Wednesday 8th September 2021 

It was hot today.  And with the heat came hayfever and a general sluggishness that together with being in the middle of this grind, had me wanting to forget it all and just go and do nothing. 

The net result was a 3000 word day vs the previous’ 5000 words. 

But that’s OK.  Something I’ve learnt over the last year is that the human body is not a computer.  Super-Productivity is not something that can be maintained. 

There’s this aspect of productivity that’s been labelled toxic productivity.  It’s the belief that we can drive humans like a car at max speed, forever. 

But just like a car, if you don’t take breaks – to refuel, to do some basic maintenance – you’ll break down. 

Learning this means I don’t get so frustrated when I have a day when I only get 3000 words done.  At the end of the day, it’s still 3000 words, and whilst that’s split across a number of projects, that’s a number of projects that have all been progressed. 

The only thing that I find happens when I have a sluggish day like today is that it impacts my confidence.  Doubts start creeping in and I start asking whether stupid questions like whether The First Draft was a good idea.  That, despite the fact that I’ve had more engagement than anything I’ve done before, and it’s in the field I want attention (rather than say, streaming games on Twitch to make people want to support me enough to buy future fiction).  My brain is stupid like that. 

Likewise, I can sometimes fall into this dangerous way of thinking that I’ve been unproductive.  Yep, yesterday it wasn’t scorching hot and I produced 2 videos, a livestream and 5000 words; today I only managed 2 videos, a livestream and 3000 words.  I need to follow my own advice sometimes. 

Once I get through this week, I’m dropping Write Productively to one video a week.  The First Draft will follow the next week, giving me 2 pillar pieces of content per week rather than per day.  It’s been hard to keep up with them, because as well as producing and posting those videos, I also have to promote them across various social platforms.  I’m having fun having content with which to practise social media skills, but it’s easy to let things drop or run out of time, especially when you are writing specific copy for Linkedin or Facebook. 

This week was always going to be a slog, and today I felt it.  I really just need to get through tomorrow and then things ease up.  My Write Productively videos are produced a day ahead meaning that Thursday is the last one I need to do for the week, and then after that I have only to do one a week. 

This week, with the heat, has turned into a grind, but it’s something I’m still having fun with.  I just have to be careful not to burn out. 

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Past Years: 2020 – The Year of Being Fearsome | 2019 – The Year of Soldiering Through | 2018 – The Year of Priorities | 2017 – The Year Of The Offensive