First off, props to anyone who gets the reference in the title. I'm also scattering links in through my posts - as of right now, I don't make any money from any companies I mention or apps I use, I just really like them.
I may or may not be binge-watching Supernatural from season 1 through to the end on Netflix. I own the first 5 seasons on DVD, but hey.... when you have a lot of writing goals for your personal work and a day off from your day job, what are you gonna do? Lay on the couch for 6 hours and lose track of which episode of a show you're on, or work on your personal projects?
The answer may surprise you! (Also, we really need to figure out some kind of font to indicate sarcasm. Is there such a thing?)
Turns out, for me, it can comfortably be a bit of both. Though I'm approaching 30, serious goal-setting is something I'm only now easing myself in to. I was great with goals and deadlines in school - someone gives me a deadline, an assignment, a freelance job? I am on it and I'll get that sucker done, no problems and no questions asked, no procrastination in sight. But without that outside deadline? If it's just me going "hey, it would be cool if I could write an act of a spec project this week", well then...
I can also quote Ever After, Labyrinth, and several other shows and movies pretty much verbatim. I fool myself, saying I only put the shows on as "background noise" while I work, and then before I know it three hours have passed and I'm laying on the couch with my laptop abandoned on the coffee table as I race to remember how the episode finishes before it gets to that point.
Last week, I talked about re-watching things, script in hand, comparing the differences between what you see on screen and what you read. I'd like to say that's how I know the examples I gave so well. It isn't. I could quote Labyrinth long before I found the script draft and did the comparison.
But that's okay too. Earlier this year, I decided it was time to Get Serious and really push towards following my dreams - past all the other "levels" I've passed to get where I am today. I'd get a big rush of inspiration and get to planning - calendars, goal-setting, plans, micro-goals, printed worksheets, Pinterest... all good things, but I would load myself up way too much way too quickly. At one point, I had every hour of my day mapped out. This, I told myself, was the way to push forward and really make some progress.
You can guess how long that lasted.
Now, for some people, that works for them and the optimism I had about those methods carries them on to great things. Structure and layouts and bullet journals and To Do lists are the way to go, for a lot of people. There wouldn't be so many Google hits on them if those things didn't work. I do have a Bullet Journal, but I find I start to get way too comfortable with the "I'll do this tomorrow" mentality and have to catch myself. Once I remind myself that I'm doing this thing for a reason, I get back on track. That's not to say bullet journalling hasn't helped me - it was really overwhelming at first, and I'm sure I'm still not making the most of it, but I'm more productive this year than I was the year before. As a side note, if you look at the official Bullet Journal site and feel as overwhelmed as I did, leave me a note. I had to be talked to by three different people before I gave it a shot for fear of "messing up", though that's a blog post for a different time.
While that's not saying a lot for some people about being productive and chasing after goals, for me, I think I've finally found the balance.
I say "think" because, who knows? The best part about time management techniques, for me, is trying them on. It's like clothes shopping on a day when you feel good about yourself and saying "oh, no, this doesn't fit" doesn't send you into a spiral of "blaaahhhh nothing will ever fit me ever" that may or may not end in buying ice cream or a burger. Or both. The metaphor in this case going back to me spending a day watching something on Netflix. And I won't lie and say I've found the Golden Ticket of preventing procrastination, because sometimes, different methods work better on different days.
So, if you're a little like me and you're sort of casting around for ways to avoid spending four hours scrolling through Facebook or staring into space (I'm looking at you, Candy Crush), I'll share what works for me. If you have any suggestions of your own, let me know! I'd love to hear about it!
There's a lovely app called "Coffitivity" to simulate the background noise of a cafe. I try not to stay too long in coffee shops, and I'm on a budget, so while delicious, those $5 drinks can really add up. So I stay at home, brew a pot of coffee, and start up the app. Soundcloud, Spotify, and other music services also inevitably have several variations on background noise or music (though creating playlists for characters and projects is a great procrastination tactic on my part), to help you through if you can't handle absolute quite. Sometimes, if I need to get out of the apartment, I fill up a thermos and head to the library.
But home is where the snacks are, and my bed is only a few steps away if I need (or want) to nap.
I keep my desk my Work Zone, however, and have managed to carve out a little corner that's got more journals than I can use at the moment, a mug of coffee (either cooled off, day-old, or fresh out of the pot), a plethora of pens and pencils, and a water bottle. In my entire apartment, this is the spot I keep as organized (cluttered to some, but everything has a place) and clean as humanly possible. This is my Work Zone and when I sit down to work, I work.
What does that look like? For me, it's keeping an eye on the time and allowing myself breaks. I guess it would be closest to the Pomodoro method/technique - work for a bit, take 10 minutes to check one thing. Email, Twitter feeds, Facebook, all that jazz. Then, back to work. For me, this is a way more effective method than if I tell myself I have to work straight for an hour or two. Inevitably, if I do that, I wind up on doing something other than work and wasting most of the day. So, the "If I do <x> then I can do <y>", mixed with a bit of bullet journalling, and a bit of "it's okay to wander off the train of thought so long as you make the effort to come back to it" methods create a pretty productive day.
And "productive" can mean a lot of different things, and that's okay too. I used to feel like I'd wasted the day if I'd done no writing but somehow cleaned the entire apartment. With a shedding cat in the middle of summer, having clean floors is an accomplishment I'm quite proud of, even if it doesn't last more than a day. Another psychological thing I'm trying on myself is just that - if I'm not writing, I have to do something else that will give me some kind of result. Sometimes it's going over my budget (I try to do that at least once a month to keep track of things), sometimes it's updating my Submissions Calendar for contests and fellowships, or a multitude of other things to try and help keep my personal and professional lives organized. So if I only get a page or two written, or my blog takes a bit longer to write up, I've learned to tell myself it's okay.
I'll repeat that, because it's been one of the most important things, and one of the hardest, for me to learn this year. It's okay if things don't happen as quickly as you'd meant them to.
There will be days where, despite my best intentions, I'll feel like crap and I'll do nothing except order pizza and play Candy Crush. I'll feel guilty at the end of the day, but that gives me energy to tackle the next day with a bit more energy than I would have otherwise. But, if after that day of nothing, I can wake up and force myself to try a couple paragraphs of writing or write out a plan for the day, that keeps me going.
So how do you deal with time management and goals? Do you push forward? Give yourself breaks? Need absolute silence? What apps do you have and where do you go? I'd love to hear from you, because as helpful as Pinterest can be for pinning articles on how to be productive with your time, it's kind of an oxymoron.
Until next time,
Dawn