- Switch off email. I don’t start Outlook (or if I do, I disable all the notifications that tell me I have new mail).
- Isolate myself. I use Bose noise-canceling headphones but don’t plug them into anything. The silence really is golden.
- Greed and guilt. I remind myself how much money I’m getting paid for a particular assignment and how ashamed I will be if I miss the deadline. This actually works sometimes.
- Stop with the blog already. When I’m pressed for time, distractions like blogging and hoovering become very compelling. Knowing this makes it easier to resist.
- Get up early. 6am is the most productive time of day for writing. No distractions. It also feels more virtuous than staying up late with work.
- Little treats. I bribe myself: ‘Matthew, if you write another 500 words, you can have a cup of tea and a biscuit.’
- Chunking. Setting a timer or alarm clock for 15, 20, 30, 50 minutes and doing nothing but writing until it goes off and then taking a break seems like a good way to make progress.
- Go full screen. Switching Word into full screen mode (from the viewmenu) eliminates all distractions but the piece I’m working on.
- Shitty first draft. Splitting the work into distinct writing and editing phases breaks the job down nicely and it takes off some of the pressure to ‘get it right first time’.
- Change location. Sometimes, if I’m really struggling to get started, taking a laptop or my notebook to a cafe and scribbling out something there – a fresh new location – is a good way to jolt-start an assignment.
맞습니다, 맞고요.
덕분에 요즘 WriteRoom과 MacJournal 등의 full screen을 활용하며 새로운 <집중>의 세계로 입문하는 중.....
만족스러운 환경(워드)을 위해 여기저기 쑤시고 다니면서, 새삼 맥으로 돌아왔다는 실감으로다가 영어까막눈의 비애를 느끼고 있다능ㅠㅠ
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