How to carve out time for writing when your calendar is swamped
If you ever feel the majority of your workday is filled with meetings, you’re probably right. Research from Microsoft found that those who use Microsoft Teams spend the majority of their working hours (57%) in meetings or sending chats and emails. With only 43% of their time spent creating things.
While collaboration and meetings are essential in any role, it can be hard to carve out the time and mental energy for focus-intensive tasks like writing.
Opting out of meetings or demanding an agenda before accepting an invite, doesn’t work for everyone or every organisation. So how can you claw back time for creativity, focus and productivity?
🔺 Block off your own calendar
If everything is a scheduling game, then schedule yourself for success. Block out time on your calendar that’s dedicated to attention-heavy work — and honour those meetings as just as important as time with another person. Don’t cancel just because another request pops up. Make a commitment to yourself and keep it so you can complete this element of your work.
🔺 Writing sprint
One tactic you may find effective is the concept of a writing sprint: an intense, focused burst in which you do nothing but write. This could be five minutes or two hours. The idea is to make significant inroads on your writing workload by setting a timer and going at it full steam.
🔺 Outlines
The more organized you are, the faster you can produce words. A handy tip is to put aside a quick chunk of time to create an outline. Then, in your next stolen moment of free time, you can fill in the blanks. It may not be faster in the long run, but by sectioning it into two separate mental processes — strategizing first and writing second — you can stop yourself from switching between the two sides of your brain. I’ve always found this to be very effective!
🔺 ChatGPT
You can also use generative AI to help get you started. You could ask it to create that outline for you, or maybe brainstorm ideas or reformat an existing piece of writing you’ve written. We all know by now that it won’t be perfect but it’s your editing that makes AI writing worth reading.
🔺 Ask for help
If meetings truly impinge on your ability to do your productive work, there comes a point when you need help. Talk to your manager about either readjusting the workload or cutting down on meetings. Ask coworkers if you can make a meeting an email instead. And extend the same consideration to others — cut out unnecessary meetings when you’re the scheduler.
For more tips click here. And if you really can’t get to writing, then get in touch with me #WriterForHire.
#writingtips #editingservices
📷 Carrie Allen Unsplash