How to Complete Any Writing-Related Project More Quickly
Do you wish you could complete your writing-related projects faster?
Write 1,000 words in 30 minutes, for example, or put out a blog post in less than an hour? Get a book completed in four months, or put up a new website in a weekend?
It’s all possible, but only if you take the following steps first.
1. Turn everything off but what you’re working on.
Distraction is the number-one enemy of productivity. Allow yourself to be distracted by anything and your progress slows down.
If you think you can multi-task, think again. Research shows that the brain can’t focus on more than one thing at a time, so when you ask it to write an article and check your phone for messages you’re asking it to switch back and forth between two tasks, which derails your focus and throws off your concentration.
In one study, this sort of multitasking reduced productivity by up to 40 percent.
It’s not just the young folks. Studies show that older adults are even more easily distracted by irrelevant information than younger people are.
That means if you want to work quickly, you need to turn everything else off—the Internet, your cell phone (or put it in another room), the television, and even music. Though instrumental music may be helpful (studies are mixed), any music with words is likely to be distracting while you’re trying to form words yourself, so let the silence reign and focus!
2. Do not allow interruptions.
Set boundaries much? If not, it’s time.
A study from the University of California showed that it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back on task after suffering an interruption. If you had only 30 minutes to write and you allowed an interruption, you lost most of it.
Realize that interruptions are deadly to productivity, and find ways to stop them before they occur. Isolate yourself when working on your project. Turn off your phone and email. Let others know that you’re working and ask them not to bother you. If they do anyway, take action.
Writers often complain that their families don’t cooperate with their writing time. This is a simple case of passing the buck. It’s not up to your family to give you writing time. It’s up to you to take it. It’s your responsibility to communicate the need, and your unwillingness to be interrupted during that time.
“A lack of boundaries invites a lack of respect,” is a quote by an anonymous author, and it’s true. Demand respect for your writing time by not giving in and eventually, you will have the uninterrupted time you need.
3. Give yourself a limited amount of time.
Want to complete a project faster? Give yourself less time to do it.
I’m always amazed at how well this works. There are days when I have to finish my freelance work more quickly than others, and I always worry I won’t be able to manage it, but I always do.
Why does this work? It forces you to focus more intently on what you’re doing. You don’t have the luxury of time, so you have to concentrate and get this thing done.
Parkinson’s Law says, “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.” This statement was first made by Cyril Northcote Parkinson, a British historian and author, in 1955, and was later the focus of his book, Parkinson’s Law: The Pursuit of Progress.
That means if you give yourself two hours to write 1,000 words, it will probably take you two hours to do it. Here’s how you use this law to your advantage: Make a list of three writing-related tasks you need to get done. Then do a typical estimate on how much time you’d usually allow yourself to complete each task.
Now cut that time in half.
Yes, in half.
Then when it’s time to go to work on your project, set a timer for that new allotted amount of time and go for it. Promise yourself a reward if you can finish the project before the timer goes off.
You may surprise yourself with how productive you can be!
4. Delay the inner critic.
When you’re trying to get a project done quickly, the last thing you need is a critic slowing you down. But that’s just what you have inside your head—your inner critic. Without proper precautions, it will step in and start critiquing your project before you’ve finished it, which will do one thing—slow you down.
On the first draft of any project, you don’t need the critic. Sure, you can invite him/her in on the second draft and make any corrections you need at that point, but to listen before then is to sabotage your progress.
“Slowing down every time you hit a small snag can add a lot of extra time to the project,” writes bestselling author Kevin Daum in Inc. “Move through initially as best you can marking problem spots as you go. Better to come back and clean up small messes at the end. That way you can keep the rhythm going.”
So when the inner critic starts whispering in your ear, assure him that he’ll have his day, but that day isn’t today. Let the project be as it is—a first draft—and keep writing.
5. Tackle the project at your highest-energy time.
If you have an important project you need to get done, your odds of finishing it quickly improve if you tackle it when your energy is high.
In other words, if you wait until the end of the day when you’re tired and stressed, you’re going to be less focused and less productive than if you go after it first thing in the morning.
Many of us go for the easy tasks first, however, for one very simple reason: finishing easy things gives us a sense of accomplishment. It feels good to get things done.
But if that important writing-related project is still waiting for you, that sense of accomplishment is going to disappear pretty quickly.
Instead, tackle your difficult, important project early on in the day, when your energy and willpower are strong, and you’ll be more likely to get it done faster.
Mark Twain once said, “Eat a live frog every morning and nothing worse will happen to you for the rest of the day.” In other words, do your most difficult project first, and it’s all downhill from there.
How do you get your projects done more quickly?
Sources
Falconer, Joel. “How to Use Parkinson’s Law to Your Advantage.” Lifehack. Last modified November 14, 2017. https://www.lifehack.org/articles/featured/how-to-use-parkinsons-law-to-your-advantage.html.
Grutzeck, Sasha. “Here’s How Long It Takes Most People to Get Back to Work After Getting Distracted.” My Learning Solutions. Last modified October 2, 2017. https://mylearningsolutions.org/2017/10/02/heres-long-takes-people-get-back-work-getting-distracted/.
Lee, Tae-Ho, Steven G. Greening, Taiji Ueno, David Clewett, Allison Ponzio, Michiko Sakaki, and Mara Mather. “Arousal increases neural gain via the locus coeruleus–noradrenaline system in younger adults but not in older adults.” Nature Human Behaviour 2, no. 5 (2018), 356-366. doi:10.1038/s41562-018-0344-1.
Smith, D. “Multitasking Undermines Our Efficiency, Study Suggests.” Https://www.apa.org. Last modified October 2001. https://www.apa.org/monitor/oct01/multitask.