The Book Launches in just 4 days time and I'm more excited than a baboon with a banana!
A large part of the book is giving you the tools to become a productive and effective writer to write fast and to write well. Today I'm going to share with you an excerpt from Chapter 4 - Writing
Deferral or Doing the Hoovering
Deferral is that feeling of putting off writing because something far more immediate is pressing on your mind. Like the hoovering. Or updating your Facebook status.
Deferral is saying, ‘Oh, I’ll get to the writing later. Let me complete this other task first.’ Only the later never comes and the writing never gets done.
But I have to get the hoovering done. It’s a job that just needs doing.
Ok, but it’s not that the hoovering is more important than writing a book. It’s just that it is right here and now and in your face.
You focus on an immediate goal that can give you immediate results.
In terms of time management this happens all the time, if you’ll excuse the expression.
Think of your biggest life goal? How much of your daily time is spending reaching towards that life goal. Probably almost none. And for that reason many people never achieve success because they focus on fire-fighting the issues of the here and now rather than aiming for the far off targets of their dreams.
There is something in the time-management sphere called the ‘80/20 Rule’ or the Parento Principle. Basically it says that 20% of your activities will result in 80% of your results.
What happens for most people is that they focus on the 80% of trivial tasks that will have limited impact on their life goals rather than the 20% of important tasks that could revolutionise their lives.
I don’t know for certain but I can guess that writing this book might possibly fit into the ‘20% of your life-long important goals’ category.
If that is the case you’ve GOT to focus on it. Here are some ways to make completing your writing an UNAVOIDABLE task.
· Plan a date with yourself
o Look at your schedule for tomorrow. When is the best time to sit down and write? Is it last thing at night? Is it first thing in the morning?
· Stop watching TV
o If you can’t find any time to write then stop watching TV. In fact, stop watching everything. YouTube. Streaming sites. Catch up. The lot! Think honestly about how much enjoyment you get from watching TV. Does it really inspire you to be a better person? Does it really push you to achieve your life goals? Or do you turn into a brainless sofa-zombie when Big Brother comes on? Think about how much more rewarding in the long run having written a book would be. Think about how incredible you will feel when you can feel that book in your hand. Hell, just think about how amazing you will feel about becoming even a few hundred words closer to your dream.
· Get up at 5am
o If you’ve looked at tomorrow and there is no time whatsoever, then get up an hour earlier than you normally would. There are added benefits to this tactic rather than leaving it to the end of the day.
§ The rest of the world is asleep (so you won’t be getting any calls, texts or emails)
§ Your household is quiet (so you can focus)
§ Your brain is still in the flux state of being just woken so is more creative and malleable (this is complete speculation but I believe it!)
§ You will be more productive for the rest of the day because you will be self-satisfied with having already completed a major milestone before the day has even started.
· Put it in your calendar
o Make the date official and put it in your calendar. Defend that date as if it were another important engagement like going to the dentist.
· Schedule time for rewards (like social media)
o Ok, I know a moment ago that I said that you should stop watching TV but if, like me, you can’t resist an episode of DIY SOS then schedule that in too. If you know Silent Witness is on at 9pm on a Monday night then book yourself in to write from 8pm. The added incentive that you know your partner is going to watch the show without you if you don’t get your writing done will have you smashing your daily word target.
More tips, tricks and tactics to get yourself to finally achieve your goal of writing your adventure book can be found in Writing for Adventure Authors, released from captivity like a wild bear on 1st May.