BECOME A MORE PRODUCTIVE WRITER. Scenario 1: With a deadline (e.g. grants) Scenario 2: Without a...

BECOME A MORE PRODUCTIVE WRITER

Scenario 1: With a deadline(e.g. grants)

Scenario 2: Without a deadline(e.g. many papers)

Strategy TwoWrite every day.

Strategy ThreeWrite in stages.

Strategy OneStart with a plan.

Strategy OneStart with a plan.

The planning fallacy

Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Intuitive prediction: biases and corrective procedures. TIMS Studies in Management Science, 12, 313–327

“The planning fallacy refers to a readily observable phenomenon: the conviction that a current project will go as well as planned even though most projects from a relevant comparison set have failed to fulfill their planned outcomes.”

in Roger Buehler,* Dale Griffin, and Johanna Peetz.* The Planning Fallacy: Cognitive, Motivational, and Social Origins.

WOOPOettingen, Gabriele (2014). Rethinking Positive Thinking: Inside the New Science of Motivation. Penguin Group.

Her research finding, supported with 20 years of empirical work: Positive thinking / visualizing the desired outcome alone does not produce the motivation to take action.

What does work: “WOOP”1. WISH: Write down your wish in 3-6 words

2. OUTCOME: Write a detailed description of the Outcome that will fulfill your wish. How would you feel if you achieved it?

3. OBSTACLES: Write a detailed, emotion rich picture of the main obstacles that may prevent you from getting the Outcome; include your own internal tendencies (e.g. procrastination, perfectionism).

4. PLAN: Make a plan to address each of the obstacles

Create a written planHow does this writing project help me meet one of my important goals?

Create a project plan• Read the instructions from the funder /journal/ editor /meeting!• Create a detailed statement describing the final result.• List the required steps / components / milestones• What obstacles might I encounter?• Make a plan to address the obstacles

Draft a schedule using backward planning

• What will I do next to get started, and when will I do it?

backward planningstart with the deadline, and ask: “What do I have to have done by yesterday day in order to be ready for this day?Go to that day, and ask the same question, and so on.

Grant Due at NIH

Submit to my university

Externally imposed deadlines Block off days not available Set milestone dates

Receive final comments from co-authors

Final copyedits completed

Final budget approval from department

Send penultimate draft to co-authors – (due 11/14)

Read aloud to myself

(on call)

(on call)

(trip……………………………..)

Finalize references

Create a written planHow does this writing project help me meet one of my important goals?

Create a project plan• Read the instructions from the funder /journal/ editor /meeting!• Create a detailed statement describing the final result.• List the required steps / components / milestones• What obstacles might I encounter?• Make a plan to address the obstacles

Draft a schedule using backward planning

• What will I do next to get started, and when will I do it?

Re: The Planning Fallacy

Outcome

Wish

Obstacles

Plan

Strategy TwoWrite every day: why, when, and how?

Strategy TwoWrite every day: Why?

“Common sense”

• Keeps the project “top of mind”• Twists and turns identified sooner• Eliminates warm up• Reduces stress from last minute work

• Turns on the reticular activating system• Feeds the default mode network• Boice’s daily writing experiments

Evidence

Regular writing evidence

• Writing in brief sessions daily is more productive than engaging in infrequent “binge writing”

• Evidence: 30-60 minutes a day produces more high quality writing than infrequent binges

• This does not preclude frequent longer sessions

Robert BoiceEmeritusSUNY at Stony Brook

Strategy TwoWrite every day: When?

Write “first thing” in the morning

• It's easier to go from PROACTIVE, DEEP WORK to reactive work, than the other way around

• Fewer potentially new interrupting tasks will have appeared

• Highest supply of:– Willpower– Decision making ability– Energy – for most of us

• You take advantage of your sleep related default mode network output

• You have started the day successfully, which increased your energy and improves your mood, which can carry over into the rest of the day.

If you can, write at the same time each dayWilliam Faulkner: "I only write when I am inspired. Fortunately I am inspired at nine o'clock every morning."

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Strategy TwoWrite every day: How?

Joan Bolker: Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day. Henry Holt & Co., New York, 1998

Set easily reachable goals Start with as little as 10 minutes a day Slowly build to capacity

Use a paired treat / reward “Grandma’s Mashed Potato Law”

Don’t exceed your target

Write every day

the Pomodoro technique

Write down what you are going to do

25 + 5 25 + 525 + 525 + 15Repeat as needed

Manage interruptions

Francesco Cirillohttp://www.pomodorotechnique.com/

Pomodoro apps

• Web /desktop

– Tomato Timer– Focus Booster

• iOS

– iPhone Pomodoro Timer by Navel labs

• Android

– Pomodroido by Artifix

• Blackberry

– Pomodoro Helper by Chin

• Your local hardware store….

•Work on grant• Draft specific aim 1• Open Word document

Still can’t start? Create a first task that creates no resistance.

Monitor your progress

Strategy ThreeWrite in stages:

1. prewrite

2. create a bad draft

3. edit to final product.

Prewriting &Creating a bad draft

Editing to the final product

Strategy ThreeWrite in stages:

1. prewrite

Prewriting: generating ideas

• Method: – Record all ideas that come up– Don’t worry about whether ideas will make it

into the final product• Informed by literature review, past work,

and data analysis…

Challenge: the prewriting maze

Trapped in “data analysis paralysis” and “just one more paper to read”

Prewriting maze-busters

• BEFORE you do any reading, write down:

– what you know, or think you know about the topic

– questions you already have

• LIMIT the literature review

– Select a limited number of papers to read at this stage

– Keep a list of papers to come back to

• STOP and move on to create the bad draft before you feel finished with data analysis and lit review

Strategy ThreeWrite in stages:

2. create a bad draft

Features of a “good” bad draft process:

• Focus only on getting ideas out

• Write in complete sentences (not phrases or lists)

• Use a tight schedule

• Avoid going off on tangents: keep a companion “idea document”

• Produce a complete draft

Strategy ThreeWrite in stages:

3. edit to final product.

Editing strategies

1. Create a schedulea. To begin, an overall schedule by sections

with some buffer time built in

b. Every week or so, create a more detailed plan for the coming short time period

May 1 – Creation of overall schedule for Sept 1 submission

Date Task to be completed on this date May 16 Finish gradingMay 30 first draft of ALI model rules and principlesJune 13 revised draft of Chapter Six, June 20 revised draft of Chapter Seven, June 27 revised draft of Chapter Nine, July 11 revised draft of Chapter One, July 25 revised draft of Chapter Four, Aug 1 revised draft of Conclusion, Aug 8 revised draft of Chapter Eight, Aug 15 revised draft of Chapter Two, Aug 23 revised draft of Chapter Three, Aug 30 revised draft of Chapter Five,

Sept. 1 submission of full revised manuscript to publisher

Deadline Task Tues, Aug. 5 preliminary review and feedback on RA’s charts

Assignment of new task to each RA

Fri, Aug 8 revised draft of Chapter Three, Addition of S R materials (Wed)Addition of board details? (Thurs)Tues, Aug 12revised draft of Chapter Eight,

Fri, Aug 15 addition of extra NM disputesDivision of chapters that need to be cut in halfAddition of end-of-century summations

Tues, Aug 19revised draft of Conclusion

Wed., Aug 20 prepare and post syllabus for seminar; reference letter for student

Fri., Aug 22 revised draft of Introduction

Tues, Aug 26full-read through; line-editing, transitional intros & conclusions between sections

Fri, Aug 29 clean up footnotes & charts

Sept. 1 submission of full revised manuscript to publisher

August 1 – detailed August schedule

Editing strategies

2. Get started by retyping the most recent draft, making changes as you go

3. At the penultimate stage:– Read aloud to yourself (Peter Elbow)– Ask others to read

*

o Re-read instructions to authors / submission procedures

o Final copy editing, reference checks

o Get institutional approvals, as needed

o Complete the submission

4. Near the end, create a “punch list”

Contact me anytime with comments or questions:

srj.susanjohnson@gmail.com

See my website for free articles and a blog focused on these topics:

www.thrivingamidstchaos.com