Can the “nudge” strategy help you to become a more productive writer? It seems to be working in other arenas: a recent edition of the Financial Times carried an article about how the UK government’s is using such strategies to save millions of pounds and encourage desirable behavior.
For instance, requiring applicants for a driving license to state yes or no, whether or not they want to be organ donors, is expected to bring in an extra one million potential donors over the next few years (before, there was just the “yes” option and people could ignore it).
This got me to thinking how we writers could set up some nudge structures to help us writers do what we plan to do—but often don’t. Here’s the best idea I’ve come up with so far (it could work for any kind of priorities, not just writing):
- At the end of every work day, fill in a form that lists your three highest-priority tasks for the next day, in order. Below each one have a statement something like this: “I am doing this task first, as planned: YES / NO [circle one]. If not, my reason is [leave some space for you to write your reason]. When you start your next work session, fill in the form. Return to it until you have done all three or specified why you’re not doing them as planned. Repeat daily.
If there are some brief activities you need or want to do before tackling your highest priority task, list those along with a time limit and check them off.
For instance, I am allowing myself 15 minutes to scan my emails first thing to see if there’s anything really urgent I need to factor into my plan for the day. I’m also allowing myself another 15 minutes for a brief drawing exercise. I use a timer for both—otherwise it would be easy to go over the limit without thinking.
Below the third priority leave some space for notes on what worked and what didn’t work. Use this form for information-gathering as well as keeping you to your plan. Over time it may help you to see whether there are things that derail you repeatedly and to figure out how to overcome those.
I’m testing this one myself at the moment, I’ll let you know in a couple of weeks how I get on.
Why not try it, too, and let us know via the comments section how it works for you or you can email me directly at [email protected]. If you have other nudge strategies you’re using or think would be helpful, let me know those, too.
(There are lots of other innovative and effective strategies in "Focus: use the power of targeted thinking to get more done." You can get it now from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)
