Take Charge of Your Time

Take Charge of Your Time
by Karen O¹Connor

Do you have time on your hands? Blank spaces on your calendar? Idle hours in your work week? Probably not--if you're trying to build a writing career or sustain the one you've built.

"Studies show that the average businessman or woman (and writers are businesspeople--or should be) spends twenty minutes a day looking for various pieces of information. This amounts to six weeks a year!" says Marcia Ramsland, Professional Organizer and President of Life Management Skills, a consulting firm in San Diego, California.

Most of us can identify with this crazy-making practice at least to some degree. For example, do you easily misplace those editorial guidelines you've been meaning to study? The magazine you sent for so you can analyze the contents? The colored folders you purchased so you could organize your notes?

"For most people, there is only about ten minutes difference between mediocrity and personal excellence," claims Ramsland. And that difference is within our grasp--if we are willing to take charge of our time instead of letting time control us.

"When you're late or disorganized you miss an opportunity to work at a higher level of personal expression."

So what's a writer to do? Put Ramsland's practical steps into practice for two weeks and note the results.

1. TRACK YOUR USE OF TIME

Assign a day for the following process. Check every half hour to see what you¹ve allotted your time to for the past thirty minutes. Example: 10 minutes for coffee and bagel; 10 minutes chatting with friend about non-writing related topics; 5 minutes making a doctor's appointment during writing hours; 5 minutes staring out the window or surfing the Internet for fun! "Look at your productive actions and look at the distractions," says Ramsland. "Do this for three days and you'll be amazed to discover how you use time. Repeat the process quarterly."

2. LIST EVERY ITEM IN YOUR IN-BOX OR ON YOUR DESKTOP

Take 15 minutes to organize these materials. Set a date and time to complete each one. For example, group your phone calls on one list, and then make the calls. Write down the ideas you have for query letters. Then do one a day or two a week until you're finished. By the third time you use this system you will notice how little time it takes and how much time it has saved you.

3. CHECK YOUR CASH FLOW

Ask yourself where you need to spend more time in order to realize greater income. For example, if joining a manuscript critique group, checking publishers' web sites, sending queries by e-mail or focusing on a particular market such as parenting, sports, religion, hobbies, or nutrition, will lead to more article or story sales, focus on those first. Save the smaller, less important tasks for the end of the day or early evening when you're too tired to do any serious writing.

4. TAKE ONE MAJOR STEP EACH MONTH

You might focus on shortening your phone calls and e-mails one month; the next, look for ways to tighten up your query and cover letters. The following month, plan to meet at least one new person each week who can contribute to your growth as a writer, i.e., an editor, a writer who¹s further along the path than you are, an expert in a subject you¹d like to write about. Notice how planned activities such as these actually save time that might otherwise be used in an unproductive, directionless way.

5. MAKE TIME FOR FUN!

Julia Cameron, author of ”The Artist's Way,” suggests that creative people go on a solo date each week (just you--no kids, spouse, friends, neighbors, co-workers) in order to feed their spirit and nourish their creativity. I've found this to be excellent advice, worthy of my time and energy. I schedule these dates on my calendar just as I would write in an appointment with an editor or a meeting with fellow writers. I find that when I've spent a couple of hours walking along the beach, attending a concert or play, visiting an art gallery or hiking in the mountains, I come back to my writing refreshed, invigorated, and more creative.

"Each day we have the opportunity to repeat the same steps we took the day before or to take new ones that lead us closer to our goals," says Ramsland. "It's a personal choice. Every one of us is only ten minutes and ten papers a day away from excellence."

You can contact Marcia Ramsland by e-mail: Marcia@OrganizingPro.com
Karen O'Connor, freelance writer and speaker from San Diego, California can be
reached through her web site: www.karenoconnor.com.