For the second year in a row I managed to complete a 50,000 word book.  And yes, I did that in a month.  This is both impossibly harder, and wonderfully easier than it sounds.  Make no doubt about it, 50,000 words is a lot.  But at the same time, writing 1,667 words per day is actually pretty manageable if you’re willing to put in the work.  Which, of course, is like most things.

As I close up NaNoWriMo for the year, I realize that I’ve never really had writer’s block.  At least not since I became a blogger.  And as I thought about it, I think there are reasons for this lack of writer’s block.

1.  Practice Effect.  When you need to come up with content day in, or in the case of Meaning to Work, week-in, you have to keep at it whether you feel like it, or whether you are inspired.  So you write, write, and write some more.  Which means you end up practicing the things that make your writing better (i.e., writing.)  This practice effect is probably the single biggest reason I’ve been able to avoid writer’s block. 

2.  Jump to What Inspires.  If there’s one lesson that NaNoWriMo and Meaning to Work have taught me it’s that you should follow what inspires you.  The same goes for your writing.  When you begin to feel the first signs of true writer’s block, shift gears.  Write a different segment of your story.  Start a new chapter.  Go back to an old section.  Whatever you do, don’t just sit there staring at the same text.

3.  Have Goals.  Goals provide the structure for your inspiration.  If you just jump to what inspires, then all you do is have a bunch of spastic activity, and not progress.  Goals help you structure what inspires you into something meaningful.  Goals get you to where you need to be.

4.  Sticking With It.  It’s easy to do the first three steps, and then not follow through.  I used to do this in college.  I’d work my tail off for the first 90% of the semester, then come finals time I would be too tired to finish strong.  And I’d slack off.  As a result I never turned in my best work.  The older I get the more I understand pacing (and therefore avoiding procrastination).  But I also understand the need to finish strong.

While I use these techniques to write.  The truth is they also apply to other work.  You can use these four ideas to become a better chemist, a better project manager, or even as a way to brainstorm new ideas for your business.

So where can you apply these ideas in your life?

I’ve tried everything to stop procrastinating.  But it always seems like I’m waiting until the last minute to get it done.  Of course over the years I’ve had to learn to procrastinate less.  I’ve learned that what worked in college doesn’t work when you work in industry.

But there are still days when I feel like I must be the foremost expert on procrastination.

So what causes procrastination, especially when we know it’s only going to cause us stress and problems down the road?

Well according to research, procrastination happens when we avoid a task.  We can be avoiding this task because we don’t like it and don’t want to be good at it (hello statistics homework!) or because we don’t want to compare ourselves to others who are good at something.

What’s more, the desire to avoid is stronger in influencing procrastination than the desire to be good at a task (in psychology lingo this is called “mastery.”)

So how do you stop procrastination?  Well based on a study by Seo (not to be confused with “search engine optimization”), there are three ways we can go about doing this.

1.  Focus on your strengths.  If you want to achieve a goal, you’re less likely to procrastinate.  It makes sense.  We’re more likely to play video games than do differential calculus.  We’re more likely to surf Facebook than write our next report for work.  (Assuming we don’t like calculus or report writing.)

2.  Understand why you’re avoiding the task.  Are you afraid of failure?  If you finish the task will something bad happen?  Is there a reason that makes you not want to start?  Sometimes not knowing what’s going to happen next is enough to get us to avoid a task.

3.  Clarify your goals.  The more we know what our goals are, the easier it is to understand why we’re avoiding the task.  It’s also easier to know how our strengths play into the task.  Plus, nothing good ever comes from mushy, ambiguous goals.

These three ideas will give you a jump start in stopping procrastination.  Especially if before you start on a project you sit down and focus on these actions.

(If you’re managing people who are chronic procrastinators, you can use these three ideas to help your employees overcome their desire to procrastinate.)

This is part 2 of a 4 part series on improving your productivity.  Photo provided by Heather Elizabeth Studios

Related Research:  Seo E.H., (2009) The Relationship of Procrastination with a Mastery Goal Versus An Avoidance Goal.  Social Behavior and Personality. 37 (7), 911-920.

Frankly I think I would have seen one mountain range and thought, “yeah right!  Denver looks like a nice place to settle.”

Maybe if I would have been following an amazing leader I would have gone over the first peaks.  But the despair of that second row of mountains would have been crushing.  Because the whole time you’re going up the first mountain you’re saying, “once I get through this challenge, it will be smooth sailing from here on out!”  It never is of course.  It’s a lie we tell ourselves. Everything is harder and takes longer than we think.

Work projects can feel like that.  They have their own challenges.  And in those moments we’re confronted with a Rockies-like choice.  Do we climb or settle down?  Both choices can work.  Denver’s a great city.  But if you settle in Denver you miss out on the oceans of California.

Why do I share all of this?

Because Meaning to Work will be doing a month long series on improving your productivity.  And you’re going to need to choose whether you want to scale the mountains or settle where you are right now.

I’m not saying either choice is bad.  Not all of us need to be more productive.  But a lot of us would like to see what’s over the next mountain.

So if you’re interested in doing a little productivity rock climbing, then stick around for the next few weeks.  And just to whet your appetite, check out the article that started this all: Becoming More Productive at Work.

This is part 1 of a 4 part series on improving your productivity.  Photo provided by flickr user jurvetson

Well I have some news for you, the solution might be easier than you think, and it may have nothing to do with improving your organizational skills, time management abilities, or even professional talent.  Instead it might just depend on what you do on your way to work.

Research has started to show that those fleeting emotions we feel (like when someone cuts us off in traffic) can influence our decisions well after the event is forgotten.

In a famous research study male students were asked to cross one of two bridges.  One bridge was dangerous looking; the other bridge was completely safe.  Half way across the bridge, the students encounter an attractive “research assistant.”  She offers to talk to them about the results of the study later on if they will call her.

As it turns out, the students on the “dangerous” bridge were much more likely to call.  Well after they had forgotten the “fear” of the bridge.

Except that’s not entirely true.  The students didn’t forget their emotions.  They just carried them over.  (In this case the students confused “fear” with “attraction”, and remembered the “research assistant” in those terms.)

Our emotions impact how we choose to act.

What does this have to do with productivity at work?  Well think about your morning routine.  How does it start?  Do you stand around and gossip or complain?  Did you feel road rage?  Are you angry that you have to be awake and haven’t had a good cup of coffee yet?

All of those emotions, while fleeting, may have an impact on how productive you’ll feel for the day.  So maybe the solution to becoming more productive is to simply avoid the gossip, complaints, and general negativity of the morning.

Cut back on those negative interactions.  Or better yet, find a morning routine that has more positive emotions.  Whether it’s a goodbye kiss to your spouse, or listening to songs that inspire you, or starting your day reading part of a good book.

You may just be surprised what happens.

related research:

Dutton, D. G., & Aron, A. P. (1974). Some evidence for heightened sexual attraction under conditions of high anxiety. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 30(4), 510–517.

Andrade, Eduardo, Ariely, Dan. (2009). The enduring impact of transient emotions on decision making. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 109 (1), 1-8.

photo provided by flickr user dbking