A Deadline Is A Promise

“You are worth every promise made to yourself. You are worth every personal deadline met.”

-       Shawn Taylor

Tools/Assignments:

I want you to give yourself a week—a week from the time you’ve finished listening to this episode. I then want you to look at your calendar and carve out seven (7) hours of uninterrupted time: one hour per day for seven (7) days, but not the same time every day. Some productivity coaches argue that you should do the same thing at the same time every day as to build a habit. I don’t want you to build a habit. I want to you to fuel yourself via intentionality. If you have a smartphone, set alarms for ten (10) minutes before your chosen hour of creative productivity. This will give you time to settle in. Then set beginning and ending alarms for your creative hour. Then I want you to set a goal for each hour. Any goal is fine, except for anything having to do with amounts: page numbers, minutes of music, etc. Make your goals more specific: I want to write this particular scene, I want to finish this bridge and chorus, heck, if you’re a martial artist: I want to work on my jab, hook, cross, elbow, knee combination. Any goal except for goals that have to do with an amount of something, a number of something. Here are the steps, disaggregated:

1.   Give yourself one (1) week from the time you’ve finished listening to this episode—including the day you finished listening to this episode. Look at your calendar and schedule seven (7) uninterrupted hours: one (1) hour a day for seven (7) days to work on a project. But not the same times every day. Once you’ve scheduled your week you’ll…

2.   Set alarms for ten (10) minutes before each of your creative productivity sessions. This will give you time to settle in and prepare. If ten (10) minutes causes you too much anxiety, reduce this to five (5) minutes. Once these alarms are set you’ll…

3.   Set beginning and ending alarms for your daily one (1) hour creative productivity sessions. Remember: set one alarm to begin and another to end. When the ending alarm goes off, don’t continue on, even if you’re in a flow state. Complete the thought and then stop working. You’ve made a promise to yourself to work for one (1) hour. Don’t over-promise or overcommit. During your creative hour, make your goals hyper-specific, but don’t make them about amounts. Don’t make them about page numbers or minutes of music or what have you. Set the goal for a particular scene or lyric or panel of a comic book.

4.   At the conclusion of your week, please let me know how this has worked for you. Email me at: [e-mail] and leave the following information:

+ Name/Location (or remain anonymous)

+ The project you worked on (a painting, a piece of writing, etc.)

+ Your progress before your creative week

+ The results of your creative week

I would really love to hear about the milestones you achieved. 

Remember, not everything is for everyone. But give it a go. Y  ou just might find some value in it. 

Until next time.  

Peace