Category: Productivity

Why Writers Are the Worst Procrastinators

We were going to tell you all about this problem, but you know how it is. First we had to make some coffee. Then we had to drink it and clean the pot and…

Yeah, we know. Easy joke. Our bad for putting off coming up with a better one.

Not procrastinating but not writing either. Creating!
Not procrastinating but not writing either. Creating!

by Megan McArdle

Like most writers, I am an inveterate procrastinator. In the course of writing this one article, I have checked my e-mail approximately 3,000 times, made and discarded multiple grocery lists, conducted a lengthy Twitter battle over whether the gold standard is actually the worst economic policy ever proposed, written Facebook messages to schoolmates I haven’t seen in at least a decade, invented a delicious new recipe for chocolate berry protein smoothies, and googled my own name several times to make sure that I have at least once written something that someone would actually want to read. read article

Writing Sucks

Oh that crazy, zany Chicago literary elite, why are they always so…right?

writingsucks-624x358by Wyl Villacres

Writing sucks. Seriously. And not in the Dorothy Parker “I hate writing, I love having written” bullshit way, either. I mean, the act of putting words on paper is shitty, and she’s right in that regard, but the things that come after are just as bad. Because when you’re writing as your form of art, the second half of the writing process is even worse. Or at least for me it is.

I want to start off by saying that I’m not going to come around to some fantastic conclusion about why it’s important to preserver and how practice makes perfect or even-if-you-fail-you-still-need-to-do-it because 1. I don’t know you or your life so how could I give you advice? 2. I suck at this whole thing, so I don’t have the resume to back any advice I’d give, and 3. I don’t even have advice for myself. This isn’t a place to find answers, because in the end, all I have are questions. But writing, hacking away in my apartment or in the coffee shop, between jobs or at absurd hours, starts to get horrifyingly solitary, and I need to be in public. read article

How to Optimize Your Environment for Creativity with The Perfect Temperature, Lighting and Noise levels

Now here’s a project we can sink our teeth into. We mean, hell, it sure beats actually, you know, creating, no?

office1

by Belle Beth Cooper

I’ve written about how creativity works in the brain before, and I found it really useful to understand this process. Or, I should say, multiple processes. read article

6 Ways I’ve Improved My Writing In the Past 6 months That You Can Try Today

What can we say except: If you think your writing can be improved (and who doesn’t?) this one’s for you:

inkby Belle Beth Cooper

In the past six months that I’ve been aContent Crafter at Buffer, I’ve beenwriting a lot. I’ve also been trying to write regularly on my own blog and for my startup, Exist. That’s a lot of writing.

During this time, I’ve also been experimenting with small changes in my workflow, my writing process and the types of content I produce. The result has been an improvement in my writing and a better understanding of how I work best. Hopefully you’ll find some of these things helpful in improving your own writing. read article

10 Years of Silence: How long it took Mozart, Picasso and Kobe Bryant to be Successful

Wanna know how to be the greatest at what you do? It’s cinchy.

Practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice,  practice, practice,  practice, practice…

Oh, and don’t forget to love every minute of it. read article