Activity

This weeks post is written by yours truly and is about how to write when you have a busy life.

24 hours. 1,440 minutes. 86,400 seconds. That’s how much time we have each day. And yet, it seems like we never have enough hours, minutes, or seconds to get everything done. What do you do when you can’t seem to squeeze in even a small amount of writing during the day?

A lot of that depends on the reasons you can’t find the time to write, so I’ll go through a few common reasons and then a few tips on creating more time in your day.

Common Reasons:

– Family: Whether you still live with your family or are married and/or have kids of your own, family can be a big distraction and time consumer. One thing you could do, is set aside a certain time each day for writing and make sure your family knows that. If you have kids, that can be during nap time/quiet time or after your spouse gets home from work.

– School: Whether you are public, private, or home schooled, this is another thing that can suck time right out of your writing. In this season, sometimes you may have to embrace this season in your life and come to realize you won’t be able to crank out 5,000 words each day. Figure out something that does work so you can keep your writing going, but without causing you to have a lack of sleep.

– Responsibilities: This goes along somewhat with family, but I think that even when you live alone, your responsibilities can get in the way of your writing time. I don’t know this from personal experience, though, so I can’t say for sure. Along with the family suggestion, maybe try setting aside a specific time each day to do your writing.

– Work: Ah. Money. It’s such a necessary evil. You can’t live without it, but it’s so hard to get writing done when you are working at a job that sucks at least 6 hours out of your life each day. Not counting the commute. With this one, since you likely don’t have the same schedule each day, I would suggest taking a little time when you get home from work to clear your mind of the job. Maybe take a walk or do a run or something like that. Then come back and do some writing.

Those are only a few reasons that may plague you. I hope some of my suggestions were helpful. If not, don’t worry, I have some others that are more general to any situation.

Set a schedule

If you have a fairly predictable life, this would work great! Make a schedule for yourself for each day of the week and then stick to it. I’ve used schedules in the past and they have been helpful. Right now, having a set schedule doesn’t work.

Make a to-do list and prioritize it

One of the biggest things that has helped me find time to do so much more than I ever expected the last month has been making my to-do lists and then prioritizing them. Each morning, or sometimes the night before, I write down everything I need to do and then figure out the order I need to do it in. Writing is always on the list and near the top as well because it can be. My list always looks different each day, so don’t be worried about that.

Evaluate

This is something I think everyone should do. Evaluate your life and see if there is anything that can be cut out. I’ve heard and seen stats that say that the average American spends something like 4 hours watching TV or being on Social Media. These are both things that are completely optional. Instead of watching that TV show or check Facebook for the umpteenth time today, go write for that hour or half hour or fifteen minutes instead.

What are some ideas you have for making time to write?

 

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