become a more productive writer. scenario 1: with a deadline (e.g. grants) scenario 2: without a...
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BECOME A MORE PRODUCTIVE WRITER
Scenario 1: With a deadline(e.g. grants)
Scenario 2: Without a deadline(e.g. many papers)
Strategy TwoWrite every day.
Strategy ThreeWrite in stages.
Strategy OneStart with a plan.
Strategy OneStart with a plan.
The planning fallacy
Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Intuitive prediction: biases and corrective procedures. TIMS Studies in Management Science, 12, 313–327
“The planning fallacy refers to a readily observable phenomenon: the conviction that a current project will go as well as planned even though most projects from a relevant comparison set have failed to fulfill their planned outcomes.”
in Roger Buehler,* Dale Griffin, and Johanna Peetz.* The Planning Fallacy: Cognitive, Motivational, and Social Origins.
WOOPOettingen, Gabriele (2014). Rethinking Positive Thinking: Inside the New Science of Motivation. Penguin Group.
Her research finding, supported with 20 years of empirical work: Positive thinking / visualizing the desired outcome alone does not produce the motivation to take action.
What does work: “WOOP”1. WISH: Write down your wish in 3-6 words
2. OUTCOME: Write a detailed description of the Outcome that will fulfill your wish. How would you feel if you achieved it?
3. OBSTACLES: Write a detailed, emotion rich picture of the main obstacles that may prevent you from getting the Outcome; include your own internal tendencies (e.g. procrastination, perfectionism).
4. PLAN: Make a plan to address each of the obstacles
Create a written planHow does this writing project help me meet one of my important goals?
Create a project plan• Read the instructions from the funder /journal/ editor /meeting!• Create a detailed statement describing the final result.• List the required steps / components / milestones• What obstacles might I encounter?• Make a plan to address the obstacles
Draft a schedule using backward planning
• What will I do next to get started, and when will I do it?
backward planningstart with the deadline, and ask: “What do I have to have done by yesterday day in order to be ready for this day?Go to that day, and ask the same question, and so on.
Grant Due at NIH
Submit to my university
Externally imposed deadlines Block off days not available Set milestone dates
Receive final comments from co-authors
Final copyedits completed
Final budget approval from department
Send penultimate draft to co-authors – (due 11/14)
Read aloud to myself
(on call)
(on call)
(trip……………………………..)
Finalize references
Create a written planHow does this writing project help me meet one of my important goals?
Create a project plan• Read the instructions from the funder /journal/ editor /meeting!• Create a detailed statement describing the final result.• List the required steps / components / milestones• What obstacles might I encounter?• Make a plan to address the obstacles
Draft a schedule using backward planning
• What will I do next to get started, and when will I do it?
Re: The Planning Fallacy
Outcome
Wish
Obstacles
Plan
Strategy TwoWrite every day: why, when, and how?
Strategy TwoWrite every day: Why?
“Common sense”
• Keeps the project “top of mind”• Twists and turns identified sooner• Eliminates warm up• Reduces stress from last minute work
• Turns on the reticular activating system• Feeds the default mode network• Boice’s daily writing experiments
Evidence
Regular writing evidence
• Writing in brief sessions daily is more productive than engaging in infrequent “binge writing”
• Evidence: 30-60 minutes a day produces more high quality writing than infrequent binges
• This does not preclude frequent longer sessions
Robert BoiceEmeritusSUNY at Stony Brook
Strategy TwoWrite every day: When?
Write “first thing” in the morning
• It's easier to go from PROACTIVE, DEEP WORK to reactive work, than the other way around
• Fewer potentially new interrupting tasks will have appeared
• Highest supply of:– Willpower– Decision making ability– Energy – for most of us
• You take advantage of your sleep related default mode network output
• You have started the day successfully, which increased your energy and improves your mood, which can carry over into the rest of the day.
If you can, write at the same time each dayWilliam Faulkner: "I only write when I am inspired. Fortunately I am inspired at nine o'clock every morning."
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Strategy TwoWrite every day: How?
Joan Bolker: Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day. Henry Holt & Co., New York, 1998
Set easily reachable goals Start with as little as 10 minutes a day Slowly build to capacity
Use a paired treat / reward “Grandma’s Mashed Potato Law”
Don’t exceed your target
Write every day
the Pomodoro technique
Write down what you are going to do
25 + 5 25 + 525 + 525 + 15Repeat as needed
Manage interruptions
Francesco Cirillohttp://www.pomodorotechnique.com/
Pomodoro apps
• Web /desktop
– Tomato Timer– Focus Booster
• iOS
– iPhone Pomodoro Timer by Navel labs
• Android
– Pomodroido by Artifix
• Blackberry
– Pomodoro Helper by Chin
• Your local hardware store….
•Work on grant• Draft specific aim 1• Open Word document
Still can’t start? Create a first task that creates no resistance.
Monitor your progress
Strategy ThreeWrite in stages:
1. prewrite
2. create a bad draft
3. edit to final product.
Prewriting &Creating a bad draft
Editing to the final product
Strategy ThreeWrite in stages:
1. prewrite
Prewriting: generating ideas
• Method: – Record all ideas that come up– Don’t worry about whether ideas will make it
into the final product• Informed by literature review, past work,
and data analysis…
Challenge: the prewriting maze
Trapped in “data analysis paralysis” and “just one more paper to read”
Prewriting maze-busters
• BEFORE you do any reading, write down:
– what you know, or think you know about the topic
– questions you already have
• LIMIT the literature review
– Select a limited number of papers to read at this stage
– Keep a list of papers to come back to
• STOP and move on to create the bad draft before you feel finished with data analysis and lit review
Strategy ThreeWrite in stages:
2. create a bad draft
Features of a “good” bad draft process:
• Focus only on getting ideas out
• Write in complete sentences (not phrases or lists)
• Use a tight schedule
• Avoid going off on tangents: keep a companion “idea document”
• Produce a complete draft
Strategy ThreeWrite in stages:
3. edit to final product.
Editing strategies
1. Create a schedulea. To begin, an overall schedule by sections
with some buffer time built in
b. Every week or so, create a more detailed plan for the coming short time period
May 1 – Creation of overall schedule for Sept 1 submission
Date Task to be completed on this date May 16 Finish gradingMay 30 first draft of ALI model rules and principlesJune 13 revised draft of Chapter Six, June 20 revised draft of Chapter Seven, June 27 revised draft of Chapter Nine, July 11 revised draft of Chapter One, July 25 revised draft of Chapter Four, Aug 1 revised draft of Conclusion, Aug 8 revised draft of Chapter Eight, Aug 15 revised draft of Chapter Two, Aug 23 revised draft of Chapter Three, Aug 30 revised draft of Chapter Five,
Sept. 1 submission of full revised manuscript to publisher
Deadline Task Tues, Aug. 5 preliminary review and feedback on RA’s charts
Assignment of new task to each RA
Fri, Aug 8 revised draft of Chapter Three, Addition of S R materials (Wed)Addition of board details? (Thurs)Tues, Aug 12revised draft of Chapter Eight,
Fri, Aug 15 addition of extra NM disputesDivision of chapters that need to be cut in halfAddition of end-of-century summations
Tues, Aug 19revised draft of Conclusion
Wed., Aug 20 prepare and post syllabus for seminar; reference letter for student
Fri., Aug 22 revised draft of Introduction
Tues, Aug 26full-read through; line-editing, transitional intros & conclusions between sections
Fri, Aug 29 clean up footnotes & charts
Sept. 1 submission of full revised manuscript to publisher
August 1 – detailed August schedule
Editing strategies
2. Get started by retyping the most recent draft, making changes as you go
3. At the penultimate stage:– Read aloud to yourself (Peter Elbow)– Ask others to read
*
o Re-read instructions to authors / submission procedures
o Final copy editing, reference checks
o Get institutional approvals, as needed
o Complete the submission
4. Near the end, create a “punch list”
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www.thrivingamidstchaos.com