Tuesday 22 April 2014

How can you justify the time to write?





Sometimes we find it hard to justify spending time on our writing, whether it’s a creative outlet for us or a new career path, but should we let that stop us? Definitely not! Here are my top 3 solutions to avoid constantly having to justify your writing time.





1.      Trade your time for another activity. If part of your worry is being short of time, see what else you can trade the time for. In 23 Anti-Procrastination Habits S. J. Scott says “don’t add, substitute” to avoid becoming overwhelmed by time consuming tasks. Scott suggests the simpler solution is to substitute your new task for something that is “not generating results”, a “low-value activity” such as watching TV or doing anything that is not your strong point and could be delegated. I recommend looking at your week and seeing where your time goes, be aware and see what time you can take back for your writing. The easiest ones to identify and switch are the time wasters such as cruising social media, gameplay and watching television. (Yes, I do all of those too!) You can easily trade some of that time on a regular basis, particularly if you watch a few TV shows regularly, is there a least favourite program that you could do without? Other time to look out for could be grocery shopping – would it be quicker if you did it online and cut out the travelling, walking around the shop and checkout? Could another family member walk the dog two or three days a week and you could have that time to write? What about family chores that could be shared? Could you take the train instead of driving and do some writing en route to work? What about other tasks and hobbies that may not be as high a priority as writing for you? Everyone’s week is different, but we all have hidden time that can be recouped if we truly want to prioritise our writing.

2.      Develop your skill by aiming to improve one aspect of your writing each time you sit down to write. If you feel you are making progress, you will feel much more justified in spending the time. Personal development not only gives great personal satisfaction and a sense of achievement, gaining a mastery of new skills also opens up your career path, whatever job you do. With writing in particular, nearly every job can benefit from or be advanced by the skill of writing, for instance by taking on writing the company literature, reports, course material, newsletters, leaflets, emails, website content, marketing content etc. Effective written communication is a great skill for any workplace. Whether you are writing fiction or non-fiction, you are still practising with the written word and developing your mastery. Think of your writing time as personal or professional development for your future and that of your family too. 

3.      Stop worrying about what other people think and maybe take a look at your internal doubting Thomas while you’re at it. As in suggestion 2. it’s all about perspective, so if you are judging yourself for spending time on writing, or worrying about what other people think, take a moment to write down all the reasons not to write. Then counter each of them with a positive (and often more realistic) belief that opposes them, e.g. ‘writing isn’t a real job’ can be countered with ‘there are many career paths that are based solely on writing, like journalism, and even more that have an element of writing’. Use your creativity and see what you can come up with. Once you are more at peace with spending your time on writing, the less you will feel the need to justify it.


Do you feel you have to justify your writing time, to others or for yourself? What do you use to put your mind at rest? Let us know in the comments, I'd love to hear your solutions!

On that note, I’m signing off to go and write my upcoming book. Happy Writing!

Heather


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