Archives: Productivity

My increasingly awesome Twitter-buddy Tyler Weaver posted this great article on his website today. I don’t know why, but I love peeking into other people’s work spaces, although Tyler’s minimalism puts my crazy-chaotic office/corner desk bombsite to shame.

I remember an old adage I used to try to placate my parents with at home:

A creative mess is better than a tidy idleness.
Anon

I clearly just need to learn how Tyler manages “creative tidyness”.

For a superstition, the muse certainly needs structure. You’ve got to tell it where and when to show up, or else it’ll become an excuse for you not to do your work.
Tyler Weaver, tylerweaver.com

The story goes that wherever he performed, Elvis insisted that his dressing room was placed 1000 yards from the stage.  As he walked those 1000 steps to get to his arena, he would slowly focus his mind and get into the head space he needed to perform to his best abilities.

Do you have your own 1000 steps? A routine or system that helps you get your head into gear?

For me, it’s making a hot drink1 and walking up the stairs to my home office. As soon as I close the office door and place the hot drink on the mat on my desk, my brain is in work mode and I’m focused on my To Do list for the day or the week.

Routines and systems are brilliant productivity aids, especially for freelancers working from home. They keep you focused on the task(s) in hand and keeping you from becoming distracted.

If you want to do more, achieve more and make the most of your day, find your own 1000 steps to performing your best.

1. green tea at the moment as I’m desperately trying to cut down on my caffeine intake [↩]

A friend of mine Tweeted this yesterday afternoon, managing to precisely pinpoint the best way of getting what you want from 2011:

“Ink your goals rather than just thinking them”

Tamsyn O’Connor1

Rather than making resolutions that we won’t stick to, it’s much better at this time of year to set yourself goals and targets for the 12-24 months ahead and review your old ones.

The best way to ensure that you finish up 2011 and head into 2012 the way you want to is to take ten minutes today to sit and write down exactly what you want to get done this year.

You can scribble it on a piece of paper and stick it to the fridge; pop it on a post-it on the side of your computer screen; even make it public by posting it on your blog or Facebook profile.

Whatever way you do, the simple fact of having your goals and dreams for the year written down in a concrete form will force you to focus on what you want to achieve, keeping you eye on the proverbial prize.

The more we focus on what we want–rather than what we don’t want–the more success and happiness will come our way.

1. script writer, associate producer and Love Like Hers‘ spectacular 1st AD [↩]

As we enjoy/endure the lull between the Christmas break and the New Year’s celebration it can be hard to be as productive as we may like to be.

I find this week is much better used for creating a Plan of Action for when the New Year kicks off in earnest next week.

Having a plan for what you want to do and achieve in 2011 will not only help you to hit the ground running, but also take advantage of the energy and enthusiasm of a fresh start to keep the momentum up.

The most important thing you can put into your plan for the first couple of weeks of January is something that pushes you far outside your comfort zone. The sooner you go beyond your own boundaries, the sooner great things will start to happen. And the earlier in the year you do it, the more likely you are to use the jump in confidence to help you progress through the next 12 months.

Just imagine what it’s going to feel like looking back at this period in a year’s time and feeling flushed with pride that all the great things that have happened to you came from one simple action. A Plan of Action.

As we all settle back for a well-deserved 48-hour respite1 from slaving at our respective grindstones, it’s as well to remember to keep your writerly radar pinging throughout the festive season.

What with the trapping over-excited children, confused elderly relatives, stressed-out parents and chefs on the rampage in one confined space, mixed up with a drop of misunderstanding and too much booze, Christmas and New Year can be a real goldmine for writers.

That’s not to say everyone wants to see the inner workings of one another’s families, but it’s the interaction, the banter, the (often forced) joviality that combine to offer up little moments of genius that, if you’re paying enough attention2, you’ll find cropping up in your work in the year(s) to come.

So raise a glass, kick back, chill out and enjoy the goodwill of all mankind, but remember to keep your writer wits about you – you never know when you might strike paydirt.

Merry Christmas to one and all and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

1. or more, if you’re lucky enough to enjoy time off until 2011 [↩]
2. Even if that attention is subconscious, thanks to writer’s osmosis [↩]

The week leading up to Christmas is always a weird one. Whether you’re at home, at work or both1 no one is really interested in doing anything and it’s never a hugely productive period2.

So how do we make the best of the week before Christmas and the odd limbo of the following week before the New Year kicks off?

Rather than sitting at your desk procrastinating and clock-watching while dreaming of warmer, sunnier climbs, why not make use of the semi-downtime to make some progress on those little pet projects that have been kicking about in your head for the last three, six or even twelve months?

You know the ones I’m talking about: the projects that you love but just haven’t found time to focus on. The projects that you want to make a reality, but you’re not ready to share them with others just yet. The projects that really excite you, that fill you with drive and passion.

Too many great projects get lost in the maelstrom of everyday life and work, so use this little two-to-three week window to really reignite that passion.

If nothing else, just by working on a project that energises you for a few weeks, it’ll help launch you into the New Year with renewed vigour for achieving your goals and making the most of your life, your career and your talent.

1. working from home, that is [↩]
2. unless your in Panto, in which case you’re rushed off your feat right about now [↩]

When does promotion become procrastination?

When social media goes bad (cue over-the-top American-TV intro music and flashy title sequence)1.

We’ve all been there: listless, unmotivated, snowed under with things we just don’t want to be doing with our day.

We just sneak a peek at what the Twitterverse is up to before we get down to it. We just see who’s thrown a sheep2 at us before we put our noses back to that grindstone.

Before we know it, we’ve lost hours of our day to commenting, reTweeting and generally putting ourselves about, always telling ourselves that it’s all in the name of networking and promoting ourselves, our product or our project. Which it very often is.

But it’s vital not only to your productivity, but to the success of said product or project, that we pay attention to those warning signs of procrastination. There’s no point in marketing yourself if you’re never going to have anything to deliver.

So shut that browser down, Command-Q Tweetdeck and set yourself to task. You’ll be glad you did when you jump back on later to Tweet “I finished it!”

1. Apologies to my American readers, I couldn’t use British TV as all our shows are pretty bland and boring when held up against the US. Two ends of the same spectrum, I guess. [↩]
2. Does anyone actually throw sheep any more? [↩]