Self-Devpt. Nuggets™

“Every morning in Africa, an antelope wakes up and starts running as fast as it can, so that the fastest lion does not catch up with it and eat it. At the same time a lion also wakes up and starts running as fast as it can so that it can catch and eat the slowest antelope.” – African Parable

Wild animals can be so diligent in making use of the time available to them each day. Their survival requires them to be that way. If they can do it, why can’t we…or indeed you – especially when your writing success is at stake?

How do you spend your 24 hours? How much of that time do you spend honing your writing skills every day you live through? How committed are you to the process of improving yourself? Does it show in your use of time? These are questions you need to answer honestly!

1. Adopt a Writing Schedule – It WILL Make You More Productive

Some people can write based on strict schedules. Others cannot. Less than a year ago, I used to think I could not write based on a schedule. But since November 2013, I’ve successfully published – on my new SD Nuggets blog, one post daily – on six different categories – in line with a writing schedule.

This is to ensure at least one new blog post is added to each of the six categories every week i.e. Public Speaking [Mondays], Entrepreneurship [Tuesdays], Self-Development [Wednesdays], Career Development [Thursdays], Parenting [Fridays], and Writing/Blogging [Saturdays])

Adopting the schedule has turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made about how to update my blog. And judging from the repeat visits I’m getting, it appears my readers feel the quality is not bad. Committing to a writing schedule in which a topic theme or category is pre-defined can cut the time and effort needed to do the work in half – literally. You’re forced to develop ruthless focus to get the post out before the day ends. Great stuff!

I’ve written on so many different subjects for different client industries. Based on hindsight, I now realize that working for those clients was similar to writing according to a defined schedule. No wonder I always felt more productive when working on a client project.

2. Capture Your Writing Ideas As Soon As They Arrive – Or You May Lose Valuable Ones

Before I started using the schedule, my own writing tended to be done in fits and starts. But for clients, I was often really focused on churning out the new set of articles for their web marketing to meet the agreed project deadlines.

I began using my daily writing schedule on 1st November 2013. Today I can easily turn out a ready-to-publish piece in under an hour if I set my mind to it. Note however, that most times the thinking up of content may sometimes happen as I go about my daily activities. And that’s where the use of time comes in. The truth is you may not always find the right time to write. So, I suggest you learn to make it happen on the move if possible.

Sometimes I stop driving to make an entry into my Blackberry memo pad, when another useful point for one of my posts-in-progress pops into my head. I STOP and record it so I don’t forget it, as can happen when one chooses to burden the brain with storing it.

Above: Screen shot from my Blackberry memo pad interface, showing titles of some posts-in-progress I’m working on for my SD Nuggets blog (www.spontaneousdevelopment.com/sdnuggets).

Sometimes I simply create the new entry with the title or theme that occurs to me.

Over the days or weeks that follow, I’ll add new notes or points to discuss. Then one day, when I need to get a post out, I’ll pick from here to my laptop, and finish it off.

3. Be Flexible – Adapt Writing Strategies to Suit Your Unique Circumstances

You may have noticed that I did not say that I have a specific time of the day when I lock myself in to do my writing.

I have a schedule which tells me I need to get a new post done within today’s 24 hours. So, I send my brain to work, as I move around. Sometimes I take advantage of free time from the day before, to finish one or more posts-in-progress (see screen shot below) to use for a few days…

The nature of work I do, and my personal responsibilities and obligations make it difficult for me to stick to a particular routine. In my part of the world, erratic power supply and limitations in available infrastructure make it necessary to adopt a flexible routine, and to be prepared to adapt to sometimes long periods of normal availability of net access.

I’ve learnt to do that, without letting it show in the quality – and volume – of work I do. I take advantage of every window of free time I can find, even when I visit socially, to move a writing task closer to completion, even if it’s by adding one extra paragraph into the copy of a post-in-progress on my phone!

In other words, I simply identify what I need to do to achieve my goal, and then actively challenge myself to create the time to make it happen. Until I achieve that goal, I ensure that any free time I have away from other priority tasks, is dedicated to making progress towards it, until I succeed.

Some successful people withdraw into isolation, in order to maintain the focus they need to achieve their goals. If you are not sure you can ignore distractions, do the same thing.

It will not matter if you only make tiny progress. As long as you commit diligent effort to moving beyond where you were the last time, you will be that much closer to your goal.

If you live alone, it should be easier. When you live with others – a spouse and kids for instance – it can be more difficult. But it can be done. I’ve been doing it – as a husband and father – for over 10 years.

Adopt a strategy that gets you the privacy you need: As I type these words, it’s 11.41pm and my wife and kids are all in bed. I’ve learnt to aim for periods like this, to get more work done on important tasks.

Spend a little time thinking up a strategy you can adopt for your unique situation. It’ll come to you.

“…Be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade but of thought.” – Henry David Thoreau