Git 'Er Done!

How do you get yourself started on projects and stay motivated?

I’m curious as I struggle with this. Once I settle in and get to work I'm okay, but getting started is always tough. I am easily distracted and am the queen of waffling. In fact I could easy now go on a tangent about waffles and spend the next 20 minutes looking up waffle recipes!

I clearly need techniques to stay focused and on track. I'm slowly figuring out what works for me, I’d love to hear what works for you.

I have two techniques I’m currently using.

Technique 1 – Build Momentum Any Way I Can

I've gotten into the habit of sitting down to work with a cup of tea. The tea isn’t integral to studying or working, but making a cuppa gets me ready to work without actually doing anything too difficult. Boiling water, warming my mug, and measuring out the tea are items I can tick off my “I’m working” checklist. Much like writing “Start to-do list” at the top of your to-do list then immediately checking it off.

By the time the tea is ready I feel I’m already accomplishing things and I have momentum on my side.

This also has the power of ritual, preparing tea is becoming a cue that I am going to work now.

Technique 2 – Pomodoro

Pomodoro is a time management technique where you do work in 25 minute chunks with short breaks. The idea is that the breaks allow you to be more productive and effective than you would be working straight through.

As per Wikipedia, the six stages are:

1. Decide on the task to be done.
2. Set the pomodoro timer to n minutes (traditionally n = 25).
3. Work on the task until the timer rings. If a distraction pops into your head, write it down, but immediately get back on task.
4. After the timer rings, put a checkmark on a piece of paper.
5. If you have fewer than four checkmarks, take a short break (3–5 minutes), then go to step 1
6. Else (i.e. after four pomodoros) take a longer break (15–30 minutes), reset your checkmark count to zero, then go to step 1.

Pomodoro segments also give me a set end point, I know that I’m not sitting down indefinitely but for just shy of half an hour. For me that makes it far easier to get started. Also, the process of setting the timer is another cue stating “I am going to work now.” Although it's a very small task this too provides momentum.

I find that I usually get into work in a few minutes and when the timer goes off I’m mid-thought and don’t want to stop. Which is the perfect time to stop. This means that when I start up again in five minutes, or thirty minutes or the next day, that I am raring to go. More momentum!

The above is what is working for me right now. Do you have techniques you use to get yourself started and to keep yourself going? If so, please share in the comments. I'd love to see if I can use your ideas.

Pre-Writing is a Revelation

The first unit of the course introduces students to what technical writing is and then jumps into the good stuff – the writing process. This post will focus specifically the first step of that process, pre-writing.

I have taken a writing course previously. It focused on the writing and revision processes. Revising is a key and necessary part of writing, but it is much, much easier if you have decent material to revise, and creating that original content has always been my struggle. The course overall was helpful for my writing but didn’t deal with some of my biggest flaws as a writer.

Previously, I would do a bit of brainstorming then struggle with writing what I wanted to say. After that I would spend ages rewriting to cut out information, put ideas in order and make it flow. My writing suffered from lack of organization and too much detail, and this wouldn't be addressed until the revision stage.

The process taught in this course, specifically the first step, does address this.

The writing technique has three steps:

1.  Pre-Writing
2.  Writing
3.  Rewriting

In essence the steps are figure out what you want to write and why, write it, then go back and fix it. As mentioned above, I’ve taken a course that worked on steps two and three so I am familiar with them. Also, a large part of my role as an EA involves revising others’ work so I have spent years reorganizing, rewriting and proof reading writing from people I support.

What I haven’t worked on before is the first step: pre-writing. As I’ve worked through several assignments I’ve found pre-writing to be revolutionary in how it affects my writing.

The pre-writing process essentially boils down to the following steps:

• Determine your motivation
• Identify your audience
• Identify why are you writing – to inform, instruct, persuade, build trust, etc.
• Determine what is the best channel to share that information
• Gather your data

For this post I came up with the following:

Motivation	External – I created the blog as an assignment for my writing class
Audience	1 – Course professor – she will be grading me on my work 2 – Friends and family – I want to keep them interested and participating
Purpose for writing	To inform and spark discussion
Best Channel	Blog – as ordained by the course instructor
Gather data	Brain storming and outlining

Establishing the above helped me to clarify what I wanted to write and how. I was originally debating reviving my old triathlon blog but quickly realized it would not be the appropriate channel. I then spent time brainstorming and outlining ideas for what I wanted to write. 

Over the course of a few days I brainstormed ideas and sketched out several outlines. This process highlighted my tendency to try to cover too much information in one go. I quickly realized what I wanted to write about was too much for one post. Reflecting back on my audience I knew I wanted to encourage busy people to read and comment so I needed to keep it short and to the point.

I took the ideas I had and broke them into two parts. The first part became my introductory post I shared on Monday and the second this one. Then it was a matter of reorganizing the data for each post and, finally, sitting down to write.

Writing and revising are a lot of work, the latter can and should take the bulk of your time, but it is far easier if you go into the writing step with goals, data and direction. Pre-writing is helping me to be more organized and to the point and saves me time in the later two stages.

To my writer friends and readers – what techniques do you use to get yourself started? I’m especially curious about the data gathering process – I generally stick to brainstorming and outlining. What do you use and why?

Let's Get Started

Welcome to my new blog.

After many years out of the blogging game I am back with a new blog. "Why?" you may ask. I am taking a writing course and this is part of my homework. 

Sorry if that wasn't the inspired answer you were looking for! 

I'm not required to make the blog public but as one of my writing goals is to develop my public voice this is a great way to do it. Making a commitment to my friends that I'm going to write regularly is a way to stay on track with writing. Also, and far more importantly, I know a lot of skilled writers and I'm hoping to get your feedback on my writing and to engage in a conversation about the writing process. 

On the off-chance there are readers who don't know me, here's a bit of background on me:

• I’m an experienced senior Executive Assistant. I am taking a writing course to improve my skills for work and as an investigation into a possible future career move.
• I’m taking Communications 1811, Business, Professional and Academic Composition, as an online course through Thompson Rivers University.
• I’m an avid reader and a bit of a nerd.
• I have earned my Competent Communicator certificate from Toastmasters.
• I’m a late blooming jock. I found the joy of athletics in my 20’s with the then little known sport of ultimate, which I played, organized, and volunteered for for 14 years. 
• After ultimate I found a new love, triathlon, and have been doing that for past 11 years.
• Eight months ago I injured my ankle and have been unable to run and, more recently, do much cycling. As sport is a huge part of my social life and my identity, as well as the way I keep my mental and physical health in check, this has been quite a struggle to deal with.

Now you know a bit about me and why I'm writing this blog, but you don't know what I'm going to write about. I plan to go in two directions with this, while keeping a consistent focus on technical writing:

1. Practice
   I will be practicing the skills I learn in the units and looking for feedback and to discuss the writing process.
2. Research
   Later in the course I will be doing a research project that makes up a significant portion of my mark. I haven’t done that type of work since university and I need some practice. I will be doing research on topics of personal interest to rebuild that research muscle. 

That's a bit about me. I would love to hear from you. As mentioned above, I am hoping to leverage the knowledge and expertise of my social circle and to spark conversations with you. I'd like to ask you some questions: what you write and why? Is writing a major part of your career or your career-to-be? Are you a budding novelist or a grant write extraordinaire? Please share your answers in the comments.

Thank you for reading and for your feedback.