Comments on: Increase Productivity by Decreasing Distractions

By: Dealing With Distractions | Inkthinker

Dealing With Distractions | Inkthinker — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 19:46:35 +0000

[...] "Increase Productivity by Decreasing Distractions," she links to good old Chris Garrett and offers some great advice of her [...]

By: Freelance Writing Jobs » Blog Archive » How to Keep a Bad Day for Becoming a Distraction

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 19:15:44 +0000

[...] thing about distractions is they get worse if you don’t nip them in the bud. It’s better to miss an hour or two of work [...]

By: Sue

Sue — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:06:00 +0000

I turn off my phone if I don’t want to be disturbed. And since my desktop isn’t wireless, I’ll unplug the ethernet connection if I don’t want to be tempted to procrastinate on-line while writing.

A comment about the social networking. Facebook isn’t just for college kids anymore. It’s becoming more popular with adults. Almost all of my “friends” are fellow writers, and it gives us a chance to know each other and have some fun. I’m also on LinkedIn. I search my contacts’ contacts for potential sources.

By: Ann G.

Ann G. — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:58:34 +0000

Email for me isn’t something I can shut off. I teach an online class in the day and my “office hours” are from 8am to noon, so I have to continually check emails for student questions during that time frame.

I’m swamped this week with work, so I have had to keep my Trillion Messenger off. Usually, I keep it on to talk to my younger brother. His wife walked out on him a year ago, right after she started frequenting the area NanoWriMo write-ins, which cracks me up because she never wrote more than 5,000 words. The divorce has finalized now, but he still has days when it gets to him.

By: Chris Garrett

Chris Garrett — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 12:52:50 +0000

Thanks for the link Deb

@Chandra – That you will find was a different Chris Garrett, I haven’t had any gigs listed for months.

By: Chryselle

Chryselle — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 12:27:35 +0000

I think I need to eliminate the Internet…that might be the only way to get any work done

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 12:08:36 +0000

Matt,

You may want to check out LinkedIn. It’s more business/professional oriented than FaceBook (more geared for a college and just-graduated crowd), though some others on this board may have found differently.

By: moonslice/Peggy

moonslice/Peggy — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 05:23:19 +0000

Christmas is a major distraction for me right now. Good thing it’s only once a year.

The biggest problem I have is sleeping too late. But then, I stay up late too. Maybe I just THINK this is a problem because it’s frowned upon to sleep late. Perhaps I should start an experiment where I keep track of what I get down on an early-waking schedule vs. a sleeping-late schedule.

By: Matt R

Matt R — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 04:30:53 +0000

I need to check out these social networking sites. Any good suggestions of ones to begin at? I assume you aren’t speaking of Myspace or Facebook

By: Chandra

Chandra — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 03:59:01 +0000

The column in question does contain good advice, which is actually a bit shocking to me coming from Garrett. I believe he’s the same guy who recently turned me down for a gig because he felt it “might potentially be a conflict of interests” that I have my own blog and one other focused on the same industry. I thought that was supposed to be experience.

The erroneous assertion brings me to another great and obvious way to maximize one’s time and increase one’s productivity: specialize in a field and then pursue work in that field since you’re presumably more well-informed and savvier about how to cover the field in question.

I think some people call this writing about what you know, and it beats prematurely seeking work in a field you’re not sufficiently familiar with just to make some money or what have you. That can turn out to be a huge time-waster, not to mention depressing if you don’t meet a client’s (and your own) expectations.