Learning Challenge: Learning About Time Management, Writing 10 Minutes a Day

Link to the article I am referencing

Ooooooooh boy, do I ever have a problem with putting off writing. Just like the article says, I tend to push it off until I have big time blocks--but who ever has big time blocks? Not me. So instead it just gets pushed further and further out...and the deadline looms...and I start worrying that what I write won't be good enough, or that I won't be able to write about what I've been planning on writing about, or...or...

But you know what I've learned (especially this semester)? Writing isn't a big deal. You don't need large chunks of time to do it--you just need 15 minutes and a focused brain. And also some kind of writing implement, because without that it's hard to write.

(The focused brain is also a hard part. But I think that goes in Health? Anyway...)

This article really articulated some of my recent thoughts about writing, especially when you really don't feel like you have enough time to write in your schedule. Just writing for 10 minutes at a stretch can be extremely productive, and the more you start to write in these short bursts the more you get used to them. It also, like the article says, makes writing much less daunting: I'm going to do this thing for 10 minutes, Kathryn, I tell myself. No pressure. No strings attached. No opus magnum required. Just 10 minutes...

(I also find that when I only have a short amount of time to write I have much more luck getting myself to focus. Partly because I do well with short-term intensity, and partly because 10 minutes is well below the amount of time it takes me to get bored with things. I can sit down, stare at the computer, and type constantly for 10 minutes. It's harder to do it for 2 hours. Or *ahem* twenty-two, as was the case this past weekend) (not in a row. That's superhuman. There were breaks--just not as many as there should have been...)

But anyway. I'll be attempting to utilize this method for the incredible (!) amount of final papers that are due this semester. It'll be good. Or, you know, as good as things can be when you've got 12 books and 7.5 billion tabs open in the same window and outlines scattered as far as the eye can see. But whatever, right? It's only 10 minutes...

(My aforementioned role model Maggie Stiefvater showing off her teapot timer. Photo credit to Maggie Stiefvater)