And it helped me to get the whole thing done in a pomodoro
Tonight I realized that my writing efficiency sucks.
I write at the wrong time for my energy levels. A lot of the recent articles I’ve posted have been in the wee hours of the morning, and that’s pretty much immediately after writing them.
If I calculated my hourly rate, I’m sure I’d be appalled. I might as well go back to clicking on ads for pennies because my hourly rate would be higher.
Recently, Joe Forrest asked a few people what they needed help with. This was my response:
I could use help improving my consistency and efficiency. I’m clearing junk activities out of my life, and that’s helping, but it still takes me quite a while to get the Medium article and newsletter out several times a week.
Change best happens gradually. So I decided to try one thing different with this article.
Here’s my routine, and what I changed.
It’s past midnight. It’s an awful time to write. I’ve already gotten a second wind and it’s starting to wane.
Candle, I’m burning you at both ends, I know.
1. I struggled to come up with a topic
As many articles that I’ve read on ideation, I never seem to remember any of the lessons. It’s a regular occurrence that I stare at a blank screen most nights before I get an article out.
2. I finally found a topic on writing
At the beginning, I heard voices of other writers on Medium saying that writing about writing isn’t really writing.
I decided not to care.
3. I took a shower
I take a shower at night. I batted around the idea as I soaked.
4. I came up with the title
I set my Secura timer for one pomodoro (25 minutes) and went to town. I pushed myself to get the article done in 25 minutes with some flair, rather than two hours.
5. Here’s the one thing I changed about how I wrote the article.
(Actually there are two things. I don’t normally set the timer, but tonight I did.)
The one thing I changed was that I outlined the thoughts in the article first.
I took 20% of the time I’d allotted myself to sketch the form of the article.
I don’t normally do this. Normally I write the whole thing from blank page to article, start to finish. This isn’t efficient.
What the outline did for me was that it made the rest of the article flow much easier.
(That and the timer helped too.)
6. After getting the outline down, I wrote it
Once I got the outline in sentence form, I filled in the thoughts with more sentences and subheaders.
Writing an outline is like sharpening an axe.
Somebody said that if they were given so much time to chop a tree down, they’d spend most of the time sharpening the axe.
An outline sharpened my focus on the topic at hand, and cut through most of the uncertainty I normally experience when I write.
(And at this point, I’m done with my 25 minutes.)
Thanks for reading!
Here are three ways I can help you achieve financial peace of mind.
- Join 300+ savvy people with my Solid Cash Tips newsletter for insights on side hustling and saving money, with a generous portion of productivity, habit-building and working smarter! Oh … and there’s a free ebook in it for you!
- Subscribe to get notified when I publish on Medium.
- Follow me on X / Twitter.
Header photo by Albert Dehon