The Thirty-Second Productivity Cure for Indie Author Overwhelm

Re-energize your love of the craft and find the time to do what you love

I get email from clients every day. These brave writers spill their guts and tell me the toughest parts of their indie publishing businesses. Maybe it’s easier to share with a stranger. Although, I hope they don’t think I’m a stranger. Maybe it’s comforting to share with someone who’s gone through the same troubles.

Either way, there’s a common thread among many indies — total overwhelm.

When you run your own publishing business (and every indie author runs a publishing business), you’re responsible for everything. No one’s coming to help. There’s no marketing department behind you. There’s no army of salespeople waiting to push your writing to the world.

It’s all on you.

This independence is both exhilarating and terrifying. Everything is your fault and your win, simultaneously. When you run an indie business there’s an ever-growing laundry list of must-dos, longer than a city bus. The list is important, but you can’t get it all done at once. If we stare at the giant to-do pile nothing good will come of it.

I get emails from writers who feel totally paralyzed, crushed under the weight of too many must-dos, with no idea which one to start now.

I’ve been there too. The weight of starting can be so overwhelming it feels like there’s no point in writing today, because the tiny drop of a day’s writing is barely visible in the bucket. But I learned. I’ve seen firsthand, the power of cumulative effort.

With writing there’s no instant gratification. Save for writing an email, there’s almost nothing we can do with writing that will get us an instant dopamine squirt. Compared to other vocations, the rewards of writing are more delayed. This delay makes it hard to see the endgame when we’re getting started — unbearable some days. I’ve been writing and doing business online a long time. I still have days when the process feels unbearable.

There is hope, my friend.

I’ve got a thirty-second fix to help prioritize your writing day and ensure you feel like you’ve made progress — even while fighting against a million-item to-do list. This method’s been tested on 10,000 human subjects, with forty years of clinical research to back its claims. There are seventeen thousands pages of published journal articles, three vaccinations, and a full-length documentary dedicated to this method (none of that is true). But I will show you the quick strategy I use when I get so overwhelmed I can’t put my arms down (yes, that was A Christmas Story joke).

The three item to-do list for indie authors

This is an analog project. Put your phone away (unless you need your master to-do list for reference). You will need your favorite pen (or a cheap pen from the seedy hotel last night) and a 3 x 5 (or metric equivalent) note card.

We’re going to write three tasks on this card. And three tasks only.

These are tasks to grow your publishing business. Not your laundry. Not the groceries. Not the million other things we’ve got to complete in a day. Save those tasks for the other list. This card is special. This little card will help shape the future of your writing business.

You want to be a full-time writer, right?

If you follow this card every day you can’t fail. You’ll reach your end goals. The amount of time it takes is up to you. But if you practice this three-item habit, it’s impossible for you to miss your endgame. Cumulative effort is strong in this one.

Ready?

First, a dad story. I’m a dad. I tell terrible dad jokes. This story isn’t a joke, but a lesson I repeat almost daily, to someday make a permanent imprint on my son. I’m hoping he’ll learn self-discipline better than I.

Anyway, every time I need my son to do some important task he doesn’t want to do (like brushing teeth, or reading a book), when he’d rather play, I remind him of this sweet one-liner I invented (told you I use dad jokes).

Chores before fun make fun more fun

I know you’ve heard a rendition of this phrase during your lifetime, but it’s a critical component to make this little system work. Bask in this phrase a minute. Focus on it. Burn it into your brain. The single, most-important trait a person can develop is the ability to delay gratification. If we can hold-off on the candy, doing the hard work now, instead — we’ll reap more benefits later.

OK, so this three-item to-do list…

Using my sweet one-liner, we’ll put three tasks on our list. Ideally, we don’t go to bed until all three items are complete. However, if we do go to bed without completing the list, we know we’ve done the most-important (to our well-being) task first.

Chores before fun make fun more fun

1. We start with the dreaded shitbird

This is the task that nags you while you sleep. It churns your stomach while you’re awake. And it wrecks your writing time, because you daydream about it constantly. The shitbird is the one task you must do today, precisely because you’d rather avoid it.

This is the task that will propel your writing business forward at least one step (maybe many) if you’d just get the damn thing done. Go to your mega, never-ending to-do list and choose one shitbird off the list — something you can accomplish today — a task that will propel your publishing business ahead, even a little. Make sure you can accomplish the task in one day. Divide bigger tasks in smaller pieces. We need to feel the reward of our hard work each day.

2. Next, we pick the moneymaker

This is a writing task that either puts money in your pocket today, or will set you up for an income stream in the future. Maybe this means writing a Medium post. Maybe it’s a chapter in your next course. Maybe you record a podcast, shoot a video, or write an email to your growing list of hungry subscribers. The moneymaker will help you feel great once it’s done. This may not generate additional income immediately, but the task will help grow your writing income overall.

3. Last, we have fun

The third item on your writer’s list is something you enjoy. We’ll end the day’s tasks with a dopamine squirt. This is your reward for a hard day’s work. You’ve knocked the shitbird out of the sky. You worked to earn some extra income (or help grow an income stream). Now, it’s time to run-around in your Captain Underpants-underpants with a lampshade on your head.

The fun task can be any writing project you enjoy. Maybe you knock-out a short story. Maybe you work on the next chapter of your book. Maybe you allow yourself to brainstorm the future of your writing business. Remember, this is a fun writing task. The whole list is all about growing your publishing business. Don’t write eat a bowl of ice cream for number three. Go ahead and eat the ice cream too, but we want number three to propel your work too.

Here’s what your note card will look like:

Keep the thing in your pocket all day. Draw a thick line through each item once you’ve completed it. Drawing lines through accomplished tasks feels good (but you already know that).

Keep it simple.

Keep it analog.

Do the shitbird first.

Chores before fun make fun more fun

Try this every day for a month. Then keep doing it forever. You’ll get so much done your publishing business will move-forward ahead of schedule. The power of cumulative effort is real. We don’t have to over-complicate the important stuff. The laundry will always be there. No one has to remind us to do laundry. It’s the good stuff — the writing business stuff — that’s what will help us thrive tomorrow.

We’re waiting for you.

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August Birch (AKA the Book Mechanic) is both a fiction and non-fiction author from Michigan, USA. A self-proclaimed guardian of writers and creators, August teaches indie authors how to write books that sell and how to sell more of those books once they’re written. When he’s not writing or thinking about writing August carries a pocket knife and shaves his head with a safety razor.

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