Psychology in Your Writing Day, Part Two
By Rusty LaGrange, High Desert Branch
We continue these tips from Part One that appeared last month.
Here are 7 ways to minimize your stress at your computer:
- Schedule all your writing tasks every day: leave plenty of blocks of time marked as “catch up” or “recovery” so that if I need to schedule a last-minute interview or deal with a late-breaking crisis, it can easily be slotted in. If your day is well scheduled and you’ve been able to accomplish at least 80 percent of the tasks you’ve set for yourself, you’re going to feel fantastic.
- Monitor your breathing while you’re working: Writing apnea is a real condition, and it makes us feel lousy. Many writers forget to breathe while they’re working and this causes their anxiety to skyrocket. Be sure to breathe while you’re working and schedule some breathing exercises throughout the day. I use an Indian flute to refocus and breathe, and native flute instrumentals for background sounds while I type.
- Transition before you stop work: Just as runners do “cool down” exercises after running, writers should send signals to their brains that work is done for the day. Design a shutdown procedure. It can be as simple as powering-down your computer. My daily shutdown involves clearing my to-do list, playing a few games on the computer, and getting something to drink or watching some TV. Finally, there is evidence that the simple job of washing your hands after work can help get rid of the day’s troubles.
- Control your email addiction: Email can take over our lives; don’t let it do that to you, especially when your workday has ended. Logging out of your office or business email account when you leave your desk will alleviate stress during your nightly break. According to experts, you should also consider checking your email only in batches.
- Get support from others: Instead of complaining, figure out potential solutions to your writing problems. Maybe you need some coaching, feedback on your writing or an accountability group. A community voice is binding in some cases.
- Forgive yourself: None of us is perfect. In fact, imperfection is the human condition. We can’t undo what’s done although we can learn from it. Instead of beating yourself up, realize you did the best you could at the time and focus on turning the page.
Life is too short to always be working, especially if you’re a writer working from home. Make some explicit decisions about how much of your time you’ll give at your keyboard and don’t feel a nanosecond of guilt for doing less.
Both Part One and Part Two of this essay first ran in the June 2019
Inkslinger, the newsletter of the High Desert Branch