Unproductive activity

I read a great post on how to avoid getting drawn into activity with no positive outcome and it reminded me of the workplace and how sometimes I used to come away from meetings about meetings and wonder what the point of the meeting actually was.

Of course, it wasn't always easy to establish at first whether any value was being added, so you ride along on the wave of collaboration and innovation and enthuse with everyone around the table, but that's the important question you have to ask yourself - not just in your professional life, but also in your writing life - is this discussion / activity adding any value to the overall goals of the project?

The point at the end of the article was very useful to decipher the answer - knowing the difference between a direct request to follow through on and leaving the suggestions to one side.

Applying this to your writing life then, the obvious distraction (especially if you're freelancing from your home office) is the tele - and I'm as guilty as the next! Seriously though, does it add value to the writing work you're doing at the moment? If not, have the discipline to switch it off.

Also, being my own worst enemy, I'm terrible for making lists of things I could do to improve my website, my blog, advertising, marketing, writing ideas... Whilst these lists are all well and good and harmless in themselves, if I haven't defined any clear targets to get me to the point I want to be at, this is unproductive activity.

I've been putting this theory to the test for the past week. Getting back into my studies, I was studying a certain way but it was long winded and time consuming (and not adding any extra value), so I've revised what I'm doing and now it's much more effective. I don't feel I'm missing out and I'm moving through the modules a lot faster.

Don't be afraid to review how you're working and have the courage it strip it back.