The other day I came across something called the “What the Hell” effect in a cognitive therapy-ish app called “Fabulous.” It struck a chord with me, so I did some reading. Today I’m going to talk about how struggling with strict targets can lead to a complete failure to meet your goals, particularly when trying to write regularly, and what you can do to stop this from happening.
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Planning writing can feel pointless. A lot of us depend on deadlines, caffeine fuelled all-nighters and forgetting how last time we promised we would never do that again. But for a book or PhD sized project – really anything where the finish line is years away and the work too large to write in a night – that approach is unsustainable. Probably. I mean, I’m prepared to give it a go. But there has to be a better way!
This article is about making the choice between planning your work based on content objectives (five thousand words by Friday, a 12 chapters by December) or duration objectives (20 hours a week, 0800-1200 Monday to Friday). We are always operating a balance between the time we have, how much we are prepared to invest and how good the work is going to be. Choosing the right intermediate objectives helps you prioritise the outcomes you want. So how do we choose the right sort of targets?
Last month my wife began her maternity leave. Normally she works long hours in a posh consultancy firm being highly impressive and executive and stuff. I can do eight hours in the library and still be home in time to get some FIFA played before she gets back. It’s a good pattern and I’ve found a nice routine. Now that pattern has been disturbed and things have got a little bit more complicated. I have to learn some discipline.
This is something every writer experiences. It has certainly been my problem in the last month. I’ve been productive, to be sure. I’ve got a little stack of blog articles, two or three almost finished short stories, even a book chapter that just needs another 400 words. But, for whatever reason, nothing gets finished.
This blog article will lay out some techniques that can help when you are having trouble finishing. They are all things that have worked for me in the past. This is for when you have bits of work that just needs that last push, but every time you boot up the computer you find yourself scribbling notes for another project or starting off that short story idea you had in the shower and BAM – the day is over and nothing is finished.
I’m hoping writing about these ideas will help break my block. With a bit of luck it will help you as well.
Apparently this is a thing. The terror of the blank page. Staring at the sheet and feeling you have to fill it with profundity, insight and wit. Or just enough words to satisfy your deadline.
To be honest, I’ve always had more trouble with the other part. The closer I get to the end, the harder it is to continue. But writing is hard, start to finish, and there are so many easy ways to stop that it is amazing any of us ever start. I’ve been given some pretty good advice over the years regarding all three stages, beginning, middle, and end, and here at the first post seems like a good place to share them.
