Meggin McIntosh

Many people today feel pressure to be immediately responsive to every request, no matter when it is received, no matter from whom it is received, and regardless of the method it is delivered. So that you can focus and be more productive in your writing when you work at home, may I respectfully encourage you to “downshift” your responsiveness in these areas:

1.Answering the door: Just because someone is knocking on your door or ringing your doorbell does not mean you have to answer, particularly if you don’t know who the person is. This is particularly true if you are alone in your house.

2.Answering the phone: More and more, no matter how many “do not call lists” you are on, your home phone seems to be fair game for “surveys,” “checking on your satisfaction with our service,” political calls, and any number of robo-calls. It’s horrid. Either let your machine pick up, screen the calls and only pick up those from people you know, or just call back those you want to talk with. There’s no need to be like Pavlov’s dogs with the sound of a ringing phone. Many people write at home and supposedly do so because there are less distractions. Make sure you don’t allow the phone to distract you.

3.Text messaging: I think my articles are read by adults, so I will be hopeful that you are not texting all day everyday (because if you are, your writing agenda is sorely behind!) However, even though text messages can be incredible convenient and offer opportunities for real-time problem solving, they can also be a major distractor and detractor for productivity. Downshift your responsiveness on texting, as appropriate.

4.Friend (or connection) requests on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter (or other Social Media): That’s all I’m going to say. It’s not urgent and it’s not important. Get to it when you get to it.

5.Face to face requests from people in your family: If you “hop to” any request, no matter how minor and no matter what else you are engaged in at the time, begin to downshift your responsiveness. You are not anyone’s servant nor at anyone’s beck and call. Be reasonably responsive to reasonable requests.

That last sentence applies for all of these. Be reasonably responsive to reasonable requests. If someone makes an unreasonable request, well, then I would carefully consider any response to that request.

If you will downshift your responsiveness in the five areas I have listed above, you can “upshift” your responsiveness and productivity as it relates to writing. And isn’t that what you want?

And for hundreds of sets of Top Ten Productivity Tips like these – with a whole series dedicated to writers – you’re invited to join others around the globe who subscribe (free) to one of the Top Ten Productivity Tips series (info to be found at):

** http://TopTenProductivityTips.com

(c) 2011 Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D. | The Ph.D. of Productivity(tm) | http://www.meggin.com

Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D. works with smart people who want to consistently keep their emphasis on excellence.

• Do you feel overwhelmed when you look at your calendar?
• Is there a sense of despair when you think about your schedule and your to-do list?
• Are you announcing to the Universe that you have no more room for opportunities?
• Are you ready for a sense of control over your schedule and your to-do’s?

I have spent over 20 years teaching and learning about planners and on Thursday October 6, 2011, I will be teaching a webinar called *Creating Grace, Space, & Pace with Your Own ‘Just Whelmed’ Calendar.*

Here’s where to learn more and register:

http://www.justwhelmed.com/JWCalendar.php

(c) 2011 Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D. | The Ph.D. of Productivity(tm) | http://meggin.com

Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D. works with smart people who want to consistently keep their emphasis on excellence.

Once you discover mindmapping – and really give it time and an opportunity to become your new default – you will wonder why you ever used an outline (at least once you got out of high school where outlines may have been required). I am not anti-outline just like I’m not anti-Compaq computers (the old luggable kind like I used to have). It’s just that once you know there is something better, why go back to a less effective and efficient tool?

Here are five reasons why mindmapping will serve you well in your writing.

1. When you are working with a partner on a project, a mindmap lends itself to collaboration more than an outline does. This is true whether you are working side by side or virtually. Generally, if you are working virtually, you will want to test out one of the web-based/cloud-based solutions for mindmapping (and there are many).
2. Mindmapping helps you make connections that you would be less likely to make if you were just making a list or outlining. Just as your brain makes linkages between and among ideas – often when you are not even trying – viewing a mindmap provides that opportunity as well. If you are writing a book or article and just can’t seem to make some elusive connection, see if a mindmap will make a difference for you. Create your mindmap and then spend some time just looking at it and seeing what you see, without preconceived notions about what you will see.
3. Most mindmaps can fit on one sheet of paper. So rather than shuffling through reams of outlines, you can consolidate your thoughts – even for a whole book – on one page. You are certainly welcome to have many pages, but it is not necessary.
4. Mindmaps can be adapted to be playful or serious, depending on your needs. Let your mindmaps reflect your writing personality and style. Adapt them when you are working on different projects. You’re not turning in your mindmaps to anyone (unless you have an editor who loves to also see that aspect of a work in progress). Your mindmap is for you to use so you can write more fluently and cohesively.
5. Mindmaps are an excellent way to get “unstuck.” We all hit a writing wall sometimes and if you will just recognize that, get out a fresh paper or the mindmap for the project you’re working on and start extending it and seeing the connections that are there, you will get unstuck. It works for me every time.

If you haven’t tried mindmapping yet, I hope you will. Even if you think outlining works great for you, live it up! Try a mindmap (or two or three or twelve). It can’t hurt. I think you’ll become a believer, like me!

And for scores of sets of Productivity Tips for Writers like these, you’re invited to join others around the globe who subscribe (free) to one of the Top Ten Productivity Tips series (info to be found at):

** http://TopTenProductivityTips.com

(c) 2011 Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D. | The Ph.D. of Productivity(tm) | http://meggin.com

Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D. works with smart people who want to consistently keep their emphasis on excellence.

Writing is not a one-step process. It not only has many steps but the steps – really phases – are recursive. You start to compose and then you decide you need to do some additional research. Then you compose some more and decide you need to start “fixing” some of your writing, and then…well. You know how this goes. In general, this is an inefficient and reasonably unproductive way to get your writing done. Let me share five ways to help you be more productive in your writing process, particularly focusing on the editing and revising portions. Note: Although editing and revising are somewhat different aspects, we will consider them together for this article especially because they are separate from the ‘creating/composing’ part of writing.

1. Separate editing and composing. These two processes use different parts of our brains and when we try to write (compose) and then edit what we’ve written and then write some more and edit that, we end up producing very little and we feel frustrated with the overall process. Keep these two phases separated.

2. Read out loud. It is amazing how we can catch errors and other problems in our writing when we read it out loud. So during your editing/revising time, just read what you have written out loud.

3. Read backwards. When you are doing copy editing and in particular looking for typos or other misspellings, start at the end of your document and read forwards. You can’t build any momentum this way because the syntax isn’t helping. You are able to just focus on copy editing (spelling, punctuation, etc.)

4. Don’t use words you can’t define. Since I have taught elementary school, high school, undergraduates, and graduate students (and also help professors with their writing), I know that we all have a temptation to sound smart. Let us agree that we are smart. Then, let’s be smart about using words that we know the meanings for. We run the risk of using a word incorrectly (no considering its connotation, for example) if we are not truly familiar with the word and what it means. So, keep expanding your vocabulary, but be careful about using words in your writing that you cannot easily define. During your editing and revising portions, ask yourself if you can define all the words you’ve used. If the answer is no, then remove them and find alternatives.

5. Separate editing and composing. I know I mentioned this one before but I have to mention it again. So many writers are not tapping into their brains efficiently. You need to have days (or times) that are just for composing. You generate ideas and just go with the flow, not stopping or “fixing.” Then, you have other times where you are only editing and revising. Start getting in this habit today.

You probably have some writing you need to edit. See if you can apply one of these ideas immediately. Once these suggestions have become habits, then you’ll really see your writing productivity soar.

And for scores of sets of Top Ten Productivity Tips for Writers, you’re invited to join others around the globe who subscribe (free) to the Top Ten Productivity Tips for Writers: http://TopTenProductivityTipsforWriters.com.

(c) 2011 Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D. | The Ph.D. of Productivity(tm) | http://www.meggin.com

Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D. works with smart people who want to consistently keep their emphasis on excellence.

We all have daily rhythms and we also have weekly and monthly rhythms. It is worth paying attention to all of them. Here are four ideas for acknowledging and using your rhythms so you can be productive in your writing.

1.Early morning. Many people find this to be the very best time to write because the muddle of the day has not started yet. If this is your best time, then schedule it so you have it right there waiting for you. Sharon O’Brien said, “Writing became such a process of discovery that I couldn’t wait to get to work in the morning: I wanted to know what I was going to say.” What a fabulous mindset to have!

2.Late at night. The nightowl writer is the one who loves it when the house is quiet and all the rest of the world is asleep – and then can write uninterrupted and unimpeded. For some, this is the rhythm that they need to capitalize on. For some people the nighttime writing is not planned but is the result of what Carrie Latet describes: “If I’m trying to sleep, the ideas won’t stop. If I’m trying to write, there appears a barren nothingness.”

3.At lunch time. “Found” time is a fine time to write. If you wrote even 30 minutes of every lunch time for 5 days, that’s 2 1/2 hours of writing a week. You can get a lot of words written during that time. You can write at your desk or better yet, get out of your regular “work” place and write outside, in the car, in another room, or a place that let’s you know you are taking a (needed) break from your other work to write.

4.Special times that you protect for yourself on the weekends or certain workdays. Even though the wise writers don’t try to hold all their writing to do during “blocks of time,” because those too rarely show up, we can create some special spaces for writing. You can decide that Saturday mornings are special writing times for you or Tuesday afternoons, or any other time that you can look ahead, block out and decide to protect…just for writing. More of this is under you control than you may have been acknowledging.

Note: Acknowledging your rhythms does not mean excusing yourself from writing at other times, i.e., if writing is a goal for you. And I’m assuming that since you chose to read this article that writing is a goal of yours.

And for scores of weekly Top Ten Productivity Tips for Writers like these, you’re invited to join others around the globe who subscribe (free) to one of the Top Ten Productivity Tips series (info to be found at):

** http://TopTenProductivityTips.com/

(c) 2011 Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D. | The Ph.D. of Productivity(tm) | http://www.meggin.com

Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D. works with smart people who want to consistently keep their emphasis on excellence.

Do you need solitude or solidarity when you write? You might answer one way today and a different way some other time. There is not one right answer. It depends on you and it depends on your writing project. Here are a four tactics to help you get your writing done – in a timely fashion!

1. Get a room. Rather than what you might think, the idea here is that you get a hotel room (or reserve a room at your local library, civic center, or any other place that has rooms for ‘rent’ or just by request. Often, being in a room where there are NO distractions other than your cuticles is a great way to get major writing projects completed. I often worried that when I was writing my dissertation I might have to spend the last bit of my student loan on hotel rooms just so I could get finished! Part of what is wonderful about one of these reserved rooms (hotel or otherwise) is that you can spread out your materials and no one complains or tries to move it.

2. Have multiple writing projects. This way, if you are not in the mood for one writing task or project, you might be in the mood for another one. Generally, most of us don’t just have one outfit to wear because there are days that call for one look and days that we’re in the mood for another. Take that idea to your writing: When you have a variety of different pieces of writing that are in process, you can make decisions about what you want to work on depending on your mood, the amount of time you have to devote to the task, the level of distraction you’re dealing with, or what your passion is right now. The main idea for writers is to keep writing no matter what. Having myriad options helps us stay fresh instead of frozen when presented with today’s writing time.

3. Channel your inner writer or channel someone else. Some days, you have nothing to say – or at least you have nothing to say that sounds very good. On these days, ‘channel’ the inner writer who has secret, special things to say – or channel someone else’s writer. Imagine you are ______ and say what s/he would say. Write what s/he would write.

4. Join a writer’s group. You can check sources for ones that are in your area, form your own group, or become part of the community of writers who congregate virtually. Two excellent resources for the latter are Gina Hiatt’s group (www.AcademicLadder.com) and Kerry Ann Rockquemore’s group (www.BlackAcademic.com).

Hey, we’re all in this together, right? If you would like to get inspiration, direction, and structure for your writing, join us for the upcoming tele-workshop & coaching event, “30 Articles in Just 30 Days.” Here’s where you can learn all the scoop:

** http://30articlesinjust30days.com/

You will see what others who have participated in previous events have to say. Check it out!

(c) 2011 by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D., “The Ph.D. of Productivity”(tm). Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh works with bright people who want to be more productive so that they can consistently keep their emphasis on excellence.

If you are a speaker, writer, consultant, entrepreneur, teacher, professor, or any other profession where generating ideas is valued (and is required), you might have asked a question similar to the one asked recently on my blog:

I am in awe of your output. You are constantly generating something! How do you do it? I want to create my own version of the Top 10 but am nervous that it will quickly overwhelm me.

My response includes a thank you, first of all…and then some answers:

I always have a place to write down ideas and I keep an ‘idea’ folder. It’s brimming…but I keep adding. I go through it about once a week or at least 2 – 3 times per month. Partly I look through it just to see if there is anything there that is ready for me to put into action – or to dump the idea because it was not a good one to begin with or at least not for me. The reason I keep things in a folder is because I can make myself crazy if all those ideas are just floating around and bonking me in the head saying, “Why haven’t you done me yet?”

I use down time (waiting in doctor’s offices, sitting at the airport, watching TV with my husband…things I’m not really watching but want to be with him) and generate ideas. When my brain is just wandering around and not engaged in something else, it’s a perfect time for me to let it roam around and see what it can come up with.

I know that most ideas need to be started but not brought to completion all in one fell swoop. The Top Ten Productivity Tips (see more info below) are a perfect example. I first generated a whole slew of categories on 3 x 5 index cards. Then I created an Excel spread sheet and put down tips for each idea (but not necessarily 10). Then I took the row of ideas and put it into a word document and would keep fleshing it out. I also had a wonderful assistant at that time who I could send things to…. “Sue, help! I have 7 ideas on this and need some more.” She LOVED it and was very good at that. So I had to get over the ‘it must be perfect before I send it to Sue’ syndrome. Never easy.

Divide bigger projects into smaller ones. For the book idea I’m working on, I’m dividing it into little bits and pieces. And just like I’ve written over 250 articles for EzineArticles in the last 2 ½ months (500 – 1000 words each) I need to break my book into 500 word bits to work on.

One last piece of advice, if you are going to do a Top Ten (which I recommend by the way), get an inventory of content generated BEFORE you advertise it. I did that for Top Ten Productivity Tips and Keeping Chaos at Bay…but didn’t for Just Whelmed and have managed to get myself WAY behind (yes, overwhelmed) with it….

Your brain wants to generate ideas for you. Just let it and it will create more possibilities for content than you can ever use. I know this for sure!

Keep moving forward on your goals for more peaceful productivity. Join others (worldwide) who receive Meggin’s weekly emails (and see what is available for download at no cost at the following websites):

Top Ten Productivity Tips (http://www.TopTenProductivityTips.com)

Keys to Keeping Chaos at Bay (http://www.KeepingChaosatBay.com)

(c) 2011 by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D., “The Ph.D. of Productivity”(tm). Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh changes what people know, feel, dream, and do. Sound interesting? It is!

Writing has many phases. Thus, capturing your ideas, both the good and the not-so-good ones, is part of the process. Here are three ideas to get and keep your flow going so that you postpone your procrastination. There’s always time for that later…

1. Open a document.

Whether it is a document on your computer or a physical document that you have in a real folder (imagine that!) or however you perceive of the document on which you need to be working…open it. It is difficult to write without having a document open and ready for our words.

Stop procrastinating and open a document and see what happens. It might be quite productive! Really, this is the first idea and it’s kind of surprising how many writing procrastinators don’t get started with this.

2. Open your brain so there is flow.

Our brains can be our very best friends when we write or they can really seem to get in the way. If your brain is somewhat dammed up, then you need to get it moving again.

Just sit and envision your brain like a dam that is either overflowing or better yet, that has been opened to allow for a controlled flow. In your case, you are allowing ideas, thoughts, words, directions, structures, and concepts to flow through. There’s no blockage, only flow.

3. Always capture ideas.

Great ideas can come to us at any time – and that is usually when they arrive. Any ol’ time. In a meeting (that of course, is not about writing); sitting and waiting for the campus shuttle; while you are at a ball game; in the middle of writing about something else; while grading papers, and so on.

Never let an idea slip away. Keep tools available so you can jot down these random thoughts and ideas. When the idea occurs to you, there is no way for you to know if the idea will be good idea or not so great. You can make that determination later.

The main idea here is that you capture any and all ideas related to your writing, whenever they show up. As Peg Bracken reflects:

“Every idea is my last. I feel sure of it. So, I try to do the best with each as it comes and that’s where my responsibility ends. But I just don’t wait for ideas. I look for them. Constantly. And if I don’t use the ideas that I find, they’re going to quit showing up.”

You aren’t lacking for ideas. Allow them to be there for you so you can postpone your writing procrastination.

To access the Get a Plan! Guide™ to Postponing Writing Procrastination – with a cool mini-poster to help you remember 15 different tips for putting off your writing procrastination, just go http://www.GetaPlanGuides.com. You might even get there in time for the birthday special!

© 2011 Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D. (who is also known as “The Ph.D. of Productivity™”) is happy that most of the time, she postpones her writing procrastination using as many tricks of the trade for doing so as she possibly can. You can check out her overall productivity by going to http://www.meggin.com.

If you are a writer, speaker, trainer, or really, have any other kind of job or avocation, you have content that you can access for your writing, speaking, and so forth. One of the many ways to generate new content, however, that is related to your areas of interest and expertise is to interview others. Once you have done that, you have a wealth of material to share with others – for free or for a fee.

If you are wondering, should I interview others, my answer is a resounding, “Yes!”

To answer the WHO? question, consider individuals from these categories as resources (depending on your purpose):

• Children and young adults
• Former students
• Former teachers
• Teachers
• Administrators
• Former clients
• Organized people
• Disorganized people
• People you would like to have as clients
• People you know and would love to learn from
• People you have never met but would love to learn from
• Folks in crisisFolks who seem to have it all together
• Authors
• Speakers

And the list continues on and on….

The idea here is that, depending on what you want to learn, you can interview anyone. All you have to do is ask. Most people are willing to be interviewed, because most of us love to be asked for our opinions, knowledge, ideas, how-we-did-its, etc.

To answer the HOW? question, here are some suggestions:

Figure out what you want to know (and you don’t even have to know for sure what you’re going to do with the information).

Determine who would be able to help you know what you want to know.

Ask the person or persons if you may schedule a time for an interview. It might be face to face or on the phone. It could also be an email interview, although generally, I prefer some voice contact because you can read (actually hear) so much when you have the voice, too, not just the words. But be flexible if the other person prefers email. They are doing you a favor so make it as easy as possible.

If you’re interviewing on the phone and want to record the call, there is equipment you can purchase for that, however there are services that provide that as well. The nice thing about recording the interview is that you do have it to use later for reference, or potentially as a “product” (as long as the other person is fine with that–and can use it as a product, too).

To answer the WHY? question would take many articles, but are four reasons:

You gain information you wouldn’t have otherwise.

You make connections with others through your interview that you might not have made connections with (or at least this type of connection) if you hadn’t asked to interview him/her.

You have information to freshen up and/or extend your knowledge that you can share with others.

You can turn the interviews into ‘products’ of different types, e.g., MP3 downloads, CDs, Special Reports, and the like.

It’s easy to find people to interview and to capture that interview. Who are you going to call or email today to ask? Why wait?!

And, to make sure you are productive in your personal and professional life, you’ll want to access the resources at

** http://www.TopTenProductivityTips.com

(c) 2011 by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D., “The Ph.D. of Productivity”(tm)

Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh changes what people know, feel, dream, and do via seminars, workshops, writing, coaching, & consulting.

If you’ve ever heard, “I make sure I write at least 1000 words (or other amount) each day” or the statement, “I write from 8 to noon (or some specified time) each day” – and wondered if this is good advice, consider this:

There is no absolute. This is a matter of style (as well as being conditional on a number of other factors). With that being said, there is wisdom in specifying the time you will write or the number of words you will write. One is not better than the other, but having a specific goal is important. Note that I said, “specific goal.” It is more attainable (because it is more tangible) to work toward a particular number of words or to write for a particular amount of time than it is to have as a goal, “I will have this section of my article (dissertation, precis) written today. That’s too ‘fuzzy.’

Now, what about getting distracted when you write? Has that every come into play for you? Maybe you have found (or believe) that you can write for 15 minutes (maybe) before you have to switch focus. It is possible that you have noticed that email is the usual way you switch focus! It’s possible that you tell yourself, “Yikes. This is not good to be doing. Maybe I need to find a new way to switch focus, even for a couple minutes, and then get back to writing. Maybe I should be getting up and walking around for a few minutes…or what about switching my focus to another writing project? Or wait, I know, maybe I should just move away from the keyboard, take pencil and paper, and write down ideas?”

Believe me, not only have I heard these conversations from others, I have had them in my own head. Here are four tips to assist you:

1. Turn off your email altogether. Email has made all of us highly distractible and we have to be diligent about avoiding that self-distraction.

2.If necessary, log out and/or disconnect from internet access. For example, think about the times when you have taken your laptop somewhere that doesn’t have internet access or it’s too much of a pain to hook it up – and so you know how uncomfortable (and sometimes panicked) we feel. This gives you a sense of the need to break our addiction to distracting ourselves with email (and believe me, I am HIGHLY familiar with this one personally).

3. Begin to work up from 15 minutes of uninterrupted writing time to 20 minutes over the period of a week. Then the next week, go to 25 minutes, and so on until you can work uninterrupted for, say, 45 or 50 minutes (which is long enough. After that, most people need to – and should – get up, stretch, go to the bathroom, and get a drink of water). To help facilitate your increase in focused time, use a timer that is set for 15 minutes one day then 16 the next and so on. Just make it a little game and sure enough…you can do it!

4. Break your writing down into smaller pieces – e.g., writing 5 tips for ____ and then working just on explain one of the tips at one sitting – is another way to get your writing moving forward even though you are doing it in 15, 20, or 25 minute spurts.

You’re smart. You’re educated. You’re committed to reaching your goals. I know you can set goals for writing and keep yourself focused long enough to reach them. Prove me right!

And, to make sure you are productive in your personal and professional life, you’ll want to access the resources at http://www.TopTenProductivityTips.com

(c) 2011 by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D., “The Ph.D. of Productivity”(tm)

Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh changes what people know, feel, dream, and do via seminars, workshops, writing, coaching, & consulting.