Author's Notes on: Balance and Schedules

Dunsmore's Mini-Guide to Getting More Done

Hey everyone! Bit of a more casual letter today — with all the prep for The Cardinal Directive I haven’t had a lot of time or energy to do anything else, but the topic of time management and balancing health and work came up between me and a good friend recently, so I thought I’d ramble a bit about how I do my creative schedule and why.

This one is a bit more advice than my usual content, but feel free to take or discard it at your will.

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For anyone that doesn’t know, I’m currently taking a break from college to pursue writing full-time. Writing has always been one of my greatest passions, and with everything going on in the world it just made less and less sense that I wasn’t doing something I loved with whatever time I am blessed with on this earth.

Honestly, I’m having the time of my life right now. I really can’t describe the feral and unfiltered joy I get from being free to be creative.

It didn’t come without a whole host of new and interesting challenges though — the biggest one of all being having to make my own schedule. When your whole life has been governed by time and bell schedules structured by other people or institutions, suddenly having your entire year free is its own little brand of terror.

So, here are my three scheduling tips/rules that I use to keep myself on track:

1. Set deadlines.
   You may be reading this and thinking to yourself wow, Madeline, that’s really obvious. And you’d be right! But you’d also be surprised at how easy it is to put things off when there are no official due dates anymore. You have to be the one that sets your own dates and stick to them as best as you can.
   Obviously, it’s okay to move a deadline if you get sick or can’t reach something by the time you intended. Sometimes you need to give yourself more time so the finished product is of the best quality you can make it.
   This rule mainly exists to curb my perfectionism. I have a bad habit of endlessly rewriting and reimagining articles and scenes, trying to make them perfect before I show them to anyone. Quality is a good thing to strive for, but an obsession with perfection isn’t. Putting a cap on how much time I’m allowed to spend on it helps me actually get it done.

2. Commit to at least 1 hour of work on your project(s) every day.
   Okay, I can sense I’m getting a lot of weird looks over this one already. One hour is not a lot. It really isn’t, especially when it comes to the creative process. But you see, that’s the trick. Rule two is about tricking the brain into getting things done.
   Oftentimes, especially when I was in school and college, I would go long stretches without writing at all because I kept telling myself I didn’t have time to commit to writing. I didn’t have half a day to commit to getting a chapter or a few done! I had homework and classes!
   But committing to an hour is easy. It’s just an hour — it’s not a lot. An hour is super easy to fit into most schedules while still providing enough time to actually get something done. It’s also not a huge initial investment, so it’s not as daunting a commitment when I’m having a bad day and can’t seem to focus.
   At worst, I’m still getting a little bit done every day instead of getting nothing done for several weeks.
   And the best-case scenario? Honestly what usually happens, especially these days? I get into a really good flow in that one hour and end up spending several hours writing, getting a ton more done than I originally committed to! It’s a win-win! Practically foolproof!
   On top of everything else, it makes a lot more sense to me than trying to force myself to work a regular 9-5 schedule on any kind of creative project.

3. Have a few days per week with NO schedule or expectations attached to them.
   These are break days used for rest, relaxation, and recharging. They have no set goals, no set expectations, and you are encouraged to spend them doing other fun things you enjoy. Personally, I like to spend this time doing stuff like hiking, playing video games, playing Dungeons and Dragons with friends, and more!
   The thing is though, I also sometimes just write straight on through these days. When I get into a really good flow there’s often nothing else I want to do BUT write!
   The beauty of having free days that I can also spend writing if I want to is that there are no downsides to getting nothing done. I’m getting a shiny gold A+ for that weekend whether I get anything done or not because those days are for doing whatever I want.
   If I want to go hiking? A+. If I want to watch movies and play video games with my boyfriend? A+. If I actually get something done, that stuff is extra credit! That’s work I didn’t have to do and I did it just cause I liked doing it! That’s bonus points!
   This rule exists to keep creativity from becoming a chore. It exists to give my mind a break if I need it but often ends up reminding me just how much I love doing this and why.

And that’s it! That’s the whole thing — three simple rules that have really helped me transition to writing full time and setting my own schedule. As always, the creative process is unique to every individual and there’s every chance that these don’t work for you, but they’ve done wonders for me and I hope anyone out there that’s struggling to balance work/school, creativity, and their own mental health finds them helpful. <3

That’s all for me today! I hope you all enjoyed this shorter, more casual format this go around.

Thanks for reading!