As you may know if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, I have ADD. Because of this, I tend to attract mentoring clients who also have ADD and who are frustrated with their inability to focus or to stick to a writing schedule.
Well, I’ve tried creating schedules for myself in the past. I’ve paid coaches good money to help me figure out what I’ll be doing during which hours and on which days; for example, most recently I decided to do wellness coaching and mentoring on Mondays and Wednesdays, and writing tasks on Tuesdays and Thursdays. (I typically take Fridays off.)
I was all psyched to get started on this new schedule — and it lasted exactly one day. Not even one day, in fact. I had to face it: If I’m not interested in writing on a Tuesday, then I’m not going to write. And if I’m suddenly struck by the urge to work on an article at 8 pm on a Wednesday, then that’s what I’m going to do.
Last week my partner for the Freelance Writers Blast Off class, Carol Tice, said something during the class that articulates exactly how I work: “I always do whatever I’m most passionate about every moment of the day.” I had never thought about it in those terms before, but that’s precisely what I do.
For example, Monday might find me writing blog posts all day. On Tuesday, I might work on an article that’s coming due for a little while and then follow up on some old LOIs and then implement some crazy e-course pricing scheme I came up with five minutes ago. Then, on Wednesday I may be in one of those moods where I just can’t get any work done…so I don’t. But as soon as our 3-year-old goes to bed, I’m inspired to finish that article I started on Monday.
This always felt just wrong, but when I thought about it, I realized it’s always worked for me. Everything gets done, and it gets done on time. So I’ve come to trust the process and let it go. I have one ADD mentoring client who is religious, who originally wanted me to help her come up with a schedule, and the saying that resonated with her was “Let go and let God.”
This tactic also works well with the typical ADD sufferer’s problem of being unable to force himself to focus on something he’s not interested in. If I’m trying to write an article when I’m not really inspired to do so, it’s torture and I click away every paragraph or two to do something more interesting, like check my e-mail. But when I am inspired to write, well, get out of my way!
Some people with ADD actually tend to hyper-focus on things they’re interested in and block out all distractions (including people trying to get their attention, police sirens, and other important events), and working on what you’re most interested in every minute is one way to take advantage of that.
Of course, if you decide to go this route you need to take a small leap of faith to test it out and make sure everything does get done. We’re all different, and some writers simply need to create and stick with a schedule.
So, all you writers who are ADD or even just easily distractible — have you ever tried to force yourself to stick to a writing schedule? Did it work, and if so, how did you do it? If it didn’t work, did you manage to come up with a better plan? [lf]
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