I do a lot of skimming as I’m looking for blogs to tweet on Twitter.
Sometimes I stop and read the post carefully—and that was the case with a blog post on Work Awesome that I came across the other day.
The article’s author, Oleg Mokhov, made a great point about starting the day out with good momentum. He recommends leaving the last task of the day unfinished so that you can quickly pick up where you left off the next day and polish the task off quickly—thus racking up a speedy ‘win’ to set your day in motion.
He recommends outlining each step needed to complete the task the day before—so there’s no ambiguity that could lead to procrastination. He calls that procrastination start paralysis.
I’ve always used this idea with my writing—I never leave off the day with a scene that I’m not looking forward to writing (a complex scene, a scene with lots of characters, etc.). I try to end my writing time by leaving off at a spot where I’m excited about picking up the next day. Then I sketch out a really quick mini-outline of what I’m planning on writing the following day. This means that I’m eager to pick up my book the next day and don’t put it off.
But it seems to me that it would also help my productivity to quickly complete off a non-writing-related task the next day. Some mornings I wake up already feeling deflated, thinking about all the work I have in store for the day. It would probably help my writing out if I completed a task I started the day before—I’d feel encouraged by my progress right at the beginning of the day.
I have a suspicion that one of the things that grabbed me about this article, when I was skimming it, is the Hemingway quotation at the bottom. :)
The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that every day…you will never be stuck.
Hemingway’s quotation was parsed by another blog, The Second Act, some time back. They listed the benefits to this method:
You :
- Avoid being stuck
- Keep the momentum going
- Start your day by the rewarding work of finishing a task
- Boost your self-confidence and motivation levels before starting the next task
- End your day on a high note
- Put your brain to purposeful rest when you stop working
- Allow you subconscious to work profitably on it = the bigger picture = your goal.
Again, this seems to work just as well with non-writing tasks as much as meeting our daily writing goal.
I like the idea of starting out the day with a win. How do you build momentum at the start of your day? Or are you finding it later on?
I like to add things to my daily To Do Priority List that won’t take very long and are very easy. It gives me a lift to cross anything off my list, no matter how inconsequential it is.
I love to stop writing before I finish a good scene so I know tomorrow, I can pick it right back up easily. Then, since I’m already in the groove, it’s easy to keep going.
Elizabeth – I do my very best work at the beginning of the day. So for me, I work up momentum by starting with an easy thing. Then I can buckle down and get to work. I completely understand why it’s recommended to leave a task undone at the end of the day, and that makes good sense. It means you don’t waste time deciding what to do the next day. But for me, it’s best if that task is enjoyable or easy. Otherwise I get depressed thinking of what I didn’t accomplish and what’s looming the next day.
I totally agree that it’s always easier to start writing if you stopped while you were still on a roll. Of course, often times, I stop because I don’t know who’s on the other end of the ringing phone/doorbell/whatever, but that’s the price I pay for not plotting. And often, the answer arrives while I’m doing something else. I keep trying to convince Hubster that just because it looks like I’m folding laundry doesn’t mean I’m not writing!
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
Since I start my day out at my job, then tends to propel me forward. But I confess, I usually like to complete a scene before I stop writing.
In general, I like to have a couple easy ones at the top of my daily do-list bit I’ve never thought to apply that to my writing. Usually I keep writing at night as long as the ideas are following and stop when I get so tired my mind shuts down. This, unfortunately, leaves me at a standstill in the morning. Of course, in the morning I’m heading for the office (to that “other” job), so I have all day to regain my writing momentum.
What great advice. Sometimes I remember to jot notes about what comes next, but not always. But I always have an ongoing list of things to do.
I think I’m abnormal. I know all these tricks work for a lot of people, and i recommend them frequently. I seem to always though, be a victim of ‘this is the only time’–I write as long as I can and end when I end because I am out of time.
I DID though, end last night unsure how to fill out the rest of my scene, and in the shower this morning it came to me, so I made some notes before work. I can’t wait to get home to write them, and I know my scene will be stronger than if I’d pushed to keep going last night.
With my writing, I am starting with writing the last sentence I wrote before and going from there. But I really like your idea of leaving off at an exciting place that I want to come back to. With my to-do list, I just move down it as quickly as possible. I’ve never been a procrastinator, so it’s not a huge issue for me to get things done.
Karen
yes i’ve heard of this tip before, It’s an excellent and positive idea, which i try to take on board and sometimes succeed :O)
Yeah, momentum is an important tool. It’s like leverage – it gives you an outside power to get over the bumps.
It helps to plan, but it also helps to come up with quick strategies for those times when your plan gets thrown out of whack and you have to restart your momentum.
(Of course, making a list like he describes is something you can also do to start a session. You can also do an idea generation game or just make yourself write ONE sentence. There are a lot of ways to overcome that start-anxiety.)
Patricia–I think that’s what I need to do…find something *small* to accomplish. That would work out so much better than trying to work on a big task right off the bat.
Mallory–So you’re a fan of this method! Glad to hear it works so well.
Margot–Yes, I think for it to *work*, it’s probably got to be a really easy win at the start of the day. If it’s something that I don’t want to do, then I will REALLY procrastinate starting it. Like now–I need to put my laundry away. And I’ve put it off ALL day long!
Alex–That’s my usual instinct–it’s hard to stop for the day if things are flowing smoothly.
Linda–For you, it’s something you’re looking forward to at the end of the day, then. That’s great motivation!
Hart–You might also be one of those people who can’t trick themselves! I think I have a very simple brain–I can even set my clock slightly ahead and trick myself into leaving the house earlier. :)
So it’s perculated all day long and will be really well-developed when you get home!
Terry–There are a lot of outside distractions, aren’t they? They stop me, too–as well as the clock. When the school bus arrives, it’s time for me to stop writing.
Madeleine–Then there are those days when everything is topsy-turvy first thing in the day! Yes, I have those, too. :)
I’m a man of the night. My momentum is highest after midnight >:)
Cold As Heaven
I start out my day with an online fix, lol – then it’s off to work, get it done, and back online for my evening fix. Unless I’m in the midst of a writer’s zone buzz – then I’m Mr. Motivated to the max!
This sounds like a great idea, but I think I am more of a spur-of-the-moment and see-what-the-next-day-brings type person rather than a real planner.
In theory, I agree on the idea of stopping when things are going well. But in reality, I have not been writing for several days (too much work & family matters to attend to) so in a day or two when I have caught up with sleep, I am afraid I will have to begin almost from scrap :(
Oh, I like starting my day with a win. Though I’m rarely stuck for where to go next. I almost always know what I’m doing the next scene, next sentence, next chapter, whatever. Just the trouble is buckling down and doing it.
Hemingway’s stopping mid-sentence, though? Don’t think I’m cut out for that. I’m too much of a completist. :)