A Writer's Routine

A couple of months ago I wrote a post that was almost-kind-of-sort-of about this topic. I entitled it "Eat, Surf the Net, Make Chai, Take a Walk, and Oh Yeah...Write" (you can read it here). It was about procrastination and the silly process artists go through to get their art out.

Well, this post is a little bit different. Today I was taking an afternoon break (ok, I took a nap - but before I drifted off into la la land I was actually doing some thinking) and I was examining my writing routine with regards to the time of day that I'm actually most productive. Because shouldn't us writers do our writing when we're most productive?

What I've figured out is that perhaps, as much as I've tried to deny it and turn my head away in disgust, I'm actually the most productive in the morning. Assuming I've had some decent sleep, of course.

Morning is the time of day when I have the best shot at being completely focused on what I'm doing. When I really sit down and think about it, I find that if clients cause a delay and I've lost the opportunity to do my morning work, I really have a difficult time reengaging in the afternoon. Sure, I do it (because I have bills to pay). But wow is it hard.

I was reading an article earlier today on BecomingMinimalist.com called "10 Unconventional Habits to Live Distraction-Less." One of the 10 habits it listed was learning to accept our own personal rhythms. "Accepting and understanding our natural rhythms to the day/week," it said, "Provides healthy motivation to remove distractions during our most productive parts of the day knowing there is opportunity later to indulge them."

So when I think back about that first blog post I wrote about procrastination...I started thinking about the days when I'm really productive. And on those days, I come out of the gate running. I'm moving and shaking. I eat breakfast, I do some quick checks, and I'm off. But then when I thought about the days I was absolutely positively (and very sadly) unproductive, it was those days where I got a late start or was tired, or otherwise couldn't set my work in motion during the first half of the morning.

And what else did I realize? That the period between lunch at about 3:00 p.m. is perhaps the very least productive time of day for me. Things get done during these hours, sure. But usually I prefer to work on in-progress projects or editing work. Trying to start a new writing project or get my creative juices flowing to solve a problem just doesn't happen during this time.

So what's my conclusion? That maybe I should cut myself some slack if I need to take a nap at 2:00 p.m. (which is what I did today). Isn't that why I became a freelance writer in the first place? To get out of a set daily schedule? To have the freedom to rest when I need to? To never have to do that pretend-to-be-busy thing that I had to do all of the time?

And I've also decided I need to honor my mornings. That means turning off IM, closing down my personal email, and avoiding surfing the net. That means letting myself do a quick check of social media and email, and then completely blocking contact with the outside world until late morning or lunchtime.

It's sort of like we talk about in yoga - single pointed focus. It makes you more productive and happier when you learn how to do it. And if this is my best time to achieve it, and to get the most bang for my buck, why have I been squandering it for so long? Life is such a great teacher. :)