I read lifehacker.com.au. I found this article there. Research is discussed with an upshot of "dedicate 4 hours per day to 1 thing".
Do most technical writers write for 4 hours a day? Solidly? I'm not sure I do.
I think that I do more research and maintenance than pure content generation. Is that standard?
Its probably worth trying the 4 hours of dedicated work on a specific priority. I would never have guessed that as a writer, one of my main priorities would be content shepherding.
But between correspondence about content, other research on background for the content, and the testing of content, I must spend 4-6 hours of every day on what is essentially writing preparation.
I guess the difference between my work habits and the ideal presented in this article is the level of focus. I do all of the above interspersed with answering colleagues questions, attending meetings, and meeting non-writing obligations.
Another difference between me and the mythical worker the researchers present as worth emulating is the 6:30am start time.
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That was a REALLY interesting article, Tim. Thanks for sharing. It struck another note with me when I read about the two-step process of moving tasks to a list, then marking them off the list as time permits. I once was ADDICTED to using a paper system called a Franklin Planner. Once I stopped using it, I found I was not quite as organised or productive. I own one now, but struggle to get back into the habit of actually using the thing. But for those periods that I do, not only do I seem to make better progress, but I also seem to have better reference to my activities once all is said and done.
ReplyDeleteAs far as your observation about the 4 hours of concentrated work I have to admit that I do have an opportunity for that on occasion, usually when designing a software tool (today it was a macro-driven Excel spreadsheet that generates an equipment number based on selected inputs). I LOVE it when it happens and I get into that "ZONE" of work. And yes, when I get stumped on something, not only do I have to go away for a bit and "sleep on it", but I've also discovered for myself that jumping on a very different project before coming back to the problem is often exactly what does the trick.
Again, thanks for posting this as it lends credence to what I've already discovered as well as adds to my knowledge about it (who knew that a few minutes of distraction was as effective as a lot of it?!?) This has given me much to think about as well as prompted me to grab my Franklin Planner and start assigning tasks and priorities. :-)