Tuesday, March 22, 2016

6 Hacks To Improve Your Productivity That You Can Start Right Now

6 Simple Ways To Get More Done In Less Time


There always seems to be more tasks and demands than we have time for. So how do you get everything you need to be done completed?

Understand that there are 24 hours in a day.  How you prioritize how you use those hours can dictate your productivity and output.  So how do we improve our productivity and decrease the amount of time we need to do the task?



Specifically to writing, there are 6 tips that will help you become more efficient, getting more writing and in less time.

The 6 Tips To Writing More, Faster


1. Set a Deadline:  Nobody likes deadlines, but the make us get to work.  Think about school.  You had a paper to write for a month, but you waited until the night before.  Your procrastination game was strong. And it probably still is, so setting a deadline is critical to actually getting your work done.

2. Outline: Having an idea and the flow of how you plan to explain your thoughts is crucial.  It will help keep you on track, and will give you ways out of stumbling down the wrong avenues.

Know the Who, What, Why and How for your reader and most important, know your subject.

3. Write In The Flow: Think stream of consciousness here.  You decided on an outline, but get lost in the process.  A meandering brook will run to the sea eventually.  The trick is using your outline to guide your writing more efficiently, but you still should get lost and wander when you have the room.
It makes your writing more interesting and with a momentum than just sticking to your script. It makes your writing more human and natural sounding to the ear.

4. Edit:  This is the most time demanding of all.  As the carpentry maxim says: "Measure twice, cut once," editing is more of a 1 to 2 ratio.  In other words, write with the flow, but spend at least twice the amount of time in the editing phase.

Good writing is the process of great editing.  Great writing is learning from amazing editing.

5. Set a Timer:

Other wise known as the Pomodoro Method, what you need to do is set a timer for a limited amount of time, say 20 minutes, to write in a highly intense segment. Once the timer is over, take a short break of 5 minutes (80% work, 20% recovery). But the break needs to be adhered to for your next segment to be as functional!  

By focusing ton he processes discussed above, you'll find you'll be able to write better prose and at a faster pace.

It takes dedicated practice over sustained time to make a new habit, and learning to write faster is no different than any other skill acquisition.


No comments:

Post a Comment