I saw something today about task management. The latest trend in this is to not multitask. For years and years they have been telling us you’ve got to learn to multitask and lionizing people that do that well. People that have multiple businesses or do a bunch of hobbies or all that. Now the focus is on focus. What I saw today was, well, it was this. Setting a timer and doing a single task for that amount of time.
I didn’t come up with this idea independently. I took it from a creative writing course I took online. One of the tasks was to free write for 15 minutes and I wrote way more than I expected to. I felt like this blog needed daily content which I wasn’t giving it and so I decided that would be the perfect thing to do here. There are probably better practical applications for it. I am using it to write that novel which I don’t work on every night. Like tonight. I am just too tired and I don’t feel bad because ten minutes last night turned into thirty when I got caught up in my own story.
The thing is there are other things I could be doing. I could be writing on my company’s blog. I had an idea on something the other day and quickly forgot it but I am sure it will come back to me. There is also the online course on poetry writing I’m taking my time on, Spanish lessons, and that second book of poetry I decided to write and then got distracted from. I could be setting a lot of timers and doing lots of things, but now we are back at multitasking.
I’ve never been good at focusing on one thing and even less good at having anything I do focus on be financially helpful. I don’t know what this novel will look like in six months to a year but there is a story there and one long enough to carry it to at least the length of a short novel. I don’t know if it will do anything though. I need to send it to publishers when it is done. I’ve successfully marketed a pet sitting company. That doesn’t mean I can market a book. I think the last one taught us that.
This tactic does have legs and I am glad to know it is one suggested by the professional task management sort. I just need to figure out a practical application beyond typing on this blog. I haven’t increased readership any with daily posts. In fact I’ve lost it. I don’t think people want to read my daily thoughts. Too bad. I’m going to keep giving them to you.
David Huzzard Writes 