leaving research notes for myself in my manuscript (if it’s feasible) rather than doing the research right away.
My IBS was bad again this morning, so I got another late start to my day. I had been hoping to get all my “frogs” done before lunch and then getting to my writing work by 1 pm, but because of my late start, I only got my Japanese study done before lunch.
However, while doing my Japanese, I got distracted down a grammar rabbit hole and ended up taking an extra 30 minutes. It was still important work that I would have eventually needed to get done, but doing it today took time away from my writing.
After lunch, I got only a couple frogs done, and at 2 pm, the only frog I hadn’t done was my marketing task for the day. However, I decided to start writing work at 2 pm anyway, in the hopes I’ll do my marketing later.
I realize as I’m typing this that it sounds EXACTLY like my failed experiment with scheduling that I just did a few days ago, but I decided to try this (again) for a couple reasons: 1) I want to see if starting work at the same time every day will help me learn to focus better, and 2) I can’t always expect each day to go perfectly because of my IBS and house chores, and when that happens, I’d rather prioritize the writing over my frogs.
I don’t know if this new, scheduled writing time will work and I’ll still get to my frogs later, or if it’ll only be like before and I won’t get to my frogs at the end of the day because I’m too tired, and so I won’t complete my frogs for weeks at a time (which would be a problem, since they’re still important tasks). However, I’m doing something a little different this time in that I’m stopping work at a certain time each day regardless of how much I got done. Hopefully that will enable me to not be tired at the end of the day and still get to my frogs after the writing is done.
**
I finished work at 5 pm. I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t get as much writing done as I wanted to, but I was glad I seemed to be able to focus intently during the 2.5 hours I was working on my book.
I realized in hindsight that I had gotten distracted (again) down a research rabbit hole. In one sense I did need to do the research, because it made a significant difference in my story plot if the place I was researching (Vauxhall) had two or three entrances. But I ended up going more into detail than I actually needed about Vauxhall, and that wasted time when I could have been writing.
So once again, I was distracted by a rabbit hole. While I was cooking dinner, I tried to brainstorm ways to combat this, and I think I simply need to set alarms/timers when I do my Japanese so that I don’t take longer than an hour.
As for the research rabbit hole, I think I might try going back to my old practice of leaving a note for myself in the manuscript if it’s something that’s not too significant to the storyline. Hopefully I won’t have too many of those notes, because when I have too many of those kinds of things to take care of during my “cycling” self-editing pass, the self-editing ends up being not as thoughtful and detailed—I miss things like words repeated too close to each other, or the wrong word used when I mean something else.
I probably shouldn’t have tried to do some marketing before dinner, because I ended up taking longer than I expected and so I ate dinner late, which I’m trying not to do.
I hope that tomorrow I can eliminate my distraction rabbit holes and get more work done during my writing time. If my IBS acts up again, I could eliminate some of my “frogs” such as marketing, but if the IBS keeps me from doing my marketing for too many days in a row, then my marketing To Do list gets to be too big. If that happens, I might fall back on my old procrastination habits, in which case the marketing will never get done.
So I’m thinking that I should continue to try to do all my “frogs” every day, even if it means I have to work after dinner, just so that that kind of stuff doesn’t pile up too much.
Writing streak: 260 days
Regency series:
Editing: Time spent: 34 minutes
Writing: Time spent: 2 hours, 11 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 1182 words
Writing-related business:
Regency research reading: time spent: 23 minutes
Email: time spent: 14 minutes
Marketing: time spent: 38 minutes
My takeaway for today: Try adhering to strict writing start and end times to see if it helps me to enter deep focus faster and easier.
My second takeaway for today: Try to avoid distraction rabbit holes by setting a timer/alarm for my Japanese, and leaving research notes for myself in my manuscript (if it’s feasible) rather than doing the research right away.
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