I see the first hour of work in any given day as a way of maintaining the project and making minimal progress. Anything after that is the "bonus," where the progress will be substantial. So if I am able to work an hour, that's great. An hour and 45 minutes is like an hour of maintenance and 45 minutes at time-and-a-half. This method allows me to snatch significant moment throughout a busy day just to get up to my hour, and then everything else is just extra.
Progress will seem slow when judged by hours and days, but rapid when judged by months and years.
Words have a power of their own. For example, I found myself using the ridiculous phrase "iron will" about myself, as in "I have an iron will." Obviously I don't, and the phrase sounds silly. Yet somehow that phrase worked for me and allowed me to persevere on a day when it seemed unlikely. Some people derive power out of affirmations of weakness, abjectness, and powerlessness, I've never understood it, but there you go. If that works for you, go for it.
I meet with a group of PhD students once a week to discuss writing process. We discovered that some of them need to be more resolute about the simple act of beginning the (planned) writing session every day. I said that sitting down to write at the same time every day, even if only for half and hour, is important exercise. That time of day (normally early in the morning) becomes the "sharp edge of your resolve", I said. Also kind of a silly phrase. But it, too, sort of seemed to fit. Discipline sharpens the edge of our resolve.
ResponderEliminar