Productive Day of a Technical Writer
When I was watching Youtube, I found this video:
I think such kind of videos is great as many people don’t understand who are technical writers and what they do. However, this video is a vlog just for fun, and there is no information what technical writers use during their working hours, what projects they work on, so you will not learn something useful. That’s why, I want to add some lifehacks for novice and experienced technical writers.
Let’s start from the beginning.
My Morning Routine
The quality morning routine is a recipe for success. Usually, I wake up at 5 am, take a shower, have nutritious breakfast and start working. Although, I’m a freelance tech writer, I wake up early because I’m an early riser. It’s also great when you start earlier because you finish earlier, too, so you have enough free time.
What is your morning routine?
Working Hours
The most interesting question is ‘How to make your office hours more productive?’ My trick is a comfortable chair. When you are a freelancer, you can buy any chair that you want, so I bought a typical boss chair. It seemed comfortable but, in the reality, I felt sleepy and tired sitting 8 hours.
So, the Internet helped me. Do you watch Twitch? If yes, you must have seen those streamers’ chairs. They are created especially for people who are sitting at least 8 hours because, you know, usually streamers sit all day long and can’t make a long break. That’s why I bought such kind of chairs, and advice you to do the same.
Also, prepare fruits and water, not snacks — they’are harmful not only for your body but also for your motivation. When you eat something sugary, it causes a faster rise of the sugar level in your blood and it also falls fast. It causes tiredness, anger, apathy and so on. I think, all these symptoms do not correlate with technical writing and working in general. You should be focused not to make mistakes. For this purpose, don’t neglect breaks — you will not be productive if you work at least 3 hours without a break. Usually, I use notifications that remind to stand up, even if I’m very busy and don’t feel tiredness, I don’t miss my breaks. The best way to spend your free time is to walk outdoors.
I read the article by Amanda Johnson where she described that we are the indoor generation who spends 90% of the time indoors and 2/3 of that time are spent at home. Moreover, indoor air is much more polluted than outside air. Poor indoor air can provoke a whole range of illnesses such as headaches, sore eyes, different types of allergy, and even asthma. If you want to learn more, follow the link: Air and Motivation. Also, walking after lunch helps to digest your food. Skip this and you’ll be falling asleep and looking for coffee.
We’ve finished with some basic tricks, now it’s time to speak about the most magic process — writing. My writing process is the same as Leticia Vargas’ one — I interview teams with whom I work, research the products that I should describe and then start writing documentation.
I think a great technical writing tool is a half of the successful manual. If you use MS Word, you can just type a text but a professional tech writing tool provides you with a great number of opportunities — you can brand your documentation, single-source it, work in teams, get marketing benefits and much more. As for me, I use ClickHelp. It’s an intuitive online documentation tool that makes my writing process more enjoyable. You can get a free 30-day trial and see yourself how it can change your writing process to the better.
When the Office Hours End
When I finish working — I forget about work, it’s the rule. After working hours, I immediately create a plan for the next day in order not to forget what I should do. It’s important to write a plan in the evening — you won’t waste your time on preparations, so, you’ll start working immediately.
Speaking of my rule, try to stick to it in your daily life because your free time is for something that you like and I’m not speaking about writing ;) Usually, I play video games, watch movies or series, walk with friends or browse some interesting websites, for example, these ones: How to Spend Free Time Productively.
Final Thoughts
This article is based on my experience, it’s not that you must follow. If you’re a night owl you should not wake up early (if it’s not demanded by your work). Plan your day according to your productive hours.
If you want to learn more lifehacks for technical writers, here are some more articles on this topic: