September 27, 2010

We all want to succeed with our writing, right? I can say a resounding YES! to that, but sometimes you’d never know it by my actions.

Case in point: the 100-Day Challenge that many of us started last week. I’m doing this with my writing friend, Sherryl Clark, and we check in daily with what we’ve accomplished. That’s an excellent system.

What Went Wrong?

However, within three days I was overwhelmed and wanted to quit. We Skyped about it, and the conversation went something like this:

• Me: I was too busy already! I can’t find another hour in my days to do this challenge!
• Sherryl: Hour? What hour? It’s supposed to be 20 minutes.
• (Pause to think and frown) Me: Where did you get the idea of 20 minutes?
• Sherryl: From Angela Booth’s instructions in the first email. You’re supposed to take your projects or goals and chunk them down into 20-minute segments. You set a timer, work for 20 minutes, and then quit. You pick up the next day where you left off. Just 20 minutes per day!

Instead of chunking it DOWN, I had piled it on and plumped it UP. My list became discouraging then. This behavior is known as setting yourself up to fail.

Small Bites

So I backed up and did what Angela Booth recommended, and I chunked down my list of (mostly) marketing tasks into things that could be accomplished in 20-30 minutes. Now it’s fun to look at that list and choose ONE thing to do each day. I start the timer, keep an eye on the countdown, and whiz through each small task.

I intend to use the 20-minute chunk principle for all my writing jobs for a few weeks, just to see how I like it. It’s amazing how much you can get done in 20 concentrated minutes, whether it’s writing or blogging or marketing or updating your website.

Don’t set yourself up for failure. Instead, do whatever it takes to set yourself up for success!

6 Comments »

1. 

   I’m finding the 20 minutes works really well for me. It stops the Challenge becoming just another huge thing to tackle. It is amazing what you can accomplish in 20 minutes!
   She also says you can make it 10, or 30, depending on your day. There is always at least one day a week where 10 is my limit (the other thing is called my paying job!) so to be able to choose a small thing to accomplish still gives you that sense of achievement. The other thing I find useful, though, is at the end of a week (or a month) to look back and sum up how much I’ve done with those 20 minute blocks. I surprise even myself, and it’s a positive reinforcement.

   Comment by Sherryl — September 27, 2010 @ 3:36 pm

2. 

   Sherryl, I figured if I made it into a huge deal, probably others did too–or avoided the challenge because it looked like just another huge thing to tackle. I’ve been kind of excited about it–once I understood it better!–and am enjoying getting some marketing jobs done that have been on a list for YEARS in some cases! Bit by bit…8-)

   Comment by Kristi Holl — September 27, 2010 @ 7:10 pm

3. 

   I’ve been able to do it, so far. I have one hour in the morning and 20-30 minutes at night. Usually that half-hour in the evening gets drawn out to more (which equals less sleep, and maybe that’s why I’m fighting a cold right now??) Baby-steps!

   Comment by Yvette — September 27, 2010 @ 8:53 pm

4. 

   Yvette, I’ve also found that that 20-30 minutes stretches out into more. I can see now why Angela says to set a timer and quit when it goes off. Hard though when you feel like you’re on a roll! It’s so funny that it’s hard to get started and then it’s hard to stop!

   Comment by Kristi Holl — September 28, 2010 @ 6:30 am

5. [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by NESI and Iva, KristiHoll. KristiHoll said: New post: Set-Up for Success: We all want to succeed with our writing, right? I can say a resounding YES! to… http://tinyurl.com/2368vuh [...]

   Pingback by Tweets that mention Writers First Aid » Set-Up for Success -- Topsy.com — September 30, 2010 @ 2:01 am

6. 

   Thanks to all of you who retweet these posts on Twitter. I appreciate the social networking you do on behalf of Writer’s First Aid!

   Comment by Kristi Holl — October 1, 2010 @ 8:02 am

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