New strategy, actually try.
This is ridiculous; I have completely the wrong attitude. Yes I want to improve and move forward with my writing and my mind is set on that. In that way I have the right attitude, but while I have the writing everyday down, what I am now producing is stagnating and going nowhere, I need to write in the day and not past midnight. I need to do more than just say that’s what I’ll do, I need to establish how I am going to do that and make it possible.
So what is wrong now stopping me from writing when I should be?
Leaving it until the last moment of the day,
Distractions from housemates and friends,
Procrastination,
Sleeping too long,
Lack of concentration,
Untidy environment,
Just assuming I’ll get round to it.
Right now I am writing last thing at night before going to bed.
From tomorrow I will write a hundred words first thing in the morning when I wake up. Then eat.
Late at nights are; causing me to wake up much too late in the day, limiting the amount I write because part of me is writing just so I can get it done and sleep as soon as possible rather than giving it the time it needs. It shows that I am not giving my writing enough priority. Writing first thing in the morning is giving it that priority, and it will encourage better sleep habits and better attitudes towards working.
Right now I am distracting myself by spending too much time socially.
From tomorrow I will write a hundred words before talking to anyone. And each time I do talk to someone, I will write another hundred before talking to anyone else. I will shut the door, and listen to music.
Not giving myself the time to write is an obvious one. Not sitting down to work results in work not done and considering the time I spend doing not much at all or just talking to people in the house that’s a great deal of work being lost.
Right now I am giving in to procrastination, often before I even finish the first sentence.
From tomorrow I will have the internet off while I am writing. I can write notes for what I might need to look up after I’ve been writing. I will shut the door and clear my desk.
Procrastination is a real killer. Whenever I sit down to write immediately I will normally get the urge to turn to another activity; we’re talking about YouTube, Tumblr, Messenger, Chess, Food, Talking to people, Facebook – general timesinks. It is a similar case with chores.
Right now I am sleeping too late and far too long into the day.
From tomorrow I will try to get up when I wake up. I will draw the curtains when I do so and drink a glass of water. I will begin writing from the beginning of the day and not write past midnight, I will sleep at midnight.
Sleeping too long is cutting my time I have in the day down drastically, and by the time I end up going to work it is not far off from when everyone will be around and begin socialising, which is leading to work (if I have started on the off chance) will be interrupted prematurely. Want to sleep does not encourage one to proof read, so the amount of these that have mistakes in them are probably horrible, I don’t want to imagine what I have done in some of my assignments.
Right now when I write I do not concentrate on it as much as I can.
From tomorrow I will clear my desk, close the door and put on music. I’ll avoid distractions and procrastinating and begin a better sleep routine. While I am not writing I’ll try and stay mindful and drink tea. While I drink tea, I won’t watch or do anything other than drink my tea.
I lack concentration and so I am falling to procrastination too often and to the smallest distractions. I day dream and wander off, I need to be able to build up the length of time I am able to concentrate for. This is to say I need to become better against distractions as well as stopping half way through something just because my mind is wandering. I need to immerse myself into the work I am doing.
Right now I am dealing with a fairly messy room with a cluttered desk that I have to clear each time I want to use it, so I’m not using it.
From tomorrow, I will clear my desk and chair permanently and carry on tidying and sorting my room.
Having an untidy room isn’t not helping anything get done in anyway, it’s not the reason work isn’t happening but it would help to keep it in order. The desk is always covered with clutter because I haven’t sorted better places to put a lot of things and that means it rarely gets used from a day or two each time I use it.
Right now I kind of sit down with my laptop and maybe a book and a comic assuming if I start with the comic I’ll just gradually come round to working.
From tomorrow I sit down with just my laptop and notebook with the sole intention to write, just one task at a time. And I will write first thing in the day, as routine.
I sort of assume I’ll end up working I don’t having a set time to work each day will help, this writing at the end of the day doesn’t count this is my with no other choice because I want to get to sleep. Sitting down with a few things to do doesn’t work, I always go to the easiest nonessential task with the least pressure, so just one task at a time, writing time is dedicated solely to writing etc.
Hundred words is not a lot, two reasons for one hundred words. It is purposefully unintimidating so to encourage me to sit and write while by the time I’ve writing a hundred words I have caught on to an idea to go on with encouraging more words to eke out. When I sit down to write a hundred words if I give it the time and the effort (something like an hour), I find I end up with about five hundred words. And where ideas aren’t really my problem, getting words down is the key for me then to go back over is the key.
Could be better but this feels pretty complete. Time to start upping the game.
Tl;dr
Don’t leave it until the last minute.
Get rid of distractions.
Sleep normally.
Stay focused.
Keep a clean environment.