Fab post! I am a planner and working backwards from deadlines, I think, comes as second nature to me (or maybe I developed the habit an eternity ago during my University days). The 'how' is something I am fairly comfortable with, too.
Where I struggle -- and one might argue I am, therefore, not that perfect at deadlines after all -- is the balance between my day job and writing. I am sure I have seen a post where you mention you have always written alongside keeping a day job; I will read it in due course.
For example: I have worked out my schedule and I should be sitting down to write between 6pm-8pm on Mon. Unfortunately, my day job meetings overrun; I am still on the phone at 630pm. By the time I am done, I am a. tired and b. not in the frame of mind to write (something I am working on, i.e. you have to get it done regardless of your frame of mind).
Sorry to ask, but do you have any tips / insights about combating this? Do you push through, do you re-organise next day's plan? Do you - and I am not very good at this! - say no to your work and insist on a hard stop at 6pm? How easy is it to deprioritise the thing that pays for your mortgage for the benefit of the thing you enjoy doing and which gives you happiness?
Hi Daniel,
Fab post! I am a planner and working backwards from deadlines, I think, comes as second nature to me (or maybe I developed the habit an eternity ago during my University days). The 'how' is something I am fairly comfortable with, too.
Where I struggle -- and one might argue I am, therefore, not that perfect at deadlines after all -- is the balance between my day job and writing. I am sure I have seen a post where you mention you have always written alongside keeping a day job; I will read it in due course.
For example: I have worked out my schedule and I should be sitting down to write between 6pm-8pm on Mon. Unfortunately, my day job meetings overrun; I am still on the phone at 630pm. By the time I am done, I am a. tired and b. not in the frame of mind to write (something I am working on, i.e. you have to get it done regardless of your frame of mind).
Sorry to ask, but do you have any tips / insights about combating this? Do you push through, do you re-organise next day's plan? Do you - and I am not very good at this! - say no to your work and insist on a hard stop at 6pm? How easy is it to deprioritise the thing that pays for your mortgage for the benefit of the thing you enjoy doing and which gives you happiness?