Summary

The article provides strategies for enhancing writing productivity, emphasizing the importance of setting deadlines, organizing ideas, focusing without multitasking, and using the Pomodoro Technique.

Abstract

The author of the article shares personal insights on boosting writing productivity, drawing from their experience of publishing over 200 stories in a year. They suggest that combating procrastination with strict deadlines, outlining the article's structure beforehand, avoiding multitasking, and applying the Pomodoro Technique are effective methods for maintaining consistent writing output. The article acknowledges the challenges of writing, including writer's block and distractions, and offers practical solutions to overcome these hurdles and foster a productive writing habit.

Opinions

The author believes that setting deadlines creates a sense of urgency that can enhance productivity due to the psychological effects of pressure.
Organizing thoughts by creating a "skeleton" of the story with main points or subheadings is advocated as a way to maintain focus and streamline the writing process.
Multitasking is strongly discouraged for creative tasks like writing, as it is seen to negatively impact the quality of work.
The Pomodoro Technique is recommended for its ability to break down writing tasks into manageable intervals, thereby reducing the mental strain of writing for extended periods.
The author emphasizes that writing productivity improves over time with consistent practice and the implementation of structured techniques.

Skyrocket Your Writing Productivity (and Impress Yourself!)

Here is how you can do that.

Admit it or not — writing is tough. And writing consistently is even tougher.

It takes an immense amount of willpower to write on a regular basis. That’s why writers experience writer’s block, and for many days, they just don’t feel like writing or get exhausted with the thought of it. However, many writers start to think that they’ve already lost their writing enthusiasm or potentials.

I have written and published more than 200 stories on this platform in the last twelve months. And it’s the first time I have written this many stories in a single year. But was that easy? Obviously, not.

There are thousands of distractions around you that can force you to stop writing and do something else at any point.

Sorry to say, if you want to be a good writer, you must know that there is no shortcut.

You have to write one article after another — and repeat the same for years after years. So, you must be productive. If you are a writer struggling to increase your writing productivity, you can try the following ways. So far, it’s working great for me. I hope it will help you too.

Kill Procrastination with a Strict Deadline

Procrastination kills your potential. And if you want to kill procrastination and set a deadline for each of your stories.

Without a strict deadline, you will waste your time and go nowhere. As Parkinson’s law suggests that work expands to fill the time available for its completion, one story may occupy all your time when you have no deadline.

You may wonder — why does setting a deadline increase productivity? The answer is setting a strict deadline for your work falls you under pressure. And the study suggests that people do better being under pressure. Because when you confront pressure situations, more adrenaline is released into your system, and eventually, you become more attentive, receptive, and productive.

I hope now you can relate to the situation when students astonishingly complete a month’s tasks on a single night before the exam day.

Build the Skeleton First

It’s like organizing your thoughts. You get an idea — expand it in your mind — finally decide to write a story about it. So, if you want to keep on track while writing (without getting lost in something else), you should write the main points or paragraph headings first.

I call it building the skeleton of the story. When you have this skeleton or frame, you have a complete idea how your article will look like in the end.

Now, while writing — read the subheadings and expand the thoughts. It’s like adding flesh and blood to the skeleton. This is not at all that tough, yet it helps you be more productive than ever.

So, practice this — when you get an idea, expand it and write a few sub-headings or main points quickly so that while writing, you have a solid structure at your disposal.

Trust me — it helps.

Say Goodbye to Multitasking

Multitasking sucks. And for creative works like writing or painting, multitasking is similar to committing a crime. Never do that.

Writing is a lonely job that involves creative and critical thinking. If you write and, at the same time, listen to music or check Instagram feeds, I can assume what shit you will produce.

I know writing is hard — but trust me — doing other things while writing makes it more complicated.

Say goodbye to multitasking and write with total concentration. It will help you produce some beautiful articles that your readers will love to repeat.

Apply Pomodoro Technique

Have you ever heard of the Pomodoro Technique? This is a beautiful technique invented by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s when he was a university student. This Pomodoro Technique can be a gamechanger for those who find it challenging to write at a stretch or easily fall prey to procrastination.

Anyway, in short — according to this technique, all you need is to use a timer and then break down the writing task into some manageable intervals (generally 25 minutes). And you can take a 5-minute short break after completing each interval. This interval is called Pomodoro. In Italian, Pomodoro means tomato.

Why on earth did the technique get this weird name? Well, I’ve already published a separate article title Apply the Pomodoro Technique to Writing in The Writing Cooperative. So you may read that to know more in detail.

So, if you decide to write an article in two hours, divide the time into manageable intervals and take a break after each of them. It will make the writing process easier (without exhausting you).

Final Thoughts

You can do other things to increase your writing productivity, such as taking up a writing challenge, finding an accountability partner, progress tracking, and many more.

But no matter what you do, remember — you must write, write, and write unless it becomes a habit. Yes, it will undoubtedly be very challenging, and that’s why most people give up so quickly.

And those who refuse to give up make all the difference.

Thank you for reading!

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