‘You’ve got pussyfooting from 10 to 11, shilly-shallying until 12, then hemming and hawing for the rest of the afternoon.’

Eight apparently paradoxical tips for writing more productively during the normal work

week (with less anxiety and guilt)Ruth Bridgstock

The eight apparently paradoxical tips...

1. Get too many goals2. You don’t have to do anything3. Have shorter work periods4. Don’t aim to finish it5. Schedule your play time6. Go have another coffee7. Fail often8. Feel like a fraud

Get too many goals – the principle of ‘structured procrastination’

Get some writing goals

Publish 3 kinds of things: - what I love to write - for the benefit of my field - strategically - for the A*, A outlets

1. Get too many goals

Get some advice on which goals to pursue

- finished a review for Pedagogies: An international journal - sorted out my flights to the UK in August - claimed my taxi fares from the Singapore conference - outlined a book chapter - applied for some research seeding money - did a whole bunch of reeeally boring statistical analyses - had a meeting about writing productivity - attended a development session about writing productivity - learned a new Handel aria - watched a blockbuster movie (terrible) and two episodes of ‘The West Wing’ (sublime) - went running twice - bought a pair of these

While I was procrastinating about this presentation, I:

2. You don’t HAVE to do anything

The tyranny of the shoulds:‘I should’‘I have to’‘I must’

The principle of choice... a sense of freedom‘I choose’‘I will’‘I want to’

Chunk projects into bite-sized actions

For incorrigible procrastinators: keep chunking until you get the terror down to a manageable level

When you start, aim to try the task for just 5 minutes

3. Have shorter work periods

Practice your writing every day

No binge writing!!

4. Don’t aim to finish it

Engage in task quality triageQ: does it have to be perfect? Can it be just OK? How about if it’s half-assed?Can anyone really tell the difference?

reward yourself for starting(but be careful that extrinsic rewards don’t demotivate you)

Just keep starting... ‘what can I do now?’

5. Schedule your play time

Get an ‘unschedule’Enter into an agreement with yourself to enjoy life & guilt-free play

...which will have the paradoxical effect of making you more productive at work!

6. Go have another coffee

Get a team together!

Writing productivity groups –the carrot and the stick

The motivational and educational benefits of co-authoring

Ru’s PhD writing team coffee spot is about 3 metres in this direction

7. Fail often

Wear your rejections as badges of honour

You WILL get rejected - journal acceptance rates are typically 5 – 30%

Writing is a developmental process. It’ll be a better piece of work in the end.

Dust yourself off and keep going...

NB. Sometimes you will fail at writing productively EVEN WHEN YOU USE THESE TECHNIQUES!

8. Feel like a fraud

‘Imposter syndrome’ andfaking it til you make it

Being open to new learning opportunities

Don’t let uncertainty or the fact that something’s new stop you!!

The eight apparently paradoxical tips...

1. Get too many goals2. You don’t have to do anything3. Have shorter work periods4. Don’t aim to finish it5. Schedule your play time6. Go have another coffee7. Fail often8. Feel like a fraud