Productivity & Time Management Archives - Page 5 of 6

Freelance Writing Tasks You Can Do Without the Internet

Posted on April 11, 2012 Written by Pinar Tarhan

Image via illustrationconcentration.files.wordpress.com

There is no doubt about the fact that 21^st century made a writer’s job a lot easier. Maybe the markets became more competitive, but at least now it is so much easier to contact editors, submit queries without waiting for the post office to do its job or wait for a conference to be able to get the editors to notice you (although this is still a great method for this purpose. It is just that you can’t always attend all the conferences you want to due to time, money or place constraints.)

And there is so much that we need to do on the internet – from billing to sending e-mails, from researching the web to updating our blogs…It is so easy to get worked up when our internet connection fails us. Usually this glitch is temporary, and it doesn’t cause that much of a disaster-given that we’ve saved all our work, and we haven’t left anything to the last minute.

But whether the problem lasts for a minute or a day, and whether you experience it in your office or at your favorite coffee shop/co-working space, there is no need to lose your temper or patience. There’s so much you can do in the name of productivity and creativity while you are offline. From organizing your files to taking a break, from making a list of your goals to brainstorming, you can turn the glitch into a productivity fest.

The original version of this article was published on Freelance Switch and is called Freelance Tasks To Do Without the Internet.

Enjoy your list, and save it somewhere offline for a rainy an offline day. : )

You can leave your comment here or on Freelance Switch.

Procrastination: Friend or Foe?

Posted on March 19, 2012 Written by Pinar Tarhan

One advertising teacher had told me there was a word for people who were addicted to deadlines, and the adrenaline that last minute rush created. I’ve not forgotten the definition. Yes, I was pretty guilty of it when I heard the word.

The easier a subject was to study, the more I procrastinated. Oh, I procrastinated for the subjects that were hard for me too- I just did it a little less and gave myself a little more time.

For some reason, I just couldn’t focus or worry enough until 2-3 days were left before the exam. And if I thought I could pull it off, I’ve been known to start studying as late as in the morning of the exam!

Of course I made exceptions for term projects, theses, grades I needed to improve and while I was studying to get into university.

I’m much more professional and careful now. I take my assignment deadlines very seriously, and start the project almost as soon as I accept it. I also make sure I finish it a couple of days before the deadline so that I am ready for last minute problems.

And although my sense of professionalism has made me procrastinate less, it hasn’t eliminated it completely. Let’s take my first novel for instance.

Since it is my first, I don’t have an editor/publisher pressuring me to finish 5 chapters in 2 weeks or something. It is not that I don’t try to write as much as I can whenever I can. But when I get stuck with a scene, I let myself suffer from the writer blues, and sometimes it is hard to take back the inspiration I need for fiction.

Then there are the blogs I run, but I don’t publish as often as I’d like to because in between gigs, other marketing efforts, market research, and trying to squeeze in a novel, I sometimes lose more time when resting than I intend to.

But is procrastination purely evil? Or is it a necessary tool for innovation? Does it always make our lives worse? Or does it really help with productivity and creativity?

The two posts I read on it made me wonder. The first one was Melanie Brook’s article on Freelance Switch “The Pull of Procrastination”, and the second one was the article that inspired Melanie’s post “Procrastination Is Essential to Innovation” on Harvard Business Review, written by Whitney Johnson.

I was amazed at how successful Melanie was at not procrastinating, and I did relate with Johnson’s tendency to delay things she wasn’t familiar with – even though she needed to do them to promote the thing she was familiar with-her book.

Both Melanie and Whitney seem to agree on the fact that a little anxiety about an approaching deadline might be necessary. Desirable even. But too much of it is bound to decrease productivity and innovation.

I agree. Below is a list of when I find procrastination a friend or a foe.

It’s a friend when:

It really makes you get off your butt. Yes, ideally we’d all start doing something about dreams and goals right here and right now. But this is where the saying “better late than never” comes in. Starting and rushing to finish is better than not finishing at all. But of course this goes more for first drafts you write for yourself and not for your clients.

It gives you adrenaline that was missing for a long time. I don’t know about you, but some adrenaline does fuel my productivity, speed of learning and creativity. I remember promising to a friend that a story would be ready at a certain time. Guess what? It worked. She got the story – and a good one – at the promised time. I just didn’t want to disappoint a reader, no matter how hard and fast I had to work to get it done.

It feels great to find yourself reaching a productivity level you never knew existed.

It’s a foe when:

It creates extra stress that you could probably do without. As freelancers (and/or writers) we are under enough pressure and stress already about running a one-person company, responsible for all the aspects of our business. And even if you are collaborating with others, it is a lot different from just being responsible from one or two tasks and leaving the rest up to your boss.

It messes up your schedule and other tasks.

It makes you enjoy the project less.

Bottom line?

It all depends on what you are procrastinating against and how you procrastinate. How much damage are you doing to your work? To your peace of mind? To your career?

Or are you using your procrastination for inspiration?

Just like most things in life, procrastination lies in a grey area, and it is up to you to pull it to the white zone, or let it drag you to the black.

Productivity for Writers: Tips to Increase Your Productivity During Hot Weather

Posted on August 10, 2011 Written by Pinar Tarhan

Writer Productivity in the Summer. Or not:)

August already arrived and yet it is still typically very hot. Oh, I’m not complaining. I always take my summer wardrobe & weather over looking like an Eskimo and a bleak winter.

However extreme heat reduces productivity and the will to work. It might also cause you to stock on iced-drinks and face the wind/air-conditioner, and ultimately making you catch a cold, like the one I’m trying to fight off right now.

Fortunately, applying a few simple tips to your daily life can help you make the best of the summer, while managing to get all your work done.

1) Air- conditioners. Not every house has one, but it is unthinkable for any respectable coffee shop not to use them. If you don’t have air-conditioning in your living quarters, you can always go to the next Starbucks or a similar concept coffee shop where you can work.

You just need to make sure that directly under the conditioners as this will most probably cause you to get sick. Also make sure you bring a sweater with you just in case. After all, outdoors might be hot enough to walk around in your swimsuit, indoors might feel like the North Pole.

2) Fans. Fans are more affordable and a lot less complicated than air-conditioners. However, most of the time, they tend to be less effective. But then again, a fan is the next best thing when there is no wind outside and you feel like the heat is suffocating you. Just make sure you get the cool indirectly as fans can also easily make you sick. I should know, I’m a few hours from taking my prescribed antibiotics.

3) Beaches and pools. If you live near a sea or an ocean, take advantage. Not only swimming will help you get fit, it will also keep you cool and fresh.

And even if you don’t live near a sea, there are usually affordable pools around. Although some people don’t enjoy the pool experience, it is a nice way to energize yourself. For instance my university gym offers a reasonably-priced membership so I go swimming almost everyday. I can work for much longer and much more productively after I swim.

You just need to make sure you don’t get in the sun without protection.

4) Showers. It is all very well to save water and protect the environment, but you can’t restrain yourself from taking regular showers as this will help you cope with the heat, especially if you live in a city where the daily average temperature easily hits 40 degrees Celsius.

You can be careful about not wasting much water, but you can’t survive without getting under the water at all.

5) Cold drinks and lots of water. Drinking lots of liquids is always crucial, especially during hot weather when you lose a lot of water through sweating. Try to make sure you consume healthy drinks, though- such as water and freshly squeezed juices. As simple as this may sound, many people often neglect this or just try to fulfill their liquid needs through fuzzy drinks, which is not the healthiest option.

Try to apply these daily and you will find it easier to work in the summer.

How to Use Our Email Accounts Productively to Avoid Procrastination

How to Turn Procrastination into Productivity: 7 Fun Tips for Writers

9 Productive Things Writers Can Do When They Have a Cold

Posted on June 18, 2011 Written by Pinar Tarhan

funny pictures chipmunk asks you to-go-on — Yep, that is exactly how I react when I have a cold…:)

Catching a cold can come in any season. You know the symptoms: dizziness, lack of energy, and low fever. I typically get sick during unstable weather, through a combination of the temperature differences between outdoors and indoors, and the differences between indoors with air-conditioning and indoors with no air–conditioning. Combine it with all the open windows and all the others getting sick and voila: you have a writer with a cold, trying not to vaporize and writing despite a headache.

And while I, unfortunately, discovered that there is no way I can be as productive as my usual healthy self, there are still a lot of productive and not-so-exhausting things I can do. Here is how you can work through a cold if you want to or need to:

1) Facebook: Facebook is a great way to catch up with your friends. And since you are sick, it is OK to start replying to your received messages, as opposed to replying when you are totally healthy and supposed to be doing something else.

But it is not all. You can also promote your old & recent articles. If you are well enough to log on to Facebook, you are well enough for some mindless article promotion. And since you are already active there, browse through groups and fan pages, join the ones you like, join some communities. If you already have a bunch of communities you joined before, converse and leave your own relevant links that will bring value to the conversations. Also, leave links in your messages to your good friends. And don’t neglect to copy-paste your article links to your profile.

Worry not. There is no need to overdo anything. 3-4 article links to your Facebook profile/news update within some hours between them is great for exposure and give your friends time to digest and all.

2) Twitter: Yep, you can tweet about your sickness, but while you are at it, why not post some good links? It can be your old or new article links, friends’ articles, or links to stuff you are promoting. If you can turn on your computer and log on to Twitter, you definitely owe this little activity to yourself.

3) Social Media of Your Choice: Are your readers on Pinterest? Dying to get better results on Instagram? Is it time you experimented with TikTok? You don’t have to take photos or videos when you are sick. But you can play around with hashtags and look at other creators’ content for inspiration. And when you get better, you will realize you’ll have gotten rid of some of your promotional chores for a while. At the very least, you will have conducted some market research.

4) Registering and signing up for useful sites: You may have come across links to register for social media sites, sites that pay for your content, e-mail newsletters you find useful, etc… Registering to multiple sites take time. Since you have time now, use it to sign up for useful stuff.

5) Read blogs and articles: If you are well enough to read, take this time to read friends’ and other’s articles and blog posts. If you can comment, please do. If you don’t have the energy, just help spread the word about the article and let the author know you did this.

6) Check and clean-up your e-mail inbox: You may not feel good enough to study newsletters or apply tips that you are getting from them, but you can always clean out spam and other unwanted stuff. The cleaner your email inbox is, the more productive it will be for you to use it when you feel healthy.

7) Organize bookmarks: How many bookmarks do you have? The idea for this article came to me while I was trying to organize an enormous list of bookmarks. Most of the time, we run into a useful resource, we bookmark it so that we can come back to it later. But since this happens with a lot of sites, we barely ever have the time to go back. Sometimes it is even hard to remember we had a list of websites to visit in the first place.

Do yourself a favor by organizing them. Get rid of the ones you don’t need. If you run into some beneficial stuff, remember to stumble them up, and/or write them down on a Word document, so that you will remember them easily.

8) Take advantage of your entertainment. And if you do watch excess amount of movies and TV shows, remember to write about them later. I once devoured 7 episodes of Supernatural on one sick day. I later wrote a lot of articles on them.

If you have done general reviews for that movie/tv show/whatever already, you can come up with comparison articles, collection of best episodes, list posts and many more.

9) Jot down ideas. When you are physically inactive, your mind can go into overdrive. Make use of these ideas: write them down so you can use them later.

So above are things I do when I am not feeling well. What are your tips for “sickness productivity”?

Recommended Articles on Productivity & Time Management

It’s a friend when:

It’s a foe when:

Bottom line?

Intelligent Productivity for Freelance Writers by John Soares

How to Use Our Email Accounts Productively to Avoid Procrastination

How to Turn Procrastination into Productivity: 7 Fun Tips for Writers