There are some stressful circumstances right now - I live in Tel Aviv, and Iran as well as its proxies in Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen - are threatening a coordinated attack on my city and country. Which makes for a great excuse to not work, and instead stare into space, or burrow into my (very light) summer throw and wait till this is all over.
Sraring into space can get pretty boring. Life needs to be lived. I continue to take care of my family, write my stories, manage my author business, and maintain my newsletter and blog schedule.
To help with productivity, I was given the advice of setting micro tasks and then celebrate crossing each off. I decided to give it a try.
The new book I'm writing is very different than the books I've previously written, in terms of time period and setting. That means a ton of time spent on research, which can become very daunting.
By setting a simple micro-task, I can see both the beginning and the end. For example:
30 minutes researching common plants and their uses for my heroine, who is a healer.
And this I can approach with less timidity.
I need to create detailed profiles for characters - their backstory, personality traits, physical appearance, and motivations. That's so much work, right? But if I tell myself:
Spend 15 minutes filling out a character profile template for Rebecca to understand her motivations and conflicts better, it becomes manageable.
Then, that first rough draft needs to get down on paper. I have friends who write at least 5,000 words a day. A normal book page holds about 250-300 words, so prolific writers produce almost twenty pages a day. Setting this goal for myself would be both unrealistic and destructive to my self-esteem.
So instead, a micro-task:
A 15-minute writing sprint focused on a specific chapter or scene to get words down quickly without stopping or editing.
This is totally doable, and gets me going.
I write down those tasks at the beginning of the day, preferably the night before. I never start the morning without knowing my mini tasks.
I write DONE, next to each of them and highlight it in yellow. The highlighting, in particular, I find very satisfying.
Do you think this method of micro-tasking may help you with your work? Hit reply and let me know, I'd love to hear from you.
Comments