I've been seeing a lot lately about five-year plans, and planning for the future. I even wrote a post about five-year plans a while ago. I'm really feeling the need to revisit this topic, because it seems like time is slipping out of my grasp at a faster rate each day, and I'm convinced I can take control of it if I make plans.
And not only make them, but follow them.
Otherwise, time has a dreamlike quality. It's there, and then it isn't. I end up blinking, rubbing my eyes, wondering what happened to the past six months, and trying to convince myself maybe I really was asleep, because I couldn't have possibly lost such a big chunk of hours if I was actually conscious.
Of course, it's not easy to convince myself to plot out my life when I'm a self-proclaimed pantser. It's actually kind of funny, not to mention ironic, that the only way to get my pantser-based stories written is to write down detailed scenarios of how to spend my daily hours.
But despite the humorous irony of it all, it makes sense to chart out some things I need and want to accomplish the next few months. Because we all know it may be the beginning of a heat-filled summer now, but in a couple of minutes we'll be toasting the New Year, making heartfelt promises to do better in 2013 than we did in 2012.
My contrary self wants to complain about all the constricting restrictions that planning ahead can cause. But my practical self responds that there is plenty of room in each day to goof off, or change gears, or whatever we want to call that "down time" that holds together our productive moments.
My goal is to downsize the down time and supersize the productive moments.
I can start by putting on the calendar the things I've committed to, such as guest blogs and my own blog posts for each week. Then I write down what I'd *like* to commit to, such as the publication date for the next self-published books, to coincide with the scheduled guest blogs, so I can capitalize on having my name out there at the same time as my books. With these items firmly in place, I can work backwards, to today, to strategize what needs to be accomplished to meet those goals.
It's tricky to plan for some things, since there's a huge unpredictability factor in place, especially in the world of publishing and books. However, that's not always a bad thing. For example, the novella I sold to Samhain came about from a completely unplanned Twitter conversation with other writers. (It also reinforced my belief that I need to keep checking Twitter constantly throughout the day. That's a hard habit to break now.)
I can't plan for everything, but I can choose to make better use of the hours in each day. It's an incredibly satisfying feeling to see the accomplishments pile up. It's also great motivation to keep going, to see what else can be added to the Finally Done pile.
Even better, it's a relief to not have to deal with the guilt of seeing the sun go down and telling myself, "Oh well, maybe I'll get to it tomorrow."
Having these concrete deadlines helps to change "someday" into an actual day, filled with achievements.
The power of deadlines is indeed awesome.
I think that I have a built in clock in my brain which automatically adjusts my rate of work and adrenaline levels to match the 'must meet' deadlines. These might be reports, conference papers, seminars and so on.
So I agree that setting future deadlines might help. But you have to believe that there will be horrid penalties for not meeting the deadlines or they won't have the desired effect.
Just as its easy to let deadlines slip if there are no penalties it's also easy to postpone self-imposed penalties. So perhaps you need a friend to help out with imposing the penalties. To spank you when you don't make it! LOL
Posted by: Quantum | June 12, 2012 at 06:00 AM
Q, deadlines are incredibly powerful, which is why I decided I better put them to work for me. LOL And you're SO right about having horrid penalties for not meeting the deadline -- but I think if you threaten to take away my coffee, that would work just as well as your method. LOL
Posted by: Donna Cummings | June 12, 2012 at 09:49 AM
I know what you mean about time disappearing. This summer seems to be mysteriously connected to a black hole somewhere in the universe as I have no idea where the time is going, but going it is.
I'm a pantser who has always resisted schedules, yet life has conspired against me and given me children who need them.
I'm going to make a fall resolution (no use trying for summer, and New Year's is too far off), to do exactly what you have done and plot out my productive time.
Posted by: Kate Warren | June 15, 2012 at 01:09 PM
Kate, I actually feel much better now that I know this time seepage is happening everywhere! I have a strong resistance to schedules, probably because my life has required me to follow them too much. LOL But I'm developing a strong resistance to the panic and chaos that results when I don't have the time I need. Here's to our Fall Resolutions (and all of that extra time we'll get!)
Posted by: Donna Cummings | June 15, 2012 at 02:38 PM
LOL . . . it's hard not to check Twitter throughout the day. I try to keep it to opening it once a day but it never works. Yay for your accomplishments pile . . . just hopping over to say hi from Angela Quarles's blog tag:)
Posted by: Jamie Ayres | June 15, 2012 at 03:36 PM
Jamie, thanks for stopping by! Today's accomplishment pile isn't as high as I'd like it to be. LOL But I can't blame Twitter. For once. Although some days I'm glad I have to go to work, just to keep me away from tweeting all day. LOL
Posted by: Donna Cummings | June 15, 2012 at 04:55 PM