Focus – The Key to Getting Things Done
Posted on July 17, 2017
I love the picture of these little guys. Just one thing on their mind at the moment. It’s spelled T-R-E-A-T.
They’ve probably not noticed the dilemma. There are 4 of them and half as many bones. They’ll discover it soon enough and I’m sure they’ll have the manners to share with their companions.
Aside from that, they illustrate perfectly the topic of my post today as it relates to writers.
Focus is the key to getting anything done —
whether it’s snagging the bone or finishing your writing project.
Now I’m certainly not telling you anything you don’t already know. But sometimes simple truths need restating. After all, just because they’re simple, doesn’t mean they’re easy.
As an author, you’re someone who is developing proficiency in transferring your thoughts and ideas to paper or a computer screen. Now that’s no small task.
But your biggest enemy in making that goal a reality is focus, or maybe I should say the opposite of focus – distraction. Don’t you feel it all around you . . . those million and a half things trying to pull you away from your writing? To move forward in your writing craft, you need a good dose of focus.
So how do you get it? I propose two suggestions.
First, Break It Down to Bite-Sized Pieces
If your goal is to write a 75,000 word novel or non-fiction book then I’m guessing you’ll never get it done. Why? Well, it’s just too big to get your arms around when you say it like that. You have to break it down into pieces you can manage.
What would be more realistic? How about this:
“I will write 500 words a day — 5 days a week for the next 52 weeks.”
That’s a better goal don’t you think? (P.S. If you don’t like that one, then draft one you do like. But make it bite-sized.)
The secret is to determine what you can do each day that moves you toward your goal. Breaking it into smaller but actionable steps is helpful. And 500 words a day is so doable. This post is about 750 words and took about an hour to compose.
But besides that, think about the possibilities. If you did this, you’d have a manuscript of 130,000 words at the end of the year. That would be most impressive, don’t you agree? But it comes out of small but consistent actions focused in the same direction for a period of time. That’s what separates real writers from the ones who want to be.
Okay, so you now have a bite-sized effort you can work on each day. What’s next?
Second, Measure Your Focus
While you can’t typically hold a ruler up to yourself and measure your focus, you can do the next best thing. Measure the effects of your focus — your word count.
So now you have a goal to write 500 words a day, 5 days a week for 52 weeks. One thing that’s nice about a word count goal is that it’s easy to measure. You can set up a simple Excel spreadsheet with 31 rows to represent each day of the month. Then at the end of every day, or at the end of your writing session, record your word count for the day. If you’re not an Excel user, that’s fine. Just get a notebook and do the same on lined notebook paper.
Some writers balk at the idea of a word count. They reason like this: “counting words don’t mean the words are good.” And that’s true. But you need to start somewhere. Let’s not worry for now about the quality of the writing until we at least have a manuscript to worry about in the first place. This process of measuring your progress will work wonders.
Now, let me warn you. You’re not a machine. You won’t do it perfectly each and every day. Some days you might do more, some days you will do less – I guarantee it. Remember, the goal is constant movement in a positive direction. If you get off track for a day, that’s fine. Look at your log and choose to celebrate what you have accomplished. Then dust yourself off and start again tomorrow.
There is something quite helpful about recording your progress. Success breeds success. You will find as you start to make some consistent progress that it will get easier each day.
Question of the Day: Writing a long manuscript can be overwhelming at first. What tips and tricks do you use to keep the focus on your project and get it done?
Share your thoughts with me in the comments below. Thanks for listening.