Paradoxical Writing Productivity Tips, Ruth Bridgstock

Eight apparently paradoxical tips for writing more productively during the normal work week (with less anxiety and guilt) Ruth Bridgstock ‘You’ve got pussyfooting from 10 to 11, shilly-shallying until 12, then hemming and hawing for the rest of the afternoon.’

The eight apparently paradoxical tips... 3. Get too many goals 4. You don’t have to do anything 5. Have shorter work periods 6. Don’t aim to finish it 7. Schedule your play time 8. Go have another coffee 9. Fail often 10. Feel like a fraud

1. Get too many goals Get some writing goals Get some advice on which goals to pursue Publish 3 kinds of things: - what I love to write - for the benefit of my field - strategically - for the A*, A outlets Get too many goals – the principle of ‘structured procrastination’

While I was procrastinating about this presentation, I: - finished a review for Pedagogies: An international journal - sorted out my flights to the UK in August - claimed my taxi fares from the Singapore conference - outlined a book chapter - applied for some research seeding money - did a whole bunch of reeeally boring statistical analyses - had a meeting about writing productivity - attended a development session about writing productivity - learned a new Handel aria - watched a blockbuster movie (terrible) and two episodes of ‘The West Wing’ (sublime) - went running twice - bought a pair of these

2. You don’t HAVE to do anything The tyranny of the shoulds: ‘I should’ ‘I have to’ ‘I must’ The principle of choice... a sense of freedom ‘I choose’ ‘I will’ ‘I want to’

3. Have shorter work periods Chunk projects into bite-sized actions For incorrigible procrastinators: keep chunking until you get the terror down to a manageable level When you start, aim to try the task for just 5 minutes Practice your writing every day No binge writing!!

4. Don’t aim to finish it Just keep starting... ‘what can I do now?’ Engage in task quality triage Q: does it have to be perfect? Can it be just OK? How about if it’s half-assed? Can anyone really tell the difference? reward yourself for starting (but be careful that extrinsic rewards don’t demotivate you)

5. Schedule your play time Get an ‘unschedule’ Enter into an agreement with yourself to enjoy life & guilt-free play ...which will have the paradoxical effect of making you more productive at work!

6. Go have another coffee Get a team together! The motivational and educational benefits of co-authoring Ru’s PhD writing team Writing productivity groups – coffee spot is about 3 the carrot and the stick metres in this direction

7. Fail often You WILL get rejected - journal acceptance rates are typically 5 – 30% Wear your rejections as badges of honour Writing is a developmental process. It’ll be a better piece of work in the end. NB. Sometimes you will fail at writing productively EVEN WHEN YOU USE THESE TECHNIQUES! Dust yourself off and keep going...

8. Feel like a fraud ‘Imposter syndrome’ and faking it til you make it Being open to new learning opportunities Don’t let uncertainty or the fact that something’s new stop you!!

The eight apparently paradoxical tips... 3. Get too many goals 4. You don’t have to do anything 5. Have shorter work periods 6. Don’t aim to finish it 7. Schedule your play time 8. Go have another coffee 9. Fail often 10. Feel like a fraud

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Paradoxical Writing Productivity Tips, Ruth Bridgstock

by CCI on Jul 08, 2009

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