Organization Turns Your Techno-Procrastinator Into A Productive Writer
Creating More organization as a writer is not the sign of a sick mind but a mastermind. The right brain life is not orderly but the right brain branding lifestyle demands that you be better, do more, and become more. So preserve your right to live creatively but stay open minded to change that can improve your life and provide a happier ride.
If you had to evacuate from your house, what treasured valuables would you take? What would you risk leaving behind? I've been fortunate, compared to many who have suffered from recent thunderstorm and tornado outbreaks. In the past, a hurricane forced me to walk away from where I live, uncertain of the destruction I’d find upon returning. Organization may not help in the moments before a tornado but if you have time, it does make it easier to scoop up the most crucial business material that would keep you functioning, if the worse case scenario happened. Better to invest in the effort when you're not under pressure, especially life and death kind.
Organization is not a popular word in an artist’s vocabulary. The consistent stream of ideas in the creative process depends on a certain amount of helter skelter. But I wanted to begin each day with a clear desk and after two weeks, I can still see most of both desks in my office. Baby steps....
Say goodbye to the past, hello future. Forget details and structure, a left brain task. Instead, you're cleansing your life of extra baggage to make room for the new. Focus, discipline, and consistency is a struggle for the creative mind. But we can be diligent too.
Here are 5 tactics to help you gain balance between chaotic and structured:
1. Don’t Chase Information. Choose Carefully – There’s an overload of info in cyberspace. Don’t feel like you have to gobble up each offer that streams across your consciousness. Be selective and choose only programs that apply to what you’re working on now. Think of it as reverse target marketing. Determine what niche will provide you with the knowledge necessary to accomplish your mission. Participate in what you have the capacity to handle now, no matter how good the opportunity is.
2. Learn 1 thing at a time – I believe in multi-tasking but with blogs, ebooks, article marketing, social media, and emarketing, what’s a techno procrastinating artist to do? Decide what tasks you enjoy, not what the “experts” tell you to do. Internet strategies are a process that is never complete, a challenge that is never mastered. So if you’re forcing yourself to do what others are, you’ll be unhappy and not follow through. Figure out what you can complete the fastest, on a consistent schedule with profitable results.
3. Narrow Your Niche: Widen Your Wealth – I know the artistic mindset, challenges, and desires. Find the audience that you relate to, understand and empathize with. Your message and mission sharpen and become clearer when you see through your market’s vision.
4. Resolve To File Or Toss - Start with the biggest pile of papers, notes and articles that are hogging your desk. Gather a stack of empty folders and markers. You can use colored file folders or different shades of pens. I chose plain and primitive with makeshift cardboard tabs, mostly cream folders, and black ink.
I have a folder for each of my blogs with notes for future posts and strategies, one for article ideas, current book projects, poetry, social media, and video. All are divided into sub categories. I also have a multitude of other business files in that cabinet, a separate drawer for fiction writing and personal information. I still search for items. Only now, it’s because the papers are tucked away in a labeled folder, rather than piled on my desk :)
5. Avoid having miscellaneous papers lying around - With this system, as you read and collect information, you recognize which part of your business it applies to, so you can stash it in the appropriate folder. For example, it’s time to write a blog post. You take out that folder filled with ideas and pick one. When it’s complete, transfer those notes into the completed posts folder and file both away until next time. Move onto the next task. Resist putting any piece of paper into a folder because you don’t know what to do with it. Resolve to devise a plan for each item you pick up or toss it. Then pull out the folders you’re working on and return them when finished.
Part of an artist’s creativity may feed on disorder but the entrepreneur in you requires a healthy dose of productivity. Give these 5 tactics a try. Organization gives you the freedom to Create More ideas and the time to turn them into reality.
How do you find balance between right and left-brain tasks? What method do you use to organize the continuous flow of ideas for future projects? Please share in the comments below!