Here are 4 steps to maintaining a quit-proof commitment! I love creating new goals for myself, but the problem isn’t making them, but maintaining them…Here’s what I do to help me stay on track!
Every commitment is different but this is a good place to start.
Set boundaries.
Give yourself expectations of what should be done, and what you would like to stick to. For example, if you want to commit to writing for 3 hours a day your boundaries would be to sit at your desk while writing, or to split the time between morning and evening. Just make sure they are right for your needs.
Enlist help.
You are not alone! There are so many tools you can use to help you stay committed, people who can help. Reach out to others and ask how they stay committed or ask them to help encourage you and keep you motivated.
Block out your schedule weekly.
Having dedicated time is the best way to stay on track. It will be very beneficial to you if you know what your week will look like so you can make sure you continue with your commitment.
Schedule your own performance review.
This one might be my favorite. At the end of the week or the month go back to your commitment and evaluate yourself on how well you did. Use the steps above to see if you set boundaries, enlisted help and made a weekly schedule. And if you didn’t do as well as you thought, you actually did this pretty perfectly because now you can better judge yourself for improvement.
January is still rocking and rolling, so put your writing in motion! You have a whole decade to reach your writing goals, but take them one day at a time. I find it best to make a schedule…make one per day, week, or month. Some of the key benefits to scheduling include:
Improves Time Management
Everyone has busy lives that can be jam packed with events and things to do, but blocking out time means that none of your time is wasted. Keep on top of everything that needs to be done.
Allows Prioritization
“I will do it tomorrow” – the saying we have all said time and time again. Well now is the time to put that task at number one. Scheduling allows you to prioritize and get the most important tasks done first.
The satisfaction of being able to cross something off your list says it all. Having a scheduled list can enhance your efficiency by keeping everything organized.
These are just a few ways incorporating a schedule into your daily life can help you stay on track. I know it can seem a bit tedious and can take away some spontaneity, but try it out for yourself!
There are so many apps to help you along the way as well! I can be more of a pen to paper person myself, but if you need alerts and extra amenities along the way there are apps and programs out there just for you.
Now instead of frustratingly trying to remember what needs to be done, check your schedule with ease. Whether it be for writing a certain amount of pages, getting paperwork in on time, or simply reading a few chapters write it down and make it work. This is your schedule and your time!
If you are someone who is lucky enough to call themselves a full-time writer, its very likely that you have already discovered that it’s not as glorious as it sounds. Is it awesome? Yes! But, every job comes with it downsides. Many people envision writers with amble amount of time on their hands, spending their days “writing” in cute coffee shops, connecting with nature on a picnic blanket in the park, or doing “research” on fun vacations or in fascinating museums. Many people assume that writers have a plethora of time available to them to do other things like errands, house cleaning, babysitting, or fun days/nights out with friends because your schedule is so flexible, right?
These writing fantasies couldn’t be further from the truth. When writing is your full-time job that’s exactly what it is- a full-time job. One of the biggest challenges of having such a free-form job is scheduling. It’s very easy to let other things get in the way of your writing because we all have other commitments: children, spouses, hobbies, chores, errands, and friends. When you don’t punch the clock for a 9-5 job, it’s incredibly easy to keep pushing off the one thing you really should be doing because you have the whole day ahead of you and there’s always tomorrow. But, if you want to keep writing full-time you need to find a way to make writing your priority. It’s way easier said than done, I know that. But then again, there’s nothing glamorous about not getting your work done.
A few days ago, on Huffington Post’sI NEED COFFEE blog they talked about three really helpful tips for scheduling your writing life:
Find your scheduling method.
You need to find a way of scheduling that works for you. Do you want your schedule to be electronic so you can easily access it from whenever you are? If so, you need to think about what type of tools you want in your scheduling software. There are so many choices out there that if you don’t pick the right one for you, it isn’t going to help. Maybe you prefer to hand write your schedule? Then you need to get an agenda pad that’s easy to use and easy to carry around. You need to find a way to keep it neat and organized or else you will end up missing the very things you started that agenda pad for.
2. Schedule everything, but schedule small.
If you are getting a scheduling software or agenda to just put down to “Write novel” in it, you are wasting your time. You need to go deeper than that. Maybe give yourself a particular word count to reach, a certain scene to write, or a chapter to complete. Maybe a character or a past event needs more developing, schedule that too. You need to think small when scheduling your day, week, or even month. Anything you do pertaining to your writing needs to be scheduled. It forces you to stay on track and focus on the task at hand. You can worry about everything else you need to do when it comes up on your schedule.
3. Learn to buffer.
The problem with scheduling is that we can easily get carried away with it. We can become so obsessed with it that we find ourselves scheduling every minute of our lives. That’s why we need to buffer. Leave 15-30 minutes between tasks to breathe. Take a break, get some fresh air, check on your kids, do a few quick house chores, stretch- anything. Going from one task, to the other, to the other will make anyone crazy. You will be much more successful if you buffer your time and take those well deserved breaks.
