Nicole3 Steps to publish career-defining, life-changing projects faster, and enjoy being a prolific writer in the long term.
This week, I turned a writer’s whole worldview around within 45 minutes. He had been procrastinating on two academic articles for four months, even though publishing them could help him get promoted.
For months, he’d been thinking “I don’t have time to write.”
But when we went through his calendar in a few simple steps, we identified hours and hours of writing time that he’d been losing week by week.
And the same happens to so many writers I coach to completion.
In a world of busy schedules, I’m going to walk through a realistic approach to creating more writing time each week.
By identifying those slots of time effectively, you can publish career-defining, life-changing projects faster, and enjoy being a prolific writer in the long term.
Because the problem is that most writers crave whole days, weekends, or months ‘distraction-free’ — but really it’s a form of procrastination (that holds them back in life).
And I’ve been there, believe me. With my PhD, my planner, my novel.
I wasted time week by week, thinking I don’t have it.
Don’t find more time. Make more time.
I won’t ask you to sacrifice your sleep or break times. Just to identify unused time and use that time well.
Let’s dive in.
Step 1: Identify this week’s top writing goal
What is your absolute priority for the week?
Examples:
• outline for a solo-authored article that you need for promotion (2 pages)
• writing conclusion of your thesis so you can meet your deadline (3000 words)
• edit an article and submit to a top journal that brushes up your CV
Step 2: Break down that goal
Break down your goal into action steps. This way, it’s less daunting and you know what you’ll do when your writing time comes. Quantify those steps.
Examples:
• re-run data analysis one last time (2h)
• describe figures and interpret the findings (1h, 400 words)
• edit introduction (4h, ca. 1000 words)
Step 3: Time detective — create more writing slots!
Go through each day of the week in your calendar, and check all times where you’re not in meetings or have school run, dentist, taking a lunch break or sleep etc. All of these are unused writing time!
Mark them up as writing time, e.g. Monday 8–9am, 2–3pm … Then, assign those action steps from above to those slots.
It’s ok if you take longer than you think. It’s ok to shift those tasks around during the week if needed. The crucial thing is to get started and finally see all this writing time that’s been hiding — and use it!
And then, you can get those articles and books published that are vital to move your career forward.
How your world-view might change
The writer I talked about above surprised me a few days after our coaching call. With the extra time he identified (and used well), he submitted two long-overdue papers to his co-authors. I asked him how he managed to do this so fast — even I hadn’t expected it!
He said this:
I suddenly felt I have a very clear week ahead of me. I knew exactly when and what to write. I feel I look at my calendar in a different way!
Invitation for you:
If you struggle getting things to finish line, but those delays will costs you that promotion, new job, or PhD title down the road, join my 90-Day Writing Accelerator. When you use the tools and let me hold you accountable every single day, you WILL publish that book, article or get the grant you’ve been procrastinating on!
I’ve got 5 places left.
Apply here.
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Photo by Immo Wegmann on Unsplash
