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