I didn’t waste any time sitting down and sketching out a schedule after I wrote my little essay today. It was actually a bit of an eye-opener for me. I had no idea how strongly I believed that doing something you love means it should be easy to make yourself do it.
I really feel like I’ve had something of a breakthrough with that one. I’m almost always excited by whatever I’m writing once I actually get started. That’s a big deal because I find getting started insanely difficult even on the best of days. I’m like a rock that won’t roll when I have something I need to do, and that applies to so many areas of my life that you can take it as a general rule for my behavior. You can count on it. If I’m consistent in nothing else in my life, I’m consistent there.
Anyway, without wasting time optimizing the schedule or anything because it really doesn’t matter if I do—there’ll always be days where it just won’t work out well—I set my writing times: 9–12 and 1–4.
I’m going to try to get into a habit of turning off my WIFI at 9 and 1 sharp.
Any day that I don’t have obligations or outside interruptions, I plan to hold myself accountable for using that time for writing: I can write at other times throughout the day if I want, but I have to try to write during those times specifically, even if that means I just end up sitting with my computer and staring at my document.
I’m not setting a word count goal or quota for any of this, but I’m still interested in where I’ll even out with my daily average. Whatever it turns out to be, I’ll be satisfied as long as I’m putting in effort to actually write on my schedule.
The plan is to avoid shifting my writing times even if it means I end up not writing some days because I procrastinated my way through my scheduled writing times. I really hope that doesn’t backfire, but I feel like it’s a necessary step to keep me from messing with my schedule too often. I’m counting on it being easier to start and sustain a habit if I stick as close to the schedule as possible as often as possible.
If I were trying to squeeze writing in after a job or as a part time venture, I’d do things a lot differently. It would make more sense to just try to write as much as possible and go from there. But I’m not, and frankly, I’ve tried that and it worked when I had a job, but it doesn’t work now. I have so much more time available now that I procrastinate too much. Also, I just don’t need to do that anymore. I love writing, and I might be a little obsessed with it sometimes, but I actually don’t want to spend every spare moment I have doing it. I want free time that I can enjoy guilt free. I want to read and watch TV and keep up with my family and get together with my friends once in a while.
I hadn’t realized how much pressure not having a schedule puts on you to work all the time—and how that weighty feeling can lead to so much procrastinating.
Anyway, that’s the schedule. Wish me luck. I see good things in my future. :)