When I first started writing, my biggest complaint was the chronic shortage of time during my day. I mean, come on, who has time to torch brain cells all day at work, be a dad and husband (or mom/wife, student, fill in the blank), pay the bills, do all the normal things that “normal” people do and still have time to slog through creating something from nothing one agonizing word at a time?
I used to think there wasn’t enough time. Truth is, I still think that on most days until I remind myself that I’m wrong. Actually, I just look at my friends who have proved me wrong time and again–people who live much “busier” lives than I do, but somehow found ways to outproduce me.
When I drilled down to how they did it, the answer became clear: they just had a better handle on their time than I did. Somehow, they squeezed more out of their 24 hours (the same 24 that I had) than I did. And it drove me crazy. I mean crazy crazy. Like, I began to suspect my friends were cyborgs crazy. Then I figured out that they weren’t and began experimenting with how to do it for myself. And I’m going to share some of these tricks with you because they just might help you reclaim hours of your day.
So, here we go. Here are a few ways to recapture your time and make it work for you instead of the other way around:
1. Reclaim drive time. (40 mins/day)
The average American commutes 24 minutes to work every day…one way. That’s about 8 hours per month. Instead of reading print books, an exercise every writer should focus on regularly, I began listening to them. My commute each day is 40 minutes round trip. That gives me time to listen to quite a few books over the course of the year. And it’s free if you get the audiobooks at your local library.
2. Budget and schedule online time. (at least 1 hr/day)
Honesty time. Twitter, Facebook, and the million other online distractions we have are a time suck if not managed. Say it with me: Time. Suck. We are addicted to checking email constantly, updating our status, and tweeting a favorite lyric to people who really don’t care that a Bjork song perfectly describes your afternoon. Let me say it now: stop it. Please. I can’t tell you how many friends of mine limited their online time only to discover how much more productive they were. Give it a shot one day and see for yourself. Schedule 2-3 times a day when you spend 15 minutes updating and see how much more focused you are. Ask yourself, “Am I creating things to do in order to avoid the hard work of writing?” If the answer is yes, you know what to do.
3. Budget email. (at least 1 hr/day)
Email nearly ruined my life. I can’t tell you how many times I have gotten sucked into the black vortex of email doom, taking my productivity with it. This goes along with #2. We create things to do that we fool ourselves into believing are important. Why? It’s easier to avoid something else if we have an excuse. Here’s how I broke loose from the tyranny of email. I limit my email intake and engagement to twice a day–11a and 3p. I rarely check email at home, and never in my writing space. Ever. You’d think that I’d get behind on email, but I haven’t. In fact, it’s had the opposite effect.
4. Schedule writing time.
This is a mainstay that you’ll find in every How To Write book. Things that aren’t scheduled don’t happen. Enough said.
5. Less TV (3 hrs/day)
Stephen King calls it the glass teet. A bit crude, but not far off the target. The average American consumes 4+ hours of TV per day. That’s a lot. Now, before you throw your remote at me, know that I’m not asking you to stop watching Lost or 24 altogether. Just while you’re writing your book. Remember, focus, grasshopper. That is your greatest ally. Thanks to Hulu, Netflix, and the networks’ websites, missing an episode isn’t what it used to be. Now you can log on tomorrow or next week or next month and catch up. Sure, it’s delayed gratification, but you want to get that book done, right?