The Right Way to Make Excuses

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I think it’s really helpful to know your most productive time of the day.   That way, you can arrange your calendar (if you have that luxury) to knock out the most important things while you have the energy and the willpower.

For me, it’s very early in the morning.  A normal day for me is to get up, peek at emails on my phone while getting ready (I won’t allow myself to respond, though…no one’s really up at 5:00 anyway), go downstairs, let the dog out, and start writing.  After I meet my goal, I usually schedule social media.  Then my daughter is up for the day.

When my daughter leaves for high school at around 6:45, that’s when I also hop in the car, heading for the gym. This works out really well for me.

But my daughter was sick one day recently and I started making excuses not to go to the gym at my usual time.  She was parked behind me.  It was especially cold…perhaps it would be better to go to the gym when the sun had actually come up and it was warmer.

Then I started making excuses not to stay home.  The gym would be busy later on and I had a conflict that would keep me from going in the afternoon.  I didn’t want to have to wait for a treadmill or struggle to find a parking place.  It was then or never.

I’d basically talked myself into going.  I never enjoy going to the gym, but I feel good after being there.

Every once in a while something will happen that will disrupt my morning writing routine, too.  Writing is practically muscle memory at 5 a.m, but if I’m knocked off-track, it’s harder to drag myself back.

What helps the most is to make excuses not to check social media (or whatever else is to distract my attention away from writing).  That’s actually pretty easy to do:  I never feel better about life after checking Facebook. Or I know that I’m going to regret losing that 30 minutes on Twitter later instead of tackling all the tasks that are looming over me.

This is a very simple approach, but it works because I’m a pretty simple person.

For other posts on fitting writing into your day, check out: 

How to Write When You Don’t Have Time by September C. Fawkes  (a medley of ideas, including working smarter instead of harder)

Three Steps to Begin Tiny Habits to Help You Reach Your Goals by Lorna Faith (if it’s your fears that are holding you back)

Five Morning Habits to Add to Your Writing Routine by Emily Morgan (if you want to start writing in the mornings or if you want your morning writing habit to be more consistent)

Six Simple Tips to Create Daily Writing Habits by Pamela Hodges (an article that focuses especially on the fact that small goals can help us be more productive…a philosophy that I ascribe to)

How do you make sure that you knock out your writing?  Do you ever have to talk yourself into writing?

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