WRITING LIFE UNBOUND: Your Work Style
Your current, actual work style is how you work right now, not your ideal work style. You already have a work style established, but most likely it could be improved in several areas. If you can become aware of your tendencies, preferences, and habits, and how they affect your productivity and the quality of your output, then you can improve them and create a better style that fits your personality, your life, and your work demands. If your current “style” is to procrastinate through the day, work late into the night, and barely make the deadline, that might not be the best style for you (or for anyone). Finding a right fit also means incorporating some self-discipline into your life.
Several months ago, I got on a simplicity kick. I read books about simplifying life, streamlining, downscaling, and downsizing. I browsed the blogs and the websites, got the emails and the newsletters, and made lists and notes of what I needed to change to start living this simple lifestyle. I found out that what many people think of as the ideal simple life is not my ideal life. I like many of the tenets of the simplicity movement. I like being frugal, and content, and thinking about my choices. I am a big fan of eliminating pointless obligations.
But I’m not such a big fan of other parts of the movement. I don’t want to get a smaller house (we’re already a family of four in 1000 square feet) or move to the country or make my own cheese. I like working. I want to keep working. I don’t want a 4-hour workweek. I would get bored. I want to be part of what is happening. The full-on simplicity model is not for me; what drew me to it was the idea of what it could produce: a calm, contented, organized, fulfilling life. For me, however, that end comes from incorporating some of the “simplicity” tenets with some ideals of my own making. I find that I am calm, contented, and fulfilled when I have a lot to do, I know what it is, and I’m excited about it. I’m still working on the organized part…
The same concept applies to your work style. The number of productivity principles and books and programs and courses, which all promise
to take you to a place of high-quality, high-quantity output that will result in a calm, contented, organized, and fulfilling life. Lately I’ve been reading two of David Allen’s books, the original Getting Things Done and his recent Ready for Anything. I’m enjoying both. The concepts are clear and common sense. (So common sense, in fact, that sometimes I wonder why they need so much explanation.) However, some of the concepts of Allen’s model of productivity don’t work for me. I like having all my “to do” items on one Master list, rather than broken up into multiple category lists. I need to see the whole picture. That’s me.
The idea here is that every system, or method, will have some principles that work for you and some that don’t. You can force them all to fit into your life, but a better idea is to use some discernment to find which really match your framework and which don’t offer any real benefit to you.
Ask yourself a few questions about how you really work best (or what causes you to not work at your best) and start identifying the areas that could use some change:
- Do you write (outline, brainstorm, take notes, create structure) best on paper or on a computer?
- Do you have more ideas in the morning, the afternoon, or the evening?
- Are you disciplined in your eating habits? Do you snack frequently while you work?
- Do you feel energized around people or drained?
- Do you share your new ideas immediately or do you like to ponder them in silence for a while first?
- Do you make lists? What happens to those lists? Do you use them?
- What do you wear to work? Do you take yourself seriously in jeans and a t-shirt? Are you sitting around in your pajamas, trying to be productive?
- When do you feel like you’re ready for a challenge? When you’re out, when you’re alone, when you’re planning, when you’ve just finished a project, after a vacation, after a good meal, after a night’s rest, after a party?
- Do you have trustworthy people whom you consult on important matters?
- How do you handle your email and your real mail? Are they sources of distraction or do you get through them quickly?
- Do you feel obligated to answer the phone when it rings?
- Do you enjoy online social networking? Do you go overboard with it? Do you join lots of social networking sites just because you feel like you should?
- What kind of books do you really like to read?
- What kind of movies are your favorite? Why? Is it the story? The character development? The director’s style? The message?
- Does music distract or inspire you?
- Do you feel like a “wage-slave” when you are doing grunt-work for someone else instead of working on a project that relates to your long-term goals?
- Are you happy with your current level of output? Do you ever feel like you get enough done in a day? Are you always pushing yourself for more?
- Have you created a professional image for yourself as a writer? What does your website look like? Is your resume updated? Do you have a good bio with a current photo?
- How many big projects are lurking in the back of your head, waiting for the “right moment”?
- Are self-disciplined? Can you say No when you need to? Can you push yourself through difficult projects on a regular basis? Can you force yourself to keep going through writer’s block?
- Are you diligent? Can you pace yourself? Can you break down big projects into smaller tasks? Do you get bogged down in details? Do you need to regularly review the big picture? How do you remind yourself of the goal? What motivates you?
Make it a good day.
Image Credit: mezone.
August 13th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
[...] I get in one of these ’simplistic’ moods, I absolutely love checking out whatever Annie’s been writing on the subject; it’s usually just the thing! It also gives you something [...]