Tag: writing

Last week I published a post with a free course, How To Start A Successful Blog And Make Money 2019.

My good mate, Phil responded with:

My always sceptic says if it were that easy we’d all be rich and published and wouldn’t need to be motivational speakers in a van down by the river…

I’m kinda with Phil there. If it really was easy, we’d all be doing it.

There’s the rub. I personally feel anyone can ‘do it’. But very few people will. The biggest issues I face are drive and time management.

So, on drive. People see what I do, thinking it takes a few hours a week of doodling and writing. Then they say ‘hey, I can do that’. But then their not willing to put in the hours of promoting to local businesses, local papers, sharing to Buzzfeed and BoredPanda. Standing at car boots and markets, getting drowned in the rain, trying to sell prints. Going to shows trying to find clients to work for. Submitting to magazines and getting turned down over and over and over. The demoralizing graft. A lot of that’s less fun. It takes grit. Self-employment is rarely the happy-go-lucky care-free life people imagine. It sure as heck isn’t what’s on Instagram.

So, yes. Anyone can ‘do it’. But few folks will.

On time management, well, that’s a whole separate issue. In my experience, it can make or break you. If you can’t get your poop together and set out plans for your days and weeks, you just aren’t going to make it.

Personally, I use an A4 diary to make rough plans for what I need to do daily. More checklists than anything. But pen and paper help cement tasks in my head more than digital alternatives.

I use pomodairo type techniques. 50 minutes of work followed by 10 minutes break. Enough time for a pee and a fresh brew of tea. (shameless “Drink Tea” tenuous link to Threadless: https://littlefears.threadless.com/ )

#NoShame

So, I usually run that system from 7 am to 1 pm, break for an hour for lunch. Then work from 2 pm to 6 pm. I often come back in the evening as well. It’s a long day!

This week, I’ve been looking for digital time-management assistance again. Turns out, on Skillshare, there are two free classes from the Todoist team.

Productivity Today: Managing Attention in the Digital Age | Learn with Todoist. Kevin Siskar, Managing Director, Founder Institute.

The first I’ve done before. I really enjoyed this class. It’s not 100% Todoist centric. It’s more about getting into the right mindset managing your time more productively. I can’t stress how important mindset is if you’re hoping to go self-employed as a writer, blogger, artist, poet and music maker.

Productivity Habits That Stick: Using Time Theming. Mike Vardy, Productivity Strategist & Productivityist Founder.

This course is more Todoist-centric. It revolves around building a daily routine and task list. More like habit building, if that makes sense?

I can appreciate habit building courses. The first hour of my day is set in stone. Publish the morning’s story. Reply to comments on LittleFears.co.uk. Check if there are any relevant hashtags during the day I can get into with an old story on Twitter (such as #NationaChocolateDay). Go over everything in my diary for a given day and schedule all the work into 50-minute blocks.

If that first hour goes off without a hitch, I can smash through work like the Hulk punches holes in toilet paper. It gets me into the right mental place and I’m away! If I miss my morning routine, my whole day goes to pot.

For some of us, habits are essential.

So, those links again. These courses are free. Just sign up for a free account, ignore anything that asks you for a subscription option. Go to the course page and give them a whirl.

Productivity Today: Managing Attention in the Digital Age: https://skl.sh/2TeJPCv

Productivity Habits That Stick: Using Time Theming: https://skl.sh/2EvJ1Be

Thanks again to Barb of LetItGoCoach for buying me a cuppa Ko-Fi. Thanks to Warren for the $10 Patronage.

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