Feb | 06 | 2008

More Writing Tips to Help Increase Your Productivity

Posted by Jimmy as Tips, Writing

I was just thinking about productivity again â€“ this is the term I hear left and right at the office. My manager reminds every week to send in our productivity reports. Everyday, we have to show how productive we are. As such, when it comes to my writing, I keep thinking that I have to be productive as well â€“ make the time I spend on my couch writing time well-spent. So here are more writing tips that could help you improve your writing productivity as well.

Write first, edit later.
This is actually in relation to the first tip I discussed in my previous post. In that post, what we separated were the first two steps â€“ research and then writing. This time, let us separate writing and then editing. I have talked about this several times before â€“ editing is not writing. If you insist on combining the two, you just might end up spending a lot of time on a small amount of work. It would be better to simply write â€“ let the ideas flow. Whatever might be wrong with your work can always be fixed later â€“ when editing takes place.

Compartmentalize.
This is one of my biggest problems. I love to multitask. I cook while I write. The TVâ€™s on for background noise. I am logged on to my instant messengers as well â€“ the list of things I am doing at the same time could go on and on. However, all these things could prove to be a distraction. If you really want to make the most out of your writing time, I suggest focusing on writing SOLELY and shutting out the world. After all, it is not like you will be acting like a hermit all the time â€“ a couple of hours at a time should be good enough.

3 Responses

Tina Russell
06|Feb|2008

I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.

Tina Russell
Stephanie LH Calahan
06|Feb|2008

Jimmy -
I agree! I’ve learned that less distractions are good when writing. There are a few exceptions to this for my writing, though. I have a large selection of music and it motivates different types of writing - mostly instrumental.

There have been a few studies that say that say that Mozart’s music can actually alter the way your brain functions with tasks. There is a whole set of research and CDs called the “Mozart Effect.” The two I like the most for my writing are:

Music For The Mozart Effect, Volume 1, Strengthen the Mind http://tinyurl.com/25jug3

and

Music For The Mozart Effect, Volume 4, Focus & Clarity http://tinyurl.com/2xx98o

Try them out and see if they make a difference when you write.

To your success!
Stephanie
Mark Gregson
06|Feb|2008

You’re blog is really interesting. I find your tip very useful. I’ll try complementing them with my productivity app - Wrike. By the way, this is my productivity tip - http://www.wrike.com/. I use it every day and it saves lots of time.

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