This week’s post is going to seem obvious, but it’s actually worth some thought.
Last week I had a few things to do, but not too much—my To-Do list was nice and short with no looming deadlines and plenty of time to work on long-term projects. As a result, I took my evenings at a slower pace, didn’t work any late nights, and read a few hundred pages of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden (a badass novel full of savage beatings and do-it-yourself abortions that makes The Grapes of Wrath look like a kids book).
It was a pretty chill week, and as it went on I found myself taking longer breaks, scrolling through more social media, and just plain staring into space when I could have been working—or at least doing something I enjoyed.
Then this week I had three sudden deadlines, a lot of emails to write, and a bunch of things I realized I should have done last week but didn’t. The working rush hit me hard two days ago (“Oh shit, I gotta get to work!”), and it’s stayed with me since.
Here’s the kicker, though: having more to do has also made me more productive with my time. In the past two days I’ve taken fewer zone-out breaks, gone on social media barely at all, and scheduled my time more efficiently. I’ve also gotten more done, and felt better overall.
Part of this of course was because I wasn’t reading about people beating each other with stones until their ribs were broken and their teeth half knocked out in East of Eden, but another, bigger part of it was because I was keeping busy.
Having Enough to Do Keeps You Focused
I write a lot on this blog about not burning yourself out by taking on too much, and the dangers of overwork can be very, very real. What I haven’t written about, though, is the dangers of underwork, which can make you feel sluggish, lazy, and cause you to get less done.
Case in point: when I have less to do, I’m more likely to stay in bed later on weekends, get sucked into Youtube marathons, and of course, reach for my phone during downtime. These bad habits cause me to get less done, and getting less done means I get less satisfaction from accomplishing projects. Feeling less satisfaction lowers my mood, which then makes me feel even less inclined to work—creating a downward cycle of suckiness and unproductivity.
Having just enough to do, though, has the opposite effect: when I accomplish more things I get a bigger feeling of satisfaction and maybe even more material rewards (in the form of money, publishing credits, finished products, etc.). This generally happens whether the accomplishments are in my creative work or my Day Job work, with both the material and non-material rewards creating a positive, upward cycle of feeling good.
Plus, if you’ve planned your life out right, being busy almost always means that you have worthwhile things to do (as opposed to pointless chores or Day Job tasks) that move you in the direction you’d like to be moving in. So even without the boost in energy and productivity, by sheer nature of you doing more things, you’re moving closer to your goals at a faster rate, which can feel exciting.
Burnout’s a Real Danger, But So is Laziness
Here’s where things get hairy, though: if I had one major project to work on (say, writing a novel) and literally nothing else to do, wouldn’t I make an incredible amount of progress on that novel since I wouldn’t have to spend my time doing other things?
The answer to this question should be an emphatic Yes—but in the reality for most of us in Day Job/Independent Artist Land, it’s not. While I might actually be spending more time on that novel, that time might not be as productive as I’d like it to be.
Like I was saying earlier, when I have less to do, not only do I naturally gravitate more toward distractions like social media and overly long breaks, I tend to schedule less time for creative work in general (“You know what, I think I’ll rewatch Do the Right Thing tonight instead of writing,” etc.).
To put this another way: say on a really busy and productive week I spend a total of 10 hours working on a novel draft, 15 hours working on other creative work tasks, and 35 hours working at my Day Job. That equals 60 productive hours total, 25 of which were directly related to creative work.
Now in our imaginary world where I only have a novel draft to work on, it might take me a while to get started in the morning, and then I might only be able to work 5 hours a day on that novel before getting tired and calling it quits. I might also decide to take weekends off (because, again, why not!), leading me to only spend 25 hours total on the novel draft.
That’s right: even without a Day Job and other creative work tasks to take care of, I still might only devote 25 total hours to working toward my creative goals. In this scenario I also didn’t make any bill-paying money (boooooooo!), nor did I get the forward-moving satisfaction that comes from accomplishing both Day Job tasks and creative work tasks—things like getting acceptances and hearing from people who are happy with the work I’ve done.
All of those things combined make me feel pretty good, and create that forward momentum that pushes me to keep going even farther.
The one real advantage to the 25-hours novel-only scenario is that in theory I’d have an extra 35 hours a week to spend on my hobbies and developing family and friend relationships, which of course sounds awesome. In reality, though, 35 hours a week is A LOT to spend on hobbies, and my family and friends have other things to do besides hang out with me, so it makes sense to shoot for a more reasonable work/non-work balance.
So You’re Saying That It’s Better to Keep Busy With a Lot of Small Things Instead of Staying Focused On One Primary Goal?
Well—yes and no. If I were a super-disciplined Creative Work Master who could sit down at any hour of the day and devote eight uninterrupted hours to writing and creative work without any short-term accomplishments to keep myself feeling positive, then yes, I’d reeeeeeeeeally like to be doing that. But unfortunately I’m not quite that awesome yet, I still rely on Day Job money to pay my bills, I still don’t know which avenues are going to lead somewhere, and I still need confidence boosts from Day Job work and other small accomplishments to keep me from losing confidence.
Instead, I try to manage different types of tasks that can keep me involved, focused, and feeling good without overloading myself, so I still have time to devote to my longer-term goals (like writing!) that have a less immediate payout. If I don’t leave myself enough free time I won’t make enough progress, but if I leave myself too much free time I’ll be lost in the miasma of distraction and laziness.
I feel like this is the kind of thing we can all get better at if we try, though, and I do see myself becoming more self-disciplined as I get older and more experienced. Self-discipline isn’t the kind of skill you can master overnight, and as I move further away from Day Job work and more towards creative work I can feel myself taking my creative work more seriously and making it a more intrinsic part of my life.
That means that one day, when the time comes to give up Day Job work for good, I’ll be ready to stay on top of my creative work without artificial accomplishment boosts.
Sounds like a worthy goal to me.
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