It’s one of the last weeks of an academic term, and I’ve got three two large papers still left to process. A total of about 65-80 pages (plus footnotes and bibliographies) that need to be written (not counting the pages of research that need to be read). Deadlines are looming like a gun to my head with consequences that get worse by the day if they’re not met. The only question on my mind is “how can I do this faster?”*
*NB: projects were started well in advance; but I’ve noticed that if you start too far in advance, it can be hard to hold together the level of attention needed to really get them done.
Thought experiment: if I were to somehow string together all the moments of “active” writing, reading, thinking, and editing that actually end up composing the papers, I’d probably be surprised to see how “quickly” I could write them if only I didn’t need breaks, down time, didn’t have distractions, and didn’t simply procrastinate. Now, I know it’s useless to try to eliminate the need to take genuine breaks – but what about the other delays?
(1) Need to know why you’re avoiding doing what you’re doing. Imagine what it looks and feels like to be doing it. What scares you? What bothers you precisely about taking this action? Once you’ve touched on that, ask – why does that thing bother you? Can you do something to change that situation? Writing a paper, sometimes I just get frightened by the enormity of the task again and the consequence of not living up to my previous standards. I’m no longer a perfectionist here. But the more skilled you get at something, the higher your own standards become.
(2) Learn to identify the process by which you start slipping into procrastination and/or avoidance. When does it start? What do you tell yourself when it starts happening? For me, it’s classic: “I just need a few more minutes to relax.” or “I’m doing well, I deserve another five minute break.” etc. But soon, one Twitter and email and blog post distraction leads to another…. and then I get guilty about having “wasted” 40 minutes. This puts me back at #1 above. I don’t want to face the fact that I’ve just “wasted” that much time.
(3) Reimagine the experience as something else for which passion comes easy for you. So if I’m dragging my feet writing up this paper when I’d be much more enjoying putting together my next series of blog posts – I can try and imagine that my other work holds the same set of rewards and results that I get from other pursuits. You can try other “tricks,” too – like imagining you have all the time in the world, if this can help you relax and begin to do what you need to do.
(4) What can you change or eliminate? After you’ve done the same task a few times, you get to know your own work process. We tend to gravitate, over time, towards what “works” for us. The downside to this is that it can become an obstacle when we need to be more flexible. So what can you change about your routine that will allow you to move through the tasks quicker or more efficiently? Maybe it’s relinquishing an ideal; maybe it’s a compromise on something else you need to make just to get some results. Like giving up your “pet” idea just this one time.
(5) Figure out what won’t work. For me, it doesn’t help to keep reminding myself that I have only 36 more hours to complete a project.
Sure – in an ideal world, this insane focus on constant “productivity” may not matter as much as it does in our “results” oriented society. But even though “results” are so often tied to our hypercapitalist models of productivity (the cubicle model many of us want to escape from), that doesn’t mean that being effective and making an effective use of your time aren’t goals we should strive towards. After all, life is a finite series of moments.
Although I’m speaking from an academic setting, I’m sure many of these points apply to other fields and industries – it would be great to hear what sorts of productivity problems you’ve run into and how you get over them.
Here are some related thoughts I’ve had on these topics:
5 Ways To Maximize Your Life Leverage and Achieve Your Best
The Link Between Personal Finance and Positive Thinking
Everything Wants Your Attention, But Where You Direct It Is The Only Thing You Control
Only The Mediocre Are Always At Their Best -
And when I think about it, the whole idea behind cutting down the time it takes for you to do something is what has led to Jacob’s success in being able to “retire” early. Take a look at How To Retire In 5 Years. Now that’s being productive.
What are your own thoughts on staying more productive? Do you think the whole topic is just about running faster on the hamster wheel? What have you done to work smarter, not harder?
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{ 7 comments }
How you describe breaks in the second point is what I struggle with, even though its really counterintuitive. After 45 minutes or so of concentrated work, I’m in the zone- if I were to keep going I would get tons of work done in one single block of time. Of course, that’s not usually how it works, because at this point I get really antsy and feel I need a break. Of course, even I’m disciplined enough to keep the break short, I’ve lost a lot of focus.
Have you by chance studied any Zen? I haven’t, but I bet some Zen-like practices could help enter a ‘zone’ and get the work done as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Good luck on the remainder of your writing!
Interesting thoughts, Blake…. any type of mindfulness exercise training would probably help here, I hadn’t thought of that connection, but I see it now. I think part of the trick is to let oneself keep going after that “45 min” mark, whenever it is, to go with that flow, because real flow doesn’t come easily (in my experience) so you need to cultivate it once you’ve got it.
“I think part of the trick is to let oneself keep going after that “45 min” mark, whenever it is, to go with that flow, because real flow doesn’t come easily (in my experience) so you need to cultivate it once you’ve got it.”
Definitely, mate. Although for me it’s probably more appropriate to say “make oneself” than “let oneself”. lol.
I’m a fan of focus and boundaries.
I’d working hard to try to stay focused and on task. I generally have a lot of stuff going on at once, so it is tough. I am at my best though when I’m running with a project.
Great list. Staying focus and identifying things that are holding us back are great ways to make sure we stay on target. We can do anything as long as we put our minds to it and don’t give up.
Focus is definitely the key here. Ironically, when I have deadlines looming, that also helps to keep focused since you’ve got a clear boundary on how long you’ll be working. If a project is open-ended, it might be less immediately stressful, but it’s easy to let it balloon into the time available. So we need a way to create an artificial or “positive” stress that can still keep us focused and not wasting time, either. I think Tim Ferriss used the term “eustress” to describe part of this.
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