"Then I sit down and write for two hours. ... Fascinating article on Barack Obama’s habits and how the daily routines saved him from going mad when he was president. It’s all about removing day to day problems."
This is very helpful to me just now.. I'm in a complete crisis now for a whole range of reasons, especially my ageing mum's health issues. I know from my uni days diary what I need to do to study write (after lots of trial and error, I wrote the following in block capitals): "simply stay up all night working when there are no distractions, no TV, nothing open, nobody around"! However, I'm so tired by 11pm I just can't resist bed. Can't concentrate properly on anything really big in the daytime! Too many distractions. Will have to force myself to somehow overcome this.
Also I need to con myself again into sugar-coating the "getting started" bit, when to study hard maths I would somehow convince myself I'd spend 5 minutes on it and then take a break. (Once absorbed for 5 minutes, I'd spend 5 hours on it non-stop and actually make a bit of progress. Next time, I'd again have to force myself to get started, rather than do something mentally less stressful like decorating or playing computer games!)
Thirty years ago, I never used to have any problems getting started on my own projects. I remember my grandmother saying she wouldn't know where to start. My response was: start anywhere! Just start. The material can be organized into the best order later. Now I'm aware of the reaction of "critics" (so-called "peer reviewers" who aren't peers, are working on the opposite ideas and being funded to waste money, etc) and the apathy of others, it's not as much fun.
There's a lovely anecdote about the writing habits of the late author Douglas Adams. His publisher finally had to lock him in a room with pen and paper to get him to finish his last manuscript. He used to say he loved the whizzing sound of deadlines flying by. When I first read that, I thought it was just a lack of self-discipline. However, I now know if I'm not in a good mental state, it's hard to get any enthusiasm for a lengthy, difficult challenging project.
"Then I sit down and write for two hours. ... Fascinating article on Barack Obama’s habits and how the daily routines saved him from going mad when he was president. It’s all about removing day to day problems."
This is very helpful to me just now.. I'm in a complete crisis now for a whole range of reasons, especially my ageing mum's health issues. I know from my uni days diary what I need to do to study write (after lots of trial and error, I wrote the following in block capitals): "simply stay up all night working when there are no distractions, no TV, nothing open, nobody around"! However, I'm so tired by 11pm I just can't resist bed. Can't concentrate properly on anything really big in the daytime! Too many distractions. Will have to force myself to somehow overcome this.
Also I need to con myself again into sugar-coating the "getting started" bit, when to study hard maths I would somehow convince myself I'd spend 5 minutes on it and then take a break. (Once absorbed for 5 minutes, I'd spend 5 hours on it non-stop and actually make a bit of progress. Next time, I'd again have to force myself to get started, rather than do something mentally less stressful like decorating or playing computer games!)
Thirty years ago, I never used to have any problems getting started on my own projects. I remember my grandmother saying she wouldn't know where to start. My response was: start anywhere! Just start. The material can be organized into the best order later. Now I'm aware of the reaction of "critics" (so-called "peer reviewers" who aren't peers, are working on the opposite ideas and being funded to waste money, etc) and the apathy of others, it's not as much fun.
There's a lovely anecdote about the writing habits of the late author Douglas Adams. His publisher finally had to lock him in a room with pen and paper to get him to finish his last manuscript. He used to say he loved the whizzing sound of deadlines flying by. When I first read that, I thought it was just a lack of self-discipline. However, I now know if I'm not in a good mental state, it's hard to get any enthusiasm for a lengthy, difficult challenging project.