Deadlines are essential for me! I either go 100 miles an hour, or am a slug who produces nothing. So, yeah, tell me when it has to be done and I can pretty much guarantee it will be done. But I do need that incentive!
Oh deadlines. I need deadlines, because they keep me on track, but when you're creating outside of a "real" job, it is so hard to make those deadlines and stick to them. Right now I'm trying to set deadline goals for finishing my book. I know what I need to do and how I need to go about making those revisions, but getting there is HARD. I have to keep reminding myself that this isn't a sprint, it's a marathon.
I have always been the tortoise, consciously avoiding procrastination, looking on with amazement at the stamina of people who seem to operate on no sleep and adrenaline. But, one all-nighter in college-resulting in my first D ever on an exam, and the back story of one of my freshmen friends about having fallen out of her prepschool room while on speed, thereby becoming a paraplegic, pretty much convinced me that wasn't a viable option for me. She eventually became a judge, and I suspect still was type A, but steady as she goes has still been my watchword ever since. However, I also know that sometimes I have to sprint. Papers had deadlines, I needed to get essays graded by a certain day, faculty committee reports had to be finished, and not everything I did solo, so I had to accommodate working along other peoples timelines, including waiting patiently for them to scramble at the last minute to get their part of the work ( brilliantly)done to add to my often more pedestrian, but finished early, work. (smile.) Age has helped me assess when I need to just keep on my steady path, and when I need to set one of those deadlines that will cause me to sprint. And that's why I decided to participate this year in NaNoWriMo ( National Novel Writing Month.) In 2019, the only time I actually participated seriously, I got the first 50,000 words written of what would be a 110,00 word novel, a great kickstart to that project. And I am 60,000 words into my next novel (started writing 3 months ago, and if I kick up the speed and get more like 7000 versus 5000 words a week done, I should be able to complete this first draft, which would be delightful. And, because it is self-imposed deadline (with the reinforcement of having announced to the world that this is my goal) I will be ok with whatever I accomplish. In short, I applaud your commitment to figuring out what works for you to maintain a healthy balance but also figure out how to not lose the part of sprinting that is joyous. Just a quick note, a friend said she likes to balance her to-do list in the morning, with a ta da! list of what she accomplished that day-even if it wasn't on the morning's list. I love that!
I think that something not talked about in most productivity/list making conversations (and maybe McKeon addresses this) is that to-do lists are hard for things that "done" is ambiguous. It's easy to do something and check it off the list, but sustained progress over time is hard because how do you measure "better"? And how do you get motivated to do something that can't be "done"? Deadlines give us a picture of "done" to aim for and I love those milestones even if they're stressful. But building something over time is hard because there isn't done, there's just the next version. I've started, to some success although still figuring it out, a to do list of one every day: am I further along than I was yesterday? Check.
Deadlines are essential for me! I either go 100 miles an hour, or am a slug who produces nothing. So, yeah, tell me when it has to be done and I can pretty much guarantee it will be done. But I do need that incentive!
Oh deadlines. I need deadlines, because they keep me on track, but when you're creating outside of a "real" job, it is so hard to make those deadlines and stick to them. Right now I'm trying to set deadline goals for finishing my book. I know what I need to do and how I need to go about making those revisions, but getting there is HARD. I have to keep reminding myself that this isn't a sprint, it's a marathon.
I have always been the tortoise, consciously avoiding procrastination, looking on with amazement at the stamina of people who seem to operate on no sleep and adrenaline. But, one all-nighter in college-resulting in my first D ever on an exam, and the back story of one of my freshmen friends about having fallen out of her prepschool room while on speed, thereby becoming a paraplegic, pretty much convinced me that wasn't a viable option for me. She eventually became a judge, and I suspect still was type A, but steady as she goes has still been my watchword ever since. However, I also know that sometimes I have to sprint. Papers had deadlines, I needed to get essays graded by a certain day, faculty committee reports had to be finished, and not everything I did solo, so I had to accommodate working along other peoples timelines, including waiting patiently for them to scramble at the last minute to get their part of the work ( brilliantly)done to add to my often more pedestrian, but finished early, work. (smile.) Age has helped me assess when I need to just keep on my steady path, and when I need to set one of those deadlines that will cause me to sprint. And that's why I decided to participate this year in NaNoWriMo ( National Novel Writing Month.) In 2019, the only time I actually participated seriously, I got the first 50,000 words written of what would be a 110,00 word novel, a great kickstart to that project. And I am 60,000 words into my next novel (started writing 3 months ago, and if I kick up the speed and get more like 7000 versus 5000 words a week done, I should be able to complete this first draft, which would be delightful. And, because it is self-imposed deadline (with the reinforcement of having announced to the world that this is my goal) I will be ok with whatever I accomplish. In short, I applaud your commitment to figuring out what works for you to maintain a healthy balance but also figure out how to not lose the part of sprinting that is joyous. Just a quick note, a friend said she likes to balance her to-do list in the morning, with a ta da! list of what she accomplished that day-even if it wasn't on the morning's list. I love that!
I think that something not talked about in most productivity/list making conversations (and maybe McKeon addresses this) is that to-do lists are hard for things that "done" is ambiguous. It's easy to do something and check it off the list, but sustained progress over time is hard because how do you measure "better"? And how do you get motivated to do something that can't be "done"? Deadlines give us a picture of "done" to aim for and I love those milestones even if they're stressful. But building something over time is hard because there isn't done, there's just the next version. I've started, to some success although still figuring it out, a to do list of one every day: am I further along than I was yesterday? Check.