I have a bunch of things that I need to focus on, that take mindshare, every day.
Writing, of course. Since I am more focused on reaching a certain word count goal every day/week, it takes up more focus than it used to.
Publishing. And by that I mean all the parts of the business. Continuing to do the productivity planning has really helped me feel a lot more satisfied with what I achieve. On the other hand, I am spending every day planning, making sure that I have my priorities set straight. This takes more mindshare and focus.
Physical stuff. I’m still working with a Nerd Fitness coach. This means having to check in every day, recording the physical workouts, etc.
Kind of on a par with that is PT. I do PT exercises every day, twice a day, and that takes some focus as well.
Then there’s the anthology workshop. I’m one of the editors this year. What it means is that I get to read everyone’s stories ahead of time. While having more time is lovely, I also need to be able to make coherent comments on every story. I do not know how many stories we’ll have this year – 270, perhaps. I’m reading a set number of stories every day. Again, focus and mindshare.
Eventually, I start running out of focus and mindshare. Particularly since I haven’t been taking scheduled time off. It’s taking more effort to focus than it used to.
I have never considered myself a disciplined person. Yes, I do a lot, but mostly that is because I’ve built strong habits. Because I feel as though I have been spending my focus, I’m having to use more discipline to get things done than normal.
Or maybe I’m just tired and need more time off.
I remember a poster from the 80s that said something like, Being a writer is the only job where you can still be working while staring out the window.
I’ve come to realize that I need more of that staring out the window time. Unstructured quite thinking time. Not goofing off. Giving my brain a rest.
I’m kind of excited about “no business Fridays”. I’m planning on going to a coffee shop this Friday and sitting and reading (probably for the anthology workshop) but also staring out the window a bunch.
I’ve actually done that some while I’ve been here in Seattle, spent time just looking out. I’ve needed it more than I realized.
I’m in the process of pushing out more publishing work to a wonderful VA. Not so that I can do more, but so that I’ll have more time to stare out the window.
So how do you recover after a bunch of focus, mindshare, and discipline? How do you take time off to rest your brain?