Success for Writers

Power of Planning

Like any professionals, writers also need a plan

“By failing to prepare, we are preparing to fail” , Benjamin Franklin

Planning means preparing for the future. Many successful leaders and entrepreneurs know that the key to success is not only hard work, determination, and persistence but also proper planning to keep motivation.

Planning is so vital that undoubtedly, our future success entirely depends on our current plan. Professionals in every discipline are aware of the importance of planning. Therefore, they always factor in planning into the success process. In large business organizations, planning is usually performed by project managers. However, each employee must also plan his or her activity using the grand plan or strategic plan.

A plan for our writing practice is essential. Writers need to plan for transitioning from one state to another, transforming to a better status, and growing sustainably. There must be an intention for our actions. We cannot grow randomly. Success would not come to us. We must go to success. Success requires to create purpose and intention. Our purpose and intention constitute our plans. In other words, we plan with purpose and intention.

The reason I provided this background is to support my suggestion on creating a writing plan. Every writer must develop a writing plan. This plan is essential for many reasons. The key reason is the motivation factor. Many writers suffer from writer’s block. If we don’t know what to write about, our brain will keep us in the comfort zone, and we don’t feel like writing. Lacking a plan is one of the root causes of writer’s block manifesting as fatigue and laziness.

We also use a writing plan to manage our stress and utilize our time more effectively. When we have a clear plan, our stress levels can reduce. Planning can also save time. Our working memory is limited. In the modern world, things get busy in life. We are overwhelmed by many distractions. There will always be new challenges. Our working memory cannot accommodate information in the face of distractions, threats, and challenges.

When we put pressure on our working memory, our body starts creating stress response. The response may be subtle initially and usually is interpreted as a lack of appetite for doing something. In reality, our working memory is overloaded, and our ambient stress level and the threshold increased. The most effective way of unloading our working memory is planning.

As a pragmatist, I am not suggesting tedious and rigorous planning. Some project managers do these kinds of hard preparation for high stake jobs. However, as writers, we can have a more flexible and less strenuous plan — something enough to unload our working memory.

What can we include in a writing plan?

A high-level timeline can be handy. Professional writers usually use project management tools; however, a simple spreadsheet, even a word processing document can suffice. I understand and empathize that many writers focus on creativity and dislike administrative tasks. To reduce the administrative workload in the planning process, we can use practical approaches such as journaling. However, I used a different term for this.

In agile methods, we call it a backlog. As an agile practitioner in my business endeavors, I find using a backlog as the most pragmatic approach to my planning process. My backlog is in a spreadsheet format.

The backlog has a few simple columns covering the items such as subject, topic, publication, platform, date, time, and priority rating. I also arrange my backlog with time frames such as weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually. By using this approach, I can measure my progress effectively.

My writing backlog is dynamic and flexible. Whenever a new topic comes to my mind, I immediately add it to my backlog with indicative dates and times. Facing many difficult situations in my professional life, I learned the importance of the principle ‘nothing recorded, nothing happened’.

Therefore, whenever an idea comes to my mind, I add it to my backlog as a to-do item. By using this principle and approach, I never lose my ideas. Metaphorically, I see ideas as coins. As soon as I have some, I put them in the piggy bank.

However, not every thought and idea can be useful. Therefore, I do regular backlog pruning. The pruning process is a kind of prioritizing activity. I give each idea a rating, such as priority 1, 2, and 3.

I set priorities based on importance and urgency. We all have different priorities. My point is we need to prune our backlog regularly based on our priorities. Remember, we cannot manage time, but we can manage our priorities.

Backlog pruning is not a tedious task and does not take too long. All we need is five to ten minutes each day to update our backlog. This maximum ten-minute activity can save us substantial time in the long run.

By using this approach, we never run out of ideas. We keep recording our ideas to our backlog as we have access to our higher self. We need to be mindful of these opportune times. These times can be different for each person. For example, the best ideas come to my mind during a shower or a pleasant walk.

From a psychological standpoint, planning can keep our mind active and energetic, and can motivate us for writing. We are all different and can be motivated by different things. Each of us can have a bespoke plan based on our needs, desires, and circumstance. The bottom line is that planning, either small or big, is essential for every writer. Our plans can serve us as our energy sources.

Simply put, no plan no success.

After preparing our plans, we need to execute them effectively. To execute our plan effectively and improve our productivity, we need to be in a flow state. The best way of staying in the flow state is focusing on a single task. Multitasking is not suitable for our brain. It is unnatural. I studied this phenomenon and validated the hypotheses experimentally in multiple studies.

To operate in a flow state, we need to focus on a single task each time by giving our full focus and attention to a specific task at hand. As required, we can switch to another task. Task switching is a cognitive ability and can be improved with practice.

Happy planning…

Recommended Action: consider sharing your writing plan in an article. Let’s see whether you can articulate your monthly writing plan in an engaging way to the community.

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