Organization is the key to productivity

If you author or write for more than one blog or website you may have run into the this issue. Even with a stack of ideas for each and every project you are associated with, one or more of those projects simply does not get attended to in a timely manner or it gets overlooked completely.  Worse yet is the possibility that you will miss a topic that has relevance today, but will be overlooked tomorrow because someone else has beaten you to the punch and released the same information before you had the chance to do so.  Any of these things happening can lead to some very real frustration.

Generally a gap in content production isn’t due to any lack of passion for the topic. After all, most people never would have started writing about something that they weren’t interested in. Occasionally you will discover that you’ve lost the desire to write on a certain subject matter any longer but most often this type of gap in productivity is caused by organizational issues. By attempting to just “wing it” on a writing schedule or trying to handle too many things at one time, you are setting yourself up for a less than stellar experience and most likely a lot of wasted effort.

Lapses in writing can also be caused by this thing I like to call “Life”.  Even if, like me, you make your sole income from blogging or writing for the web, there are simply going to be days when you can’t make it to the computer to do anything.  Children, family issues, appointments, a sick dog, car troubles and any number of other interruptions can halt your day at the keyboard.  These are facts of life and you have to roll with them.

More important than the things that can stop you from writing is how you actually manage your time when you are writing.  Do you have a posting schedule or are you content to simply post frequently?  Do you participate in blogging events that release posts on specific days or simply write as you can, getting information or opinion out as soon as the mood strikes you?  Are you only writing for one blog while producing a ton of content for online writing services, or are you writing for a number of blogs, all of which demand your attention on a day-to-day basis?  These questions need to be answered if you are going to effectively manage your time, and in turn keep your visitors returning and new visitors arriving.

What organizational method is right for me?

Unfortunately, there is no one method that works for everyone.  If there were the world would have a much larger number of very prolific writers.  For some people just setting up a to-do list or a set of calendar reminders is a more than adequate method of making sure everything gets completed on time.  Then there are those people I call “Post-It-Note Ranchers”  Their lives revolve around a collection of sticky notes that reminds them of what to do next. Still others work with folders, index cards or notepads.  The methods depend on what works for the individual, and none are right or wrong, just incorrect matches for the person that can’t seem to make them work.

Generally speaking, a completely creative personality will work better with a visual organizational system.  Things are arranged and stored for this type of person in a way that holds a very vivid visual cue as to what is supposed to be in any given place.  Color coding is a great way for the creative personality to get a grip on their organizational skills, even down to color-coding days of the week on a calendar so that just a glance will let them know what’s on the agenda for that day.

A completely analytical personality will tend to prefer a system in which everything is filed away neatly so that they can simply reach for it or open the proper document when necessary.  Closed and labeled files, neat stacks of papers and a variety of lists and to-do entries are what this type of person craves.  “A place for everything and everything in its place”is the rule here, and systems that focus on order will lead to a great boost in productivity.

Unfortunately most of us fall somewhere in-between completely creative and completely analytic, and our methods reflect this. Both my wife and I are creative people, but we have completely different needs when it comes to organizing our workspaces.  To further the confusion, the methods that will work for you are probably going to be different than the systems that we have in place, but I’ll go over ours briefly.

My wife works well in controlled chaos.  She thrives amid stacks of papers and books in a world where no flat surface is free of something.  Everything is within reach and she knows exactly where everything is, though it would be a miracle if someone else could find it.  Her workspace is an explosion of colors, textures and knick-knacks that she loves. Her electronic filing methods are much the same, with many different project documents in the same folders and an email inbox that contains thousands upon thousands of emails.  To her this is inspiring.  It fuels her creative side and keeps her content, so for her, it’s the perfect system.

On the other hand, I thrive in a workspace that is neatly arranged. I’m a compulsive filer, each project rests happily in its own folder, I prefer my desktop clear of anything that is unrelated to the project I am currently working on in order to avoid distraction and the only decorative items in my workspace are photos of my family and a few small gifts that my children have given me over the years.  My electronic methods mirror this, with each project in its own folder and all of those folders arranged in a hierarchy that I can manage easily.  My schedules and due dates are kept in my email suite (kontact, in my case, but I will probably switch to Entourage when I finally get my Mac. for Windows users, don’t overlook Outlook!) These methods keep me going, along with a  lot of very strong coffee and some loud music.

What works for you is a matter of trial and error, so don’t be afraid to experiment!

What does organizing my workspace have to do with managing my writing schedule?

Having your workspace organized is a key component in getting work done effectively.  If you are constantly hunting for a piece of research or fishing around for a pen, you’re wasting valuable time.  If you have no set method for getting that next post out or any way to remember which blog you need to update next, you’ll find that things get left by the wayside.

As an illustration of my point, I’ll describe the method I’ve begun using to manage my blog writing schedule:

In the past I’ve tried to-do lists, task schedulers and calanders marking which blog needed to be updated on a certain day.  Enter life, and I find that there is a day in which nothing got updated.  According to a daily update list, I should just forget what I was going to do and move on to the next calendar day.  Unfortunately this means that I have several days between posts, or that my posting schedule is completely inconsistent.  This bothers me, which leaves me working to try to get more posts out in one day than I can manage without a great amount of stress, and those posts are not up to my normal standards.  They feel hurried, rushed and unpolished.

Once I conceded that a day-by day schedule was not going to work for me, I decided to apply a system that does.  I use a virtual adaptation of a rotating action folder system.  In this type of system, all projects are in their own folder.  Those folders sit in order of importance at or near the workstation and are done in turn.  When one item is completed it is moved to the back and the next folder in the group is tackled.  This process simply continues until you’ve gone through everything and the folder that you started with is at the front of the line again.

That is a simplistic overview, of course.  There are times when a folder in the middle has to be given attention, but if that is the case it goes right back in the middle of the stack, not to the end. In this way you ensure that everything remains equal and that all projects get the attention they deserve.

I apply this method to my blogging schedule by having one instance of firefox open at all times with tabs for each one of my blogs open.  I do not surf in this window, it is intended for writing only.  I look things up in a different window.  Since firefox allows for reordering tabs, I simply start writing on the first tab that is open, then drag it to the back when I’ve done a post for that blog, then move on to the next one.

The result is that I produce more content of consistent quality and remain focused on the topic at hand without worrying that I’ve forgotten something.  I may not always have posts out on specific days, but they are posted on a regular basis which readers like and I am comfortable with.  If I have a flash of inspiration for an article on a different blog or at one of the other services that I write for, I just jump over to that tab and jot a quick draft, save it and go back to what is at the front.

In conclusion

Once you’ve found a system that works for you, don’t let it fade away.  Take a few minutes at the end of each writing session to get things back in order.  When you’re done with one subject, make sure that evreything is ready for the next one.  It may seem like you’re adding senseless steps into the writing process, but in actuallity you’re setting yourself up for a more successful experioence in the long run.

Popularity: 1% [?]