We’re not yet dead – may as well wed

In the immortal words of Granny Weatherwax: I aten’t dead yet.

This blog is always going to be quiet in January due to my day job, but this January also had the extra layers of sorting out wedding planning and going to see a local production of Spamalot (awesome show, and Front Row Center Players did an amazing job of it).

I also finished the academic portion of my professional designation, which brings us to today’s topic:  Time Management and doing what you love.

One of my colleagues was accused of being unable to get his designation (a post-graduate qualification in accounting) due to playing too many video games.  I have a similar level of video game playtime to this co-worker. Since I just completed my own designation, this had me thinking about how I balanced the two.

The same skill factors into writing, or any time consuming project you’ve taken on at home that tends to be put aside in favor of something ‘fun.’

The one thing that I strongly suggest you do not do is resolve to delay your fun thing until it’s ‘all done,’  especially if it’s a larger project.  In fact, I suggest that you start with your fun thing – and set a timer.

By starting with fun, you relax yourself, and you prove to your crankier sub-conscious self that your project is not a punishment.  By setting a timer, you know that you will stop your fun and get to your ‘real’ project at a time that lets you get everything done.

To follow up on this, split your project into smaller pieces.  Don’t try and write a novel in one sitting – split it into chapters and scenes, and reward yourself for finishing these pieces.  Write a scene, answer a long-answer question, review a chapter’s worth of notes – and then go have a bit more fun.

I found that a half hour timer on video games works quite well. Half an hour is enough to wrap up a mission or level in most video games, and it’s a small interruption to your flow on your big project.

All of this, of course, has exceptions.  If you’re in the zone and flowing on your big project, don’t make yourself stop – the project itself is fun at that moment!

 

The other exception?  Don’t try the timer with Civilization.  It just doesn’t work…

 

Namaste all,

 

Glynn Stewart