Much of the advice around writing productivity focuses on maintaining a daily practice of writing. For many, a daily practice means either writing for a set amount of time every day, or committing to put a specific number of words to paper. While both of these strategies are useful – and necessary so that you can block time off on a calendar – they are not good enough if you want to give careful attention to the content of a project while also moving it forward
I suggest that you not only schedule your writing, but that you also think about the content of your writing as part of your daily output. This means you need to be clear about what your goals are for each writing session. To this end, your objective should not only be to write X amount of words or write for X amount of time. Instead, you should also think about what you will actually put down on paper. Perhaps you are going to put down all of your thoughts on a particular piece of literature for your literature review. Or, you are going to incorporate three respondent quotes into the data section of your qualitative research article draft. Align your quantitative goals with clear qualitative goals.
Aligning a quantitative writing goal with a qualitative goals means we don’t think of writing as just “putting in our time.” Instead, we remind ourselves constantly that writing is mindful work, and that what we actually accomplish in writing isn’t measured in words or minutes. It also insures that you have some ideas to think about after you have completed a writing session. You’re leaving your session on a high note, after you have engaged deeply with an argument or piece of data. You are also primed to set a goal for the next day’s session.
Sitting down for an hour is not the real goal. The time spent is the task necessary to achieve the goal, which is to complete a manuscript. While these quantitative measures are important, you can’t take them to the bank. Nobody will publish your work because you’ve spent 45 minutes a day writing it.
We should write as much as we can, whenever we can. The time spent will make us more confident writers, or at the very least we will dread writing less. But remember, the time spent should be in service to the ideas developed, not the other way around.
I suggest that you not only schedule your writing, but that you also think about the content of your writing as part of your daily output. This means you need to be clear about what your goals are for each writing session. To this end, your objective should not only be to write X amount of words or write for X amount of time. Instead, you should also think about what you will actually put down on paper. Perhaps you are going to put down all of your thoughts on a particular piece of literature for your literature review. Or, you are going to incorporate three respondent quotes into the data section of your qualitative research article draft. Align your quantitative goals with clear qualitative goals.
Aligning a quantitative writing goal with a qualitative goals means we don’t think of writing as just “putting in our time.” Instead, we remind ourselves constantly that writing is mindful work, and that what we actually accomplish in writing isn’t measured in words or minutes. It also insures that you have some ideas to think about after you have completed a writing session. You’re leaving your session on a high note, after you have engaged deeply with an argument or piece of data. You are also primed to set a goal for the next day’s session.
Sitting down for an hour is not the real goal. The time spent is the task necessary to achieve the goal, which is to complete a manuscript. While these quantitative measures are important, you can’t take them to the bank. Nobody will publish your work because you’ve spent 45 minutes a day writing it.
We should write as much as we can, whenever we can. The time spent will make us more confident writers, or at the very least we will dread writing less. But remember, the time spent should be in service to the ideas developed, not the other way around.
If you need help with time management, developing goals or bringing your goals to your calendar, contact me at [email protected].