I started a story series to stop procrastinating
Taking up extra work can boost your main task.
That. And coffee. But let’s not run so much ahead.
I’m a PhD student and I have just recently started working on the magnum opus: my dissertation. I already wrote some parts in the form of publications, and I certainly have a vision of how it will look like once it’s ready; However, time has gotten a bit tight and I knew I must start writing.
It was only a couple of weeks ago when I decided to start writing. I put together all the text I have had — of course without any further editing, so we can call it maybe the pre-draft. But that was it. I couldn’t think about it any longer and it certainly wasn’t my intention to jump into writing tens of pages a day.
My Productivity Needed A Boost
I knew this could not go like this any longer because I would run out of time. I was thinking what to do, when I remembered how I have read on blogs specialized in writing that having a daily writing routine can boost productivity. I also learned on science writing courses about free writing, where you set a timer of 10 minutes and just write in paper with a pen whatever comes to your mind.
So I decided to start a series of short stories here on Medium called 30+ days of PhD. My sole intention was to have a 5–10 minutes writing session at the beginning of my work days in the form of free writing (sort of, maybe a bit more edited) so that I can feel a bit of achievement in the morning that would eventually kick-start my writing.
My plan for the first day was only to analyze some of my remaining data so that I can incorporate my findings into the pre-draft. However, whenever I wanted to stop, I kept thinking “if you go further, you can write about more progress tomorrow!” And so I did! Now I’m on day 15, and I am about to reach page 100 with my writing. In the meantime, I took care of hurdles like unexpected bureaucracy and its buddies, but in general, my rate of writing exceeds far more than what I expected — especially since I know myself to be more productive a day or two before my deadline.
I am very grateful for this experience, since I never knew it would be so easy to write the most demanding work I have written so far, and I am thankful for the people who proposed that writing a bit every day can help your productivity.
