Productivity
Why an Anime Girl (or Raccoon!) Might Be Your Next Productivity Buddy
Back in Cambridge, MA, where I used to live, a group of writers used to meet regularly to get some work done. After a quick hello – no chit chat, latte ordering, or other delays – they all sat down and started working. It was so quiet you could hear the proverbial pin drop, and…
Read MoreProductivity Secrets of a “Supergenius”
A friend was discussing her fears around her writing, and, in particular, of taking on bigger projects than she could handle, when she came up with a great comparison: “I feel like Wile E. Coyote when he goes off the edge of a cliff. Then he looks down and realizes he’s gone too far, but…
Read MoreLet’s Talk About “Situational Perfectionism”
“Situational perfectionism” is when something causes your perfectionism to spike above its usual levels. (Which usually, in turn, causes your procrastination to spike!) It’s a common phenomenon, with many causes. Here are a few: A prior failure. Often, when we perceived we’ve failed, we get more afraid of future failures. (The solution is to not…
Read MoreSome Thoughts on “Genius” – a Not-Very-Useful Concept
There’s been a spate of writing about “genius” lately. Here, in Tweet form, are some of my thoughts on that concept. Hope you like them, and I welcome your comments, on Twitter, Facebook, or below. – Hillary For millennia #genius has been gendered male, and used to justify everything from boorishness to rape and murder.…
Read MoreDoes Writer’s Block Exist?
A coupla tweets for your delectation: Lookee here! Another guy–and they almost always seem to be guys!–claims #writersblock doesn’t exist. They seem to come out of the woodwork every once in a while. https://t.co/Eb5deQQdG1 — Hillary Rettig (@hillaryrettig) May 7, 2018 “Writer’s block is a delicious myth” How callous and condescending, not to mention, #clueless, can you get? #writersblock #writers — Hillary Rettig…
Read MoreStuck? Lose Your Label!
Here’s a useful piece by Austin Kleon on How to Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Chaotic Times. I like #3 a lot: “Forget the noun, do the verb.” Calling yourself a “writer,” “artist,” “activist,” “scholar,” “entrepreneur,” or any other label can invite procrastination if you use that label perfectionistically. For example, if…
Read MoreDogs Don’t Like Perfectionism Either!
This piece by Nancy Tanner on how impatience ruins dog training is brilliant: When I am asked what is the biggest problem I see in dog training today, it is the same problem I saw fourteen years ago, and thirty years ago, it is the misunderstanding of time. It takes time to learn how to…
Read MoreThe Welcome Debunking of “Grit”
I’m happy to report that “grit,” that awful, victim-blaming concept, has largely been debunked. An Education Week piece by University of San Francisco psychology professor Christine Yeh reports that Grit author Angela Duckworth has been forced to walk back some of her book’s key claims: “Much Ado about Grit: A Meta-Analytic Synthesis of the Grit Literature” by Marcus Crede…
Read MoreWhen a Success Leaves You *Less* Able to Do Your Work
I use the term “situational perfectionism” to describe circumstances that cause your perfectionism to spike. A failure (or perceived failure) can do that, but so, paradoxically, can a success, especially if it causes you to feel more visible or scrutinized. J.K. Rowling experienced this after the exceptional success of the first Harry Potter book, but…
Read MoreHow to Interrupt a Social Media “Ludic Loop”
“Ludic” is a cute word, and it means “showing a kind of spontaneous and undirected playfulness.” A “ludic loop” is less cute, however. That’s when you get stuck bouncing from one procrastination-enabling activity to another: e.g., from email to the Web to your social media feed to YouTube, and then back to email again, etc.…
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