Tag: multitasking

Not All At Once: Multitasking Does Not Always Equal Productivity

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multitasking

I am one of those people that feels like they should be doing about twenty different things at one time. We all know that multitasking is something that writers have to have a handle on if they want to get an extraordinary amount of things accomplished. However, there does come a point in working on various different projects in your writing career, or any career really, where you are going to have to make one thing the focal point and everything else is going to have to fade to the background, just a little bit.

My problem is that I still want to believe that I am as excellent at multitasking as I once used to be (in my teens and twenties) when I could balance four or five different projects at the same time and devote equal time to them. Now it feels as if the more I try to balance different projects the more I end up slacking on something. I think that I am being productive to work on several things at once and try to give equal time to all but it just isn’t possible (not for me anyway).

Now I am in no way saying that multitasking is not in some ways productive. What I’m saying is thinking that you can devote an equal amount of time to all of the projects that you are working on isn’t. I think that if you are working on about three projects at a time (and I think that it should be kept to three) you have to know which project to place the priority on and let the other two be the secondary concern. That way the most important project gets accomplished.

This is a lesson that I am learning now and am going to start trying implement myself because trying to place priority on every project equally has caused me to fall behind on a project that should’ve been done already. So for all you multitasking writers out there remember that you can’t accomplish everything at once. Some things are going to have to wait so don’t end up accomplishing nothing by trying to accomplish everything.

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

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NaNoWriMo Day # 6: On a Day Like Today, Multitasking is Even More Important!

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I know today’s a big day!  It’s voting day and your primary job is to do just that, get out and vote.  So how can you still get your words in for today?  There are a few simple and just as effective ways to multitask these two important responsibilities.

1)      Reread over yesterday’s work that you did, make a mental note of where you left off at and where you want to go next, and take a notepad with you while you go off to vote.  While you’re in line you can jot down notes and begin your writing while you are standing in those long lines.  Maybe getting caught up in your story will make you forget just how long the lines really are!

2)      If you, for some reason, forgot to take a note pad with you (although a writer really should always carry one) then take mental notes.  Don’t forget to eavesdrop in on the conversations that are going on in the lines that you are standing in.  You can almost always count on the conversations of others to spark an idea for something in your story so make sure you listen well!

3)      If you have a cell phone with all the works (which most everyone does these days) then you can always upload your story to your phone or type today’s words of your story onto your phone, and then email them to yourself when you’re finished.  That way, you could be all done with your words by the time you’ve done your voting and the rest of the day is yours to do whatever you want with it.  Trust me, I think you’ll be in line long enough to actually complete your minimum amount of words for the day, maybe even more!

4)      If you are stumped for what to write about in your novel today you could use the time that you are standing in line waiting to vote, to get further inspired.  Take a book with you, preferably one in the genre that you are writing your novel in (or whatever one you are reading at the current moment) and read while in the line.  I got at least two chapters (they are long chapters) read this morning while I was in line!

These are just a few suggestions that I thought could work for some of you out there.  If any of you have any other tips you’d like to share with my readers please feel free to leave them as a comment.  Hope all of you make sure to get out there and vote, and get some writing done too!

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

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Planting One Seed At a Time

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“Most of the time multitasking is an illusion. You think you are multitasking, but in reality you’re actually wasting time switching from one task to another.”

~ Bosco Tjan

There always seems to be a message of inspiration for me in some part of every day.  Whether it’s in the conversations that I have with Ms. L. (which frankly always hold some source of inspiration), or something that is being said by someone in the gym I go to or on TV, or even if it’s sent in an email.  Yesterday there so happened to be an email that I felt spoke directly to me.  It was one of Tyler Perry’s Inspirational Corner Messages that he sends out to everyone who is on his email listing.  It was a message on how to become successful.  It was right on the money and exactly what I needed to hear.  

He spoke about his success being due to the grace of God.  He spoke about narrowing your focus and planting your seeds.  He essentially said that when it comes to the success that we want out of life for ourselves, all we can do is plant the seed in the ground, water it, and believe.  He advised that to be successful one must narrow their focus and concentrate on one thing at a time, one idea.  That one idea, once made a success, will give birth to all of your other ideas.  If you spend time spreading water over too many seeds you don’t have as much water for one seed, that one seed that you feel is most important to bloom.  

I realized then the reason why I have been feeling so lost lately within my writing.  Ever since this year has started, I have felt so much pressure (that I placed on myself) to tackle everything on my goal list.  Trying to figure out how I am going to work on all of these different projects that I want to get done over the course of this year all essentially at one time.  The rational response is that of course I can’t work on all of my projects at once but the overachiever that lives inside of me wants so badly for it to be possible.  I’ve been wasting so much time trying to work out a plan in my head to make it happen which has resulted in me getting nothing done at all.  

I must narrow my focus.  I must take what is the most important thing to me and concentrate on how I can make that work and make that successful.  Once I thought about concentrating on that one thing, I didn’t feel so lost anymore.  My direction became a little clearer.  If I focus on becoming the well known author that I was meant to be and acquire the agent that I am seeking to find for my next novel, then all of my other ideas will come to fruition.  

I always thought that if I could be really good at multitasking than I could get everything accomplished relatively at once.  However, it hasn’t been working that way so I must shift my efforts to something different, something that is going to work.  Multitasking, I think works for those who have already reached that level of success that they strived to get to.  When you are just trying to get to that level of success you must narrow your focus.  I must narrow my focus and plant one seed at a time and give each individual seed a chance to bloom in their own time.  Until tomorrow…Focus on that one seed and the rest will eventually bloom!  

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm

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