Day 848: Dictation, day 38 - less procrastination today
I fully admit I was terrible about going to bed early last night. I have some library books that are due in a few days, and so I was trying to read them before I have to return them. As a result, I got up late this morning.
I was terrible about procrastination yesterday, so today, as soon as I got up, I tried to be very efficient. I'm feeling a little bit better than I did yesterday, so I was able to get some exercise done first (because if I don't exercise right after I get up, I absolutely will not exercise that day). After exercise, I did some time-dependent house chores, and then I immediately set up in the backyard to dictate my fiction.
Thinking about it, it really helps that the IBS cramping is not very bad today. I had enough energy to exercise, which is usually a good indication that I'm feeling better. I don't think my procrastination is related to my lack of energy, but it does seem a little bit easier to get into my work today.
***
The bugs were really bothering me in the backyard and I stopped after only 30 minutes. I really do think it’s most comfortable for me to dictate at my desk, although I have so many problems with procrastination when I do that, so I’m not sure how to fix that.
After that first round of dictation, I did more house chores that needed to be done. I actually had a lot of house chores to do today, so I ended up with less time for work than I thought.
I procrastinated a little bit before starting on a second round of dictation, but finally got myself to get it done at my desk, and I ended up doing more than I thought I would. However, I had to cut the time short since I had to start cooking dinner.
I transcribed the dictation during dinner and did the cleanup editing after dinner. It’s not my favorite schedule, to do work after dinner, but it was my fault for getting up late.
As I was dictating, I could tell that I was going at a slow pace during both dictation sessions. I really do think that I get faster the longer I dictate, but today I just couldn’t get a long session in. I’m still glad I managed to dictate for a total time of 1 hour, 15 minutes, even if I was a bit slow. I got about 3100 raw words dictated, although my speed was only about 2600 words per hour.
After cleaning up, it was only 2800 usable words, but that’s still an acceptable number of words written in my manuscript for the day.
It seems my dictation has been tending to be slow when I first start a dictation session. If it’s a short dictation session, then I never increase my speed enough to have a high words per hour rate. However, sometimes two short dictation sessions are easiest if I have other house chores that need to be done in a day, like today.
Either I have to try to do longer dictation sessions or try to improve my dictation speed. Neither are very easy to do, and I haven’t been able to improve my dictation speed so far. Then again, I also haven’t been able to do dictation every day consistently, and I’ve also been changing up where I do my dictation.
Since I have fewer distractions when I dictate at my desk, I will try to do my dictation there instead of outside. When I walk, there are cars and other pedestrians, as well as bugs, and when I’m in the backyard, there’s the neighbor’s dog and the bugs.
However, I also found that I tend to procrastinate more when I dictate at my desk, so I’ll have to figure out how to overcome the procrastination. Usually I battle procrastination by doing the task first thing in my day, but if I do the dictation first, it typically means I never get around to my other “frogs” such as my email and marketing. And I had designated those things as my “frogs” to do first thing because I found myself not getting around to them if I left them for later! This is such a problem!
The procrastination also might be a factor of my energy levels, because only a few months ago, I was able to write in the afternoon without problems when I was only writing via typing. So maybe I’ll go back to what I knew worked for me before—getting my “frogs” done first, then trying to do my dictation in the early afternoon.
Writing streak: 327 days
My takeaway for today: To try to battle procrastination, try doing what I know worked for me before—getting my “frogs” done first, then trying to do my dictation in the early afternoon.
I was terrible about procrastination yesterday, so today, as soon as I got up, I tried to be very efficient. I'm feeling a little bit better than I did yesterday, so I was able to get some exercise done first (because if I don't exercise right after I get up, I absolutely will not exercise that day). After exercise, I did some time-dependent house chores, and then I immediately set up in the backyard to dictate my fiction.
Thinking about it, it really helps that the IBS cramping is not very bad today. I had enough energy to exercise, which is usually a good indication that I'm feeling better. I don't think my procrastination is related to my lack of energy, but it does seem a little bit easier to get into my work today.
***
The bugs were really bothering me in the backyard and I stopped after only 30 minutes. I really do think it’s most comfortable for me to dictate at my desk, although I have so many problems with procrastination when I do that, so I’m not sure how to fix that.
After that first round of dictation, I did more house chores that needed to be done. I actually had a lot of house chores to do today, so I ended up with less time for work than I thought.
I procrastinated a little bit before starting on a second round of dictation, but finally got myself to get it done at my desk, and I ended up doing more than I thought I would. However, I had to cut the time short since I had to start cooking dinner.
I transcribed the dictation during dinner and did the cleanup editing after dinner. It’s not my favorite schedule, to do work after dinner, but it was my fault for getting up late.
As I was dictating, I could tell that I was going at a slow pace during both dictation sessions. I really do think that I get faster the longer I dictate, but today I just couldn’t get a long session in. I’m still glad I managed to dictate for a total time of 1 hour, 15 minutes, even if I was a bit slow. I got about 3100 raw words dictated, although my speed was only about 2600 words per hour.
After cleaning up, it was only 2800 usable words, but that’s still an acceptable number of words written in my manuscript for the day.
It seems my dictation has been tending to be slow when I first start a dictation session. If it’s a short dictation session, then I never increase my speed enough to have a high words per hour rate. However, sometimes two short dictation sessions are easiest if I have other house chores that need to be done in a day, like today.
Either I have to try to do longer dictation sessions or try to improve my dictation speed. Neither are very easy to do, and I haven’t been able to improve my dictation speed so far. Then again, I also haven’t been able to do dictation every day consistently, and I’ve also been changing up where I do my dictation.
Since I have fewer distractions when I dictate at my desk, I will try to do my dictation there instead of outside. When I walk, there are cars and other pedestrians, as well as bugs, and when I’m in the backyard, there’s the neighbor’s dog and the bugs.
However, I also found that I tend to procrastinate more when I dictate at my desk, so I’ll have to figure out how to overcome the procrastination. Usually I battle procrastination by doing the task first thing in my day, but if I do the dictation first, it typically means I never get around to my other “frogs” such as my email and marketing. And I had designated those things as my “frogs” to do first thing because I found myself not getting around to them if I left them for later! This is such a problem!
The procrastination also might be a factor of my energy levels, because only a few months ago, I was able to write in the afternoon without problems when I was only writing via typing. So maybe I’ll go back to what I knew worked for me before—getting my “frogs” done first, then trying to do my dictation in the early afternoon.
Writing streak: 327 days
My takeaway for today: To try to battle procrastination, try doing what I know worked for me before—getting my “frogs” done first, then trying to do my dictation in the early afternoon.
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