One of the hardest careers for productivity is writing. That\u2019s because you need to be creative, pull words seemingly out of thin air and make it all sound amazing.<\/p>\n
If you can follow the top productivity tips for writing, no matter whether you are an engineer or a photographer \u2013 or a writer, of course \u2013 you can master productivity.<\/p>\n
The biggest problems writers face are distractions. It doesn\u2019t matter whether you work from home or in an office, distractions make writers pull their hair out. These come in two forms. Some are passive distractions, ones that happen to you. For instance:<\/p>\n
Then there are active distractions, ones that you initiate (tsk, tsk). For instance.<\/p>\n
The solution is to turn off all distractions<\/a>. You\u2019ll do best when you put on blinkers, just like a race horse. Well, not just<\/i><\/em>\u00a0like a race horse. That would look silly. Here\u2019s what to do instead:<\/p>\n First, turn off everything on your computer. Turn off Skype notifications. Turn off Twitter notifications. If it takes buying a separate bargain-basement, stripped down Chromebook just for writing, so be it.<\/p>\n Second, close the door and lock it (don\u2019t try this in a cubicle). Make getting up to check the food on the counter too much trouble to be worth the effort. Make checking the mail too much work to be worth the effort.<\/p>\n Third, put on sound-blocking ear muffs. You won\u2019t be distracted by what you don\u2019t hear.<\/p>\n Fourth, send the cat out on errands.<\/p>\n Some writers just start writing. \u00a0In fact, most do. \u00a0Even I do far too often. \u00a0But don\u2019t do what I do far too often. Instead, do what I did for this article. Prepare an outline first.<\/p>\n For bigger projects, create a more detailed outline.<\/p>\n With a detailed outline, it might be clear what research you\u2019ll need for each section. Do the research and plug it into your outline.<\/p>\n If it\u2019s fiction, add character development notes and other items into the outline where you plan to include them.<\/p>\n By the time you are ready to write, all the ideas should be in place. All you have to do is assemble the words.<\/p>\n I work well first thing in the morning. Well, not quite first thing. I like to start with routine items first. But after a half hour, I\u2019m ready to write! So everybody get out of my way, because I have a world to conquer\u2026until lunch.<\/p>\n The sad thing is that I get drowsy, then hungry, in early to mid afternoon. That is not the time for me to do pro-active or creative work. It\u2019s a great time to do more routine stuff or related activities, such as creating images or proofreading. It\u2019s an even better time to take a nap! I do that once or twice a year.<\/p>\n I find that another peak time is the evening, from about 6:00 to 10:00. My energy level usually drops after 10:00, though.<\/p>\n Learn what your peak times are, and optimize your schedule for the various tasks you have to do.<\/p>\n This type of problem is unique to creative people. What should I write about? What should I paint? What should I crochet next?<\/p>\n When short on ideas, move on to something else. Wash dishes. Go for a walk. Check to see if the cat is back, yet. Try doodling<\/a>; that works sometimes.<\/p>\n Let you mind wander freely for a while and see what you think of.<\/p>\n Another trick, is to direct you mind on how it wanders by browsing through related image searches. Or reading related Quora<\/a>\u00a0answers.<\/p>\n I get a lot of inspiration from reading comments on related blogs.<\/p>\n If you are organized and set up the systems you need, you can be more productive. Don’t believe me? Here’s what four other writers<\/a>\u00a0have to say. Count how many times the word “organized” comes up.<\/p>\n Author Bio:\u00a0David Leonhardt’s “day job” is to run The Happy Guy Marketing, which offers ghostwriting of books and screenplays and such, as well as website promotion, such as content marketing and social media marketing. He blogs about self-help topics, including happiness, fitness and nutrition.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the hardest careers for productivity is writing. That\u2019s because you need to be creative, pull words seemingly out of thin air and make it all sound amazing. If you can follow the top productivity tips for writing, no matter whether you are an engineer or a photographer \u2013 or a writer, of course … Continue reading “The Writer\u2019s Guide To Productivity”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bridgeurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bridgeurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bridgeurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridgeurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridgeurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/bridgeurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15,"href":"https:\/\/bridgeurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11\/revisions\/15"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridgeurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bridgeurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridgeurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridgeurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Get organized<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n
Peak time of day<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n
Writer\u2019s block<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n
You can be more productive<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n