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E is for Exercise

4/6/2015

In case you need yet another reason to exercise, according to Robert Pozen, author of Extreme Productivity, "the latest research shows that a regular exercise routine can make you happier, smarter, and more energetic," which in turn, leads to an improvement in productivity. Even low intensity exercise counts. If you want to learn more about the science behind this, check out his article, Exercise Increases Productivity. (By the way, this concept echoes some of Gregory Ciotti's advice, "Manage your health," from my previous "C" post.)

Not my feet.

A recent Harvard Business Review article by Ron Friedman reaffirms the benefits exercise has on our work. Yet for many of us, time feels like an obstacle. "What we really mean when we say we don’t have time for an activity," Friedman says, "is that we don’t consider it a priority given the time we have available." So true! And tomorrow's post happens to be about time and priorities. . . .

Knowing exercise improves mental stamina, memory, and concentration certainly makes it even more compelling. Do you have an exercise routine that fits into your work life? Please share!

D is for Digital Procrastination and the Illusion of Productivity

4/4/2015

By Yvonne Ventresca

Do you consider "checking social media" an important task? How about posting Facebook updates or sending tweets multiple times throughout the day? If so, you may be guilty of digital procrastination. (I was unbelievably excited to learn there was an actual name for this condition!)

Digital procrastination is an enemy of productivity, because although you *feel* like you're doing something useful, most of the time, you're not. As Jonathan Fields says in a Psychology Today article, "...when you spiral through every known mode of communication hundreds of times a day, you may be busy as hell, but you damn sure aren't productive. At least nowhere near the level you could be. You've just created the illusion of productivity." You can look up from hours of clicking/reading/posting online, and think--wow! Where did the afternoon go?

Here are a three ideas on preventing this type of procrastination:

Not a ghost typing.

1. Establish certain times of day to check social media (and email).
I decided to try this after realizing how much time I wasted. (See my time chart in A is for Analyze.) Although experts recommend not starting your day with email and social media, it made me feel vaguely uneasy that I was missing something important if I didn't. So now I do a quick check in the morning, some updates at lunch, and a bit more time as needed (including answering longer emails) at the end of the day when my real work is done. I tracked this over a week in March (to compare to my week in January) and it freed up about twenty minutes a day! (A short term experiment, but still.)

2. Set a timer for social media breaks.
I haven't tried this (yet) because I realized it wasn't the length of time I spent, but the frequency of checking social media and email that was the problem. I might only spend 3-4 minutes at a time, but I was doing it a gazillion times a day. A timer can certainly help raise awareness as the minutes "click" by.

3. Try a software program.
If you like technology tools, you can use a program like Freedom to change your habits. Freedom is "Internet blocking productivity software." For $10, you can "turn Freedom on, tell Freedom how long you'd like to focus, and you're offline and able to work. If you need to cheat and get back online, you can reboot." That's certainly one way to break a social media habit!

Do you control the amount of time you spend checking social media and email each day? Do you feel like it interferes with your work? And... how are you enjoying A to Z so far?

C is for Ciotti: Interview with Sparring Mind's Gregory Ciotti

4/4/2015

By Yvonne Ventresca

The Science of Productivity. 15 Habits of Supremely Happy People. This Is Your Brain on Porn, Junk Food, and the Internet. Do these article topics interest you? If yes, then you can join me and the 30,000 other people that read Gregory Ciotti's blog, Sparring Mind, which he started in November, 2013. "You could say that Sparring Mind started as a collection of open letters to myself on doing better work. This is what I learned, and this is why it matters," Ciotti explains. "The earliest essays are just cleaned up notes. As luck would have it, people appreciated those notes, and I in turn spent more time writing them--a blog was born!" I was thrilled that Ciotti agreed to answer a few questions about leading a more productive life.

An interview with Gregory Ciotti

Do you think productivity issues differ for creative people? If so, how?

Yes, because insight and inspiration cannot be scheduled, but you have to get the work done on time just like everyone else. When I was working in the courthouse I was very "productive," but it took zero imagination. Now being productive sometimes means reading or staring at a wall--I need time to get the ideas. So when I sit down to do the work, I want to maximize my time; that's how you keep output high without killing that downtime you need for thinking.

Creative people therefore are most dependent on schedules, perhaps ironically. They need to stabilize everything else in their life, so they can be aggressive and novel on the creative front.

What are your top productivity tips?

They go in this order:
1.) Manage your health--you'll thrive by managing your sanity and well-being, not by managing your "productivity."

2.) Manage your energy--work when you're hot and don't let go, and when you need to step away, do it. Know the difference between "done work" and "great work."

3.) Manage your environment--for people who struggle with procrastination, they need to look at the first two points before thinking about this. Then you should cultivate focus by managing your environment. Take control of what's around you: reduce distractions, increase friction to slack off, and find a place that becomes associated with work, even if you have to get out of the house. This will do most of the heavy lifting.

Last question: if you could offer one piece of life-changing advice, what would it be?

To get results other people can't, do things other people won't.

Bio: Gregory Ciotti leads content strategy at Help Scout and writes essays on creative work and human behavior at Sparring Mind. Get more from Greg on Twitter (@GregoryCiotti).

B is for Beginning: Wisdom from Newton, Hemingway, and Others about the Power of Getting Started

4/2/2015

By Yvonne Ventresca

Beginning can be tough...

Let’s say you decide that on Monday morning, bright and early, you'll begin writing the next chapter of your novel. Or walk on the treadmill. Or type the email you’ve been dreading. But then a funny thing happens. Monday morning rolls around and it no longer feels like the best time to tackle that particular task.

Getting started is often the hardest part of a project, but beginning is obviously a necessary step to finishing! James Clear refers to Newton’s First Law of Motion relating to productivity: an object in motion stays in motion. Beginning, then, sets us in motion and helps us to make progress. “Having the courage to start is more important than succeeding,” Clear says, “because the people who consistently get started are the only ones who can end up finishing anything.”

How can you make first steps easier?
Here are three ideas:

Cute kid, but not my child.

Set a small, doable goal. Maybe it’s twenty minutes of concentrated writing. Promise yourself to do that much, and if you're still miserable at the end of the twenty minutes, you’ll change your plan for the day. Maybe it becomes more of a research day than first-drafting. But most times, because of the power of beginning, those first minutes will lead to many productive more. (FYI -- this works with exercising, too.)

For writers, stop working each day at a place where you know the next scene, or plot twist, or section of dialogue. This technique comes from Hemingway, who said in a 1958 interview with George Plimpton that “you always stop when you know what is going to happen next.” This technique goes a long way toward the power of getting started. When you know what the next scene is about, you’ll more eager to resume writing than if you’re stuck.

What if you don’t have the next scene planned? Another technique is to begin with freewriting. Write about anything that comes to mind for a short, specific time (like ten minutes). If you’ll be typing your story, type your free-writing, too, or write by hand if that’s how you typically work. This is a way of “getting started” to get you over the hump.

Gregory Ciotti, in his blog post The Science of Productivity, cites research by Kenneth McGraw that confirms: “the biggest ‘wall’ to success was often just getting started.” Tomorrow, I’ll feature an interview with Mr. Ciotti, where he shares more tips and advice about productivity.

Do you have thoughts about procrastination or tips on getting started? I gave writing examples, but maybe you have some examples for other activities you can share.

A is for Analyze: How Do You Spend Your Time?

4/1/2015

By Yvonne Ventresca

Welcome!

Welcome to the first post of the A to Z Challenge! My theme for the month of April is productivity. I'll be sharing some techniques, interviews, and productivity-related tips to help you make the most of your time.

Photo by Kenneth Hein

How are you currently spending your days? Do you have a good sense of where the hours go? One step to improving productivity is to track how you actually spend time (versus estimating it). In 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think, author Laura Vanderkam recommends tracking your activities for a week. You can monitor in 15 minute increments or make a note of the time when you switch tasks. (More on this later in the alphabet....)

I did this as an experiment in January. Here's a graph of how I spent my work time for that week. (I tracked sleeping, eating, running errands, etc but didn't want to bore people with that here.)

The time spent checking social media, reading blogs, and responding to email was a surprise. I realized too late that I shouldn't have lumped all of those activities into the same time bucket. Responding to email can be a legitimate, useful task, but looking at Facebook--not so much. The "work-related/non-writing" category covers items like researching potential festivals, updating my website, etc.

I did this experiment again in March to see if I'd improved by time distribution. Check back at letter D for the results....

You don't need to make a chart to analyze your time, but tracking it is definitely a useful starting point. What do you think you spend most of your waking hours doing?

Teen Tuesday: Writing Contests and Opportunities

3/31/2015

By Yvonne Ventresca

Tomorrow starts the A to Z Blogging Challenge, so my regular Teen Tuesday and Friday Five posts will be on hiatus until May. If you are looking for writing opportunities, here are a few places that might help:

A list of helpful links from NaNoWriMo's Young Writers Program

Online resources for teen writers from The League of Extraordinary Writers

A Young Authors guide from NewPages

If you are interested in productivity tips and making the most of your time, I hope you'll follow my A to Z posts during April. Happy Writing!

Monday Five: Guest Post by Jennifer R. Hubbard

3/30/2015

By Yvonne Ventresca

I like to feature themed posts of "five" each Friday. This week is a special Monday Five, with a guest post from Jennifer Hubbard, a YA novelist with a new nonfiction book about writing. Here's more information from Jennifer about the book.

**Five Topics Covered in Loner in the Garret: A Writer’s Companion by Jennifer R. Hubbard**

Sometimes the most difficult part of writing is not coming up with a plot or the perfect turn of phrase. It’s getting motivated to sit down and start, or having the confidence to go forward, or finding the courage to move past the sting of rejection. Loner in the Garret: A Writer’s Companion provides inspiration and encouragement for that mental and emotional journey. Covering topics as varied as procrastination, the inner critic, fear, distractions, envy, rejection, joy, and playfulness, it charts the ups and downs of the writing life with honesty, gentle suggestions, and a dash of humor. Here are five topics covered in Loner:

Procrastination
Since so many of us spend so much time procrastinating, I had to ask myself: Could it possibly serve a real and necessary purpose? Maybe procrastination isn’t always a bad thing. So I explored that idea.

Rejection
You know I had to go there. Almost every writer experiences it.

Envy
The dirty little secret--maybe not so secret anymore, as writers have become more honest about this. It’s not that we wish less success for others. It’s just that sometimes we’d like a piece of the pie. How can we keep from being destructive--to ourselves or others?

The Inner Critic
What is that little voice in the head that slashes a red pen through our words--or maybe even keeps us from writing them in the first place? How can talk back to that little voice?

Joy
Writing is not all trouble and sweat. Sometimes it’s downright fun! When I have bonked my head against a dead-end wall too many times, I remind myself to ask: Where’s the joy? Go there.

For more information and buy links, click here.

Jennifer R. Hubbard writes young-adult novels (The Secret Year, Try Not to Breathe, and Until It Hurts to Stop). She spends most of her time writing, reading, or hiking, with a little dark chocolate thrown in.

Friday Five: 5 Helpful Blogging Tips

3/27/2015

By Yvonne Ventresca

Blogging. Some people love it. Some people hate it, but many writers consider it a necessary part of their jobs. No matter which side of the emotional fence you're on, here are five blogging tips to help, especially with the A to Z Blogging Challenge right around the corner.

Make sure your subscribe button is easy to find. The blogs people read regularly are the ones delivered directly to their inboxes. Test your subscription process by having someone who isn't tech-savvy (an older relative, perhaps?) try to subscribe to your blog. If it doesn't go well, you can always blog about the possibly humorous results.

Speaking of subscriptions: subscribe to your own blog. It's a great way to make sure the formatting is what you expected. If there's a glitch, you can quickly discover it on your own.

Create an interesting blog post title and make sure it shows up as the email subject line for your subscribers. I recently learned how to customize mine so that it doesn't say Yvonne Ventresca's Blog. Quite frankly, a name-only headline is boring and likely to be deleted on a busy day. It's often the post's title that entices someone to open it.

Most people include graphics or photos to complement the text. My favorite site for this is morgueFile. They offer a wide selection of photos for free. If you can't find the perfect photo, try editing one or adding your own text. I use the free version of PicMonkey for this. Here's an example of one of my creations:

And my favorite tip: keep a log of your blog posts. After a year of blogging, I had a hard time remembering what topics I'd covered and what links I might have already referred to. It took several hours, but I finally created a file that includes the date, URL, blog title, and a summary. Now I update it as I add new posts (which I wish I had done from the beginning!). It's useful to be able to search in a single file instead of scrolling through numerous old posts. Having the log has already saved me more time than I invested to create it. For A the Z Challenge last year, I also made a Pinterest board of posts to help keep them in one place when the month was over.

If you have any favorite blogging tips or resources, please let me know! I also appreciate links to articles about blogging and examples of favorite blogs.

I hope you'll visit on April 1st for the beginning of my productivity-themed month!

Teen Tuesday: Do You Write Humor?

3/24/2015

By Yvonne Ventresca

The Mark Twain House is sponsoring its second annual humor writing contest.

Deadline: July 10, 2015
Word limit: 7000 words
Prizes: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd cash prizes. 1st place for young authors (17 and under) is $600.

There is a submission fee for this contest: $22 for adults (18 and older) and $12 for young authors (17 and younger). These fees are used for the preservation of The Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, CT.

For more information and complete guidelines, visit the Mark Twain House contest website.

A to Z Blogging Challenge: My 2015 theme is . . . .

3/23/2015

By Yvonne Ventresca

My theme for the 2015 A to Z Challenge is:

Productivity!

As a self-employed writer, I have a reasonable amount of control over scheduling my time, but I don't always feel like I'm accomplishing enough. This led to a fascination with how to set up better routines and strategies to make the most of my days. Reading about productivity continues to be, in fact, one of my favorite ways to procrastinate. (I do appreciate the irony.) To write April's A to Z posts, I’ve read numerous books on the topic, researched website articles, and conducted interviews with some experts. I hope my upcoming A to Z posts give you the helpful information you would research yourself . . . if you only had time.

<<Previous

Forward>>

E is for Exercise

D is for Digital Procrastination and the Illusion of Productivity

C is for Ciotti: Interview with Sparring Mind's Gregory Ciotti

An interview with Gregory Ciotti

B is for Beginning: Wisdom from Newton, Hemingway, and Others about the Power of Getting Started

Beginning can be tough...

How can you make first steps easier?
Here are three ideas:

A is for Analyze: How Do You Spend Your Time?

Welcome!

Teen Tuesday: Writing Contests and Opportunities

Monday Five: Guest Post by Jennifer R. Hubbard

**Five Topics Covered in Loner in the Garret: A Writer’s Companion by Jennifer R. Hubbard**

Friday Five: 5 Helpful Blogging Tips

Teen Tuesday: Do You Write Humor?

A to Z Blogging Challenge: My 2015 theme is . . . .

Productivity!

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An interview with Gregory Ciotti

Beginning can be tough...

How can you make first steps easier? Here are three ideas:

Welcome!

Five Topics Covered in Loner in the Garret: A Writer’s Companion by Jennifer R. Hubbard

Productivity!

Get new blog posts by email:

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Archives

Categories

How can you make first steps easier?
Here are three ideas:

**Five Topics Covered in Loner in the Garret: A Writer’s Companion by Jennifer R. Hubbard**